Rivero-Zambrano Receives Crowley Statistical Award
Dr. Luisa Rivero-Zambrano, a medical oncology resident at the Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (INCan) in Mexico, has been selected to receive the 2026 John Crowley, PhD Award, an annual honor recognizing statistical excellence in clinical trials. The award provides a one-week visit to the SWOG Statistics and Data Management Center in Seattle, along with travel to two SWOG group meetings.
“Receiving the John Crowley, PhD Award is both an honor and an invaluable opportunity for growth,” said Dr. Rivero-Zambrano. “I am truly excited to learn directly from those who are shaping the future of cancer clinical research and to apply those lessons to meaningful research questions that can ultimately improve patient care.”
The Crowley program committee was enthusiastic about Rivero-Zambrano’s research concept, Beyond Binary Biomarkers: Modeling Treatment Effect Heterogeneity Across KRAS Variant Subtypes in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer, and looks forward to hosting her in Seattle for in-person collaboration.
The John Crowley, PhD Award program will reopen for applications in early 2027. Check our programs page for this and other funding opportunities.
Grant Awards Announced from Coltman and Impact Programs
Curtis Pettaway, MD, and Niki Zacharias Millward, PhD, both of MD Anderson Cancer Center, have won the 2026 Impact Award for a proposal aimed at improving outcomes for metastatic penile squamous cell carcinoma. While current treatments for this diagnosis offer early responses, long-term success is rare, and newer approaches carry significant side effects. Drs. Pettaway and Zacharias Millward look to identify a treatment strategy that maintains strong anti-cancer effects while reducing toxicity, with the goal of informing future clinical trials and improving care for patients with advanced disease.
Jeremy Harris, MD, of UC Irvine has been awarded the 2026 Dr. Charles A. Coltman, Jr., Fellowship to lead S2505, a soft-tissue sarcoma trial testing whether an accelerated radiation treatment schedule controls cancer as effectively as the standard, longer schedule. The study will produce the first high-quality evidence on condensed radiation treatment for soft-tissue sarcomas and could establish a faster, more accessible standard of care.