First Recipient Named for North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) Junior Faculty Academic Community Partnership Award

Friday, July 10, 2009

ROCHESTER, Minn. — The first recipient of the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) Junior Faculty Academic Community Partnership was named at the spring 2009 NCCTG meeting held here May 13–15, 2009. Bret Friday, M.D., Ph.D., an oncologist at the Duluth Clinic, received the award, which is funded through a grant from Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Friday's award funds three years of research to pursue cancer treatments.

"The goal of the NCCTG Junior Faculty Academic Community Partnership is to improve cancer patient outcomes by strengthening the capacity and continuity of community-based cancer clinical research," says Jan Buckner, M.D., group chair of NCCTG and an oncologist at Mayo Clinic's Rochester campus. "That goal will be achieved through a systematic program of recruitment, training, mentorship, and support for select junior-level physician oncologists who will, in turn, become research leaders within their local community practices."

The award program will support two clinicians in their first two or three years at NCCTG member sites, as they establish clinical research careers. These junior-level faculty members will be trained and mentored throughout the award period. As the first recipient, Dr. Friday will be trained in project years 2009–2011. The second recipient will be trained in project years 2011–2013.

Mentoring cancer research leadership in the community setting
Clinical oncology research demands extensive community-level study over a broad and diverse patient population. Community practices serve as the backbone for such research, offering a wide spectrum of study opportunities while sharing the same structured approach as at major medical research institutions. Such research, however, is difficult to stimulate on the local level without a clinical research oncologist on site — a leader who can move the process forward, guide patients and engage staff and fellow clinicians.

Clinical research requires time for activities such as protocol setup, patient enrollment, and data collection. That time and associated cost pose a significant challenge to participation for community-level clinical oncologists. This is especially true for junior-level physicians since they already face numerous challenges as they develop their community practice.

Conversely, local clinical research, which is persistently needed throughout all aspects of cancer research, provides an exceptional opportunity for the junior clinician to establish a research career and become an active participant — and leader — in the field.

The program will be carried out through NCCTG, a national clinical research group sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. The group's research and administration are based at Mayo Clinic. NCCTG consists of cancer specialists at more than 375 community clinics, hospitals and medical centers in the United States and Canada. The group is dedicated to bringing clinical trials with promising new cancer therapies to communities where patients live.

Clinical research training will enhance patient care in the community
The NCCTG Junior Faculty Academic Community Partnership Award enables Dr. Friday to continue participating in clinical research as a community oncologist. "I have an extensive background in basic science and clinical research," says Dr. Friday. "During my oncology fellowship at Mayo Clinic, I completed the clinical investigator training program. This award will allow me time to continue to develop my clinical research skills. Through my research efforts, I hope to make a meaningful contribution towards advancing the goals of NCCTG and improving treatment for cancer patients."

Dr. Friday says the NCCTG Junior Faculty Academic Community Partnership Award will directly benefit patients. "Clinical trials often are the best treatment option for cancer patients," says Dr. Friday. "Since a large number of cancer patients enrolled in clinical trials are primarily taken care of by community oncologists, it makes sense to have community oncologists knowledgeable and trained in clinical research. I hope to develop new protocols that will specifically offer new and exciting treatment approaches to my patients."

Eva Galanis, M.D., an oncologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, will serve as Dr. Friday's research mentor through the award period. "Dr. Friday has an outstanding laboratory background and prior experience in protocol development," says Dr. Galanis. "One of the concepts he developed and tested in the laboratory during his oncology fellowship has resulted in an active NCCTG clinical trial for recurrent glioma patients.

"During this award period, he will be mentored on protocol development, clinical trial design and conduct, and he will be actively participating in the activities of the NCCTG Neuro-oncology Group," says Dr. Galanis. "We hope that this award will foster the development of community-based clinical research leaders, thus both enhancing NCCTG's research base and benefiting the affiliated community oncology practices."

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NCCTG is a national clinical research group sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, comprised of a network of more than 1,000 community-based cancer treatment clinics in the United States, Canada and Mexico that work with Mayo Clinic to conduct clinical studies for advancing cancer treatment.

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