Member institutions
consist of large universities or teaching hospitals with large accrual
capabilities. Most "Member Institutions" consist of one university
hospital and additional hospitals in the area, which have an overlap
of investigator appointments. When evaluated prior to membership
approval, each institution is reviewed to determine if large patient
accrual potential exists and if the staff investigators have extensive
expertise in cancer research (prior clinical trial experience).
The institution will also be assessed as to in-house cancer investigations
(will the new institution bring investigative expertise to the Group
which may not currently exist or which needs broadening). The institution
must have investigators/programs in place for all major modalities
of research (medical oncology, radiation therapy, pathology, surgery).
Each Member
institution strives to increase accrual and scientific productivity
to assure continued funding or to gain new funding by the National
Cancer Institute (NCI). A physician is identified as Principal Investigator
who oversees and coordinates activities by the institution in this
program. Funded institutions submit annual continuation grant applications
describing past and current activities, and all institutions submit
Competitive Renewal grant applications in conjunction with the Group
core grant (approximately every five years) to receive continued
or new funding. Funding for this program is provided from the Cancer
Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) of the NCI.
A formal
application request must be submitted to:
Membership Department
Southwest Oncology Group Operations Office
14980 Omicron Drive
San Antonio, TX 78245-3217
The following
categories should be included in the institutional application request:
Background Information:
A brief description of the lead institution and community demographics.
Participating Clinical Facilities:
A brief description of the clinical facilities, including a review of participating institutions and clinics, outpatient/inpatient care facilities, radiotherapy facilities (include simulation capability), surgical division, clinical trials office, and ancillary support.
Patient Resources for Accrual:
Documentation of patient resources to ensure adequate accrual (a minimum of 50 patients per year). This may be in the form of prior accrual to clinical trials (intra-institutional and/or through cooperative group membership), tumor registry data, or summary of clinical data. Please present this information in table format for ease in review, listing accrual by disease site. Data should include information from the last two years.
Participating Investigators:
A Principal Investigator must be identified who will assume responsibility for the overall scope of the institutional program. The Principal Investigator and all other participating investigators who will accrue to Group studies must be members of the Southwest Oncology Group. Membership is open to investigators who have completed a medical fellowship program or the Southwest Oncology Group's Young Investigators Workshop, offered annually in the Fall. The program should include significant representation from medical oncology, radiotherapy, pathology and surgery.
The Principal Investigator and each participating investigator should be listed with a brief narrative description of their research interests and areas of expertise. Institutional pilot studies and/or laboratory research initiated by participants should be briefly presented, as well as activities in other cooperative groups pertaining to significant scientific contributions and leadership (protocol development and coordination, publications, committee leadership).
The curriculum vitae of the Principal Investigator and biosketches of all other investigators who will be involved in the institutional program should be enclosed with the application.
Support Staff:
A brief narrative description of support staff relative to data management and nursing oncology who will be involved in the institutional program should be provided. A Head Clinical Research Associate (CRA) should be identified as a primary contact for the institutional program.
Letters of Support:
This may include any letters of support received from the hospital administration, Institutional Review Board, or other sources.
Appendix:
All other supporting information or documents the applicant institution wishes to submit.
Member
Institution Program