Dr. Megan Othus Is SWOG Group Statistician-Elect

We are delighted to announce that SWOG’s board of governors has voted to make Megan Othus, PhD, the next SWOG group statistician. She will succeed Michael LeBlanc, PhD, in that role when his term ends next spring. 

SWOG’s group statistician provides statistical expertise and leadership for the group and directs SWOG’s Statistics and Data Management Center (SDMC). Dr. LeBlanc has served as group statistician since 2012.

Dr. Othus joined the SDMC as a faculty biostatistician in 2009 and has been an author on more than 250 publications, including lead authorship on papers that have charted new pathways in statistical methods and the conduct of clinical trials.

The many SWOG trials on which she has served as primary statistician include some of the cooperative group system’s most innovative from a statistical design perspective. Among these are the S1609 DART basket trial – which incorporated 53 rare cancer cohorts – and the myeloMATCH precision medicine umbrella trial in myeloid malignancies. 

She is also primary statistician on all three of the studies now active through SWOG Clinical Trials Partnerships (CTP), and she serves as statistical lead on SWOG’s data and safety monitoring committee.

A self-described optimist who tries to see changes as opportunities, in presenting to the board of governors in Chicago Dr. Othus spelled out what she sees as some key opportunities for advancing SWOG research over the next few years.

Increase the visibility of the novel, flexible designs and methods the SWOG SDMC develops in building trial protocols: She highlighted the value SWOG’s statistical expertise has contributed in oncology trials and more broadly, and reminded us that cancer researchers – and SWOG in particular – have led the world in the design and conduct of platform trials. 

Integrate artificial intelligence as a tool to make trial development, monitoring, and reporting more efficient: Acknowledging large language models are imperfect, Dr. Othus noted their value when applied in specific areas – for example, in cross-checking numbers across reams of pages in documents such as the SWOG Report of Studies.

Recognize the value of SWOG Clinical Trials Partnerships (CTP) as an important component of the SWOG portfolio: She sees SWOG CTP’s contributions as essential to SWOG’s success – both their development of new trials conducted without federal support and their work assembling supplementary funding that’s critical in our NCI-supported studies.

Support the education and training pipeline: Anyone who knows Dr. Othus knows she’s passionate about education and professional development. She spoke of the wonderful opportunities SWOG offers to build and share knowledge, and said she looks forward to expanding such opportunities.

Ensure SWOG continues to be a uniquely flexible and adaptive partner for the NCI: Dr. Othus cited the NCI’s decision to base the myeloMATCH screening protocol within SWOG as a testament to their high level of trust in our statistical center and their recognition that the SWOG SDMC would do whatever it took to make this groundbreaking precision medicine trial a success.

We’ve both had opportunities to work closely with Dr. Othus and can testify to her optimism and team-based approach to the work. Her expertise and leadership will be invaluable to SWOG in this essential role and we look forward to even closer collaboration with her on our shared mission in cancer research. 

We’ll have more to say about this transition as it approaches – including attempting to appropriately recognize and thank Group Statistician Dr. Michael LeBlanc for his extraordinatory contributions to SWOG’s success during his tenure.

For now, we’ll say congratulations Dr. Othus on your election and congratulations to all of SWOG on this great news!