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Background: Translation of basic discoveries to clinical care for patients with cancer is a difficult process greatly enabled by physician-trained researchers. Three categories of physicians, with responsibilities spanning from laboratory and preclinical research to direct patient care, are involved in the translational research continuum: physician-scientist (PS), clinician investigator (CI), and academic clinician (AC). Methods: To define how protected time for research efforts is supported, the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) conducted a survey of their member institutions, obtaining 56 responses documenting time spent in research and clinical activities across multiple cancer disciplines, and providing information about funding streams for the different categories of cancer physicians. Results: Responses showed that PSs and ACs are minimally involved in clinical research activities; the driver or clinical research in academic cancer centers is the CI. A significant concern was a lack of stable funding streams for nonbillable clinical research activities, putting the sustainability of the CI in jeopardy. Limited funding was derived from hospital sources, with most support derived from cancer center sources. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of the CI in translational cancer medicine and represents a call to action for institutions and research funding agencies to develop new programs targeted toward CI support to ensure continued progress against cancer.

These NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Cervical Cancer focus on early-stage disease, because it occurs more frequently in the United States. After careful clinical evaluation and staging, the primary treatment of early-stage cervical cancer is either surgery or radiotherapy. These guidelines include fertility-sparing and non-fertility-sparing treatment for those with early-stage disease, which is disease confined to the uterus. A new fertility-sparing algorithm was added for select patients with stage IA and IB1 disease..

Adenocarcinoma of the endometrium (also known as endometrial cancer or more broadly as uterine cancer or carcinoma of the uterine corpus) is the most common malignancy of the female genital tract in the United States. An estimated 49,560 new uterine cancer cases will occur in 2013, with 8190 deaths resulting from the disease. Uterine sarcomas (stromal/mesenchymal tumors) are uncommon malignancies, accounting for approximately 3% of all uterine cancers. The NCCN Guidelines for Uterine Neoplasms describe malignant epithelial carcinomas and uterine sarcomas; each of these major categories contains specific histologic groups that require different management. This excerpt of these guidelines focuses on early-stage disease.

The NCCN Guidelines for Uterine Neoplasms provide interdisciplinary recommendations for treating endometrial carcinoma and uterine sarcomas. These NCCN Guidelines Insights summarize the NCCN Uterine Neoplasms Panel's 2016 discussions and major guideline updates for treating uterine sarcomas. During this most recent update, the panel updated the mesenchymal tumor classification to correspond with recent updates to the WHO tumor classification system. Additionally, the panel revised its systemic therapy recommendations to reflect new data and collective clinical experience. These NCCN Guidelines Insights elaborate on the rationale behind these recent changes.

Vulvar cancer is a rare gynecologic malignancy. Ninety percent of vulvar cancers are predominantly squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), which can arise through human papilloma virus (HPV)–dependent and HPV-independent pathways. The NCCN Vulvar Cancer panel is an interdisciplinary group of representatives from NCCN Member Institutions consisting of specialists in gynecological oncology, medical oncology, radiation oncology, and pathology. The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Vulvar Cancer provide an evidence- and consensus-based approach for the management of patients with vulvar SCC. This manuscript discusses the recommendations outlined in the NCCN Guidelines for diagnosis, staging, treatment, and follow-up.

The NCCN Guidelines for Cervical Cancer provide interdisciplinary recommendations for treating cervical cancer. These NCCN Guidelines Insights summarize the NCCN Cervical Cancer Panel’s discussion and major guideline updates from 2014 and 2015. The recommended systemic therapy options for recurrent and metastatic cervical cancer were amended upon panel review of new survival data and the FDA’s approval of bevacizumab for treating late-stage cervical cancer. This article outlines relevant data and provides insight into panel decisions regarding various combination regimens. Additionally, a new section was added to provide additional guidance on key principles of evaluation and surgical staging in cervical cancer. This article highlights 2 areas of active investigation and debate from this new section: sentinel lymph node mapping and fertility-sparing treatment approaches.

The NCCN Guidelines for Uterine Neoplasms provide recommendations for diagnostic workup, clinical staging, and treatment options for patients with endometrial cancer or uterine sarcoma. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on the recent addition of molecular profiling information to aid in accurate diagnosis, classification, and treatment of uterine sarcomas.

The NCCN Guidelines for Cervical Cancer provide recommendations for diagnostic workup, staging, and treatment of patients with the disease. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on recent updates to the guidelines, including changes to first- and second-line systemic therapy recommendations for patients with recurrent or metastatic disease, and emerging evidence on a new histopathologic classification system for HPV-related endocervical adenocarcinoma.

Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN), a subset of gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD), occurs when tumors develop in the cells that would normally form the placenta during pregnancy. The NCCN Guidelines for Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia provides treatment recommendations for various types of GTD including hydatidiform mole, persistent post-molar GTN, low-risk GTN, high-risk GTN, and intermediate trophoblastic tumor.