The National Comprehensive Cancer Network Welcomes Dr. Robert Carlson as Chief Executive Officer
A Letter From the New CEO:
As the new CEO of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the new year has special meaning, for me and NCCN, as a new beginning. Having worked with NCCN for 18 years as a panel chair, my new role already feels comfortable, but does bring with it new challenges and opportunities.
NCCN has just completed a year-long strategic planning process that has produced an energizing, forward-thinking vision of what NCCN will be in the years ahead. The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) will continue to be the core product of NCCN, with a number of surrounding products and services that increase and improve the utilization of the guidelines. Initiatives are in place to make the NCCN Guidelines more accessible at the point of care and more user-friendly for both patients and providers, in addition to linking them to treatment pathways.
The international presence of NCCN will be reorganized to better serve cancer patients and providers globally, and to fully align NCCN efforts with those international efforts of the NCCN Member Institutions.
And, it is likely that the number of NCCN Member Institutions will grow modestly over the next few years.
The success of NCCN is the direct result of the strength and quality of our members and maintaining the focus on patients with cancer and their families as the cornerstone of our efforts.
Continued communication between NCCN, NCCN Member Institutions, users of NCCN products and services, community, lay and professional organizations, providers, payers, and industry will serve us all well. Please never hesitate to contact those of us at NCCN should we be able to assist you in better serving those with cancer.
Sincerely,
Robert W. Carlson, MD
Chief Executive Officer
NCCN Qualifies Community Site for Affiliate Research Project
The NCCN Affiliate Research Project (ARP), developed by the NCCN Oncology Research Project (ORP), has qualified Norton Cancer Institute, a community-based affiliate of Moffitt Cancer Center—one of the 21 NCCN Member Institutions.
Located in Louisville, Kentucky, Norton Cancer Institute is operating as an ARP site under the leadership of John Hamm, MD, Medical Director, Norton Cancer Institute Research Program.
The mission of the NCCN ARP is to improve patient outcomes and advance medical science through clinical research conducted by means of collaboration among 21 NCCN Member Institutions and their community-based affiliate networks.
Norton Cancer Institute is the 8th community-based NCCN Member Institution affiliate to qualify for the NCCN ARP, increasing the scope of potential patients for the more than 60 actively accruing ORP trials. Previously approved NCCN Member Institution affiliates include AtlantiCare Cancer Care Institute, South Jersey Healthcare, and Virtua—affiliates of Fox Chase Cancer Center; Bozeman Deaconess Hospital, MultiCare Health System, and Wenatchee Valley Medical Center—affiliates of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance; and Medical Center of Central Georgia—an affiliate of University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Norton Cancer Institute will have access to new and innovative cancer drugs for patients in collaboration with NCCN Member Institutions; principal investigators of NCCN-funded studies will have access to Norton Cancer Institute as an NCCN-qualified community site.
“NCCN is pleased to announce the qualification of Norton Cancer Institute,” said Diane Paul, Vice President of the NCCN ORP. “Indeed, the growth of the NCCN Affiliate Research Project will strengthen the NCCN Oncology Research Program through the expansion of an already diverse patient base and afford a growing opportunity to community patients to participate in best-in-class clinical trials.”
The NCCN ORP is organized to obtain funding to support scientifically meritorious research projects at NCCN Member Institutions. Policies and standards for the program were set by the NCCN Investigator Steering Committee, a group comprised of senior research physicians appointed by each NCCN Member Institution. To date, the NCCN ORP has received nearly $40 million in research grants from pharmaceutical and biotech companies to support investigator-initiated trials including, but not limited to, evaluation of innovative regimens, mechanism of action, and exploration of extended uses for specific agents.
