Beginning in 2024, ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN) and the other national cancer cooperative groups partnered with Conquer Cancer^®, the ASCO Foundation, and Bristol Myers Squibb to support a new opportunity under the Robert A. Winn Excellence in Clinical Trials Award Program: the Winn Clinical Investigator Leadership Award (Winn CILA).

The CILA is a 3-year career and leadership development award for selected clinical cancer researchers who previously completed the 2-year Winn Career Development Award Program (Winn CDA). The CILA is designed to provide advanced clinical trials knowledge, leadership skills, mentorship, and sponsorship to prepare awardees to succeed as independent clinical researchers, team members, and leaders.

The second cohort of CILA recipients was announced in January 2025 and includes five physicians (referred to as Winn Investigators) who come from a range of oncology backgrounds and ​expertise. Each physician was matched with an NCI National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) Group and paired with a mentor who is an experienced clinical trialist. The overall goal is for each Winn Investigator to acquire the skills to effectively develop, implement, and oversee a clinical trial sponsored by the NCTN cooperative group.

ECOG-ACRIN is pleased to welcome Sonya Reid, MD, MPH (pictured), as our 2025 Winn Investigator. Dr. Reid is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a medical oncologist at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, where she also serves as assistant director of Community Outreach and Engagement.

Dr. Reid’s clinical practice and research focus on breast cancer. In particular, she studies young-onset breast cancer, hereditary breast cancer, and population-based differences in survival with a special interest in genomic differences that may be contributing to survival gaps.

Dr. Reid received her medical degree from the University of the West Indies School of Medicine in Kingston, Jamaica. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Meharry Medical College and her fellowship in hematology and oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She also earned a master’s degree in public health from Vanderbilt, with a focus on global health. In addition to her Winn awards, she has received many other honors, including Vanderbilt’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, a Conquer Cancer-ASCO Career Development Award, a Komen Career Catalyst Award, and an ECOG-ACRIN Edith Peterson Mitchell, MD Travel Scholarship.

Dr. Reid’s recent research involves trying to understand differences among patients with hereditary breast cancer. She is studying patients who have germline mutations in BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, CHEK2, and ATM. Her aim is to understand how these differences may contribute to variations in outcome, and to explore how ancestry impacts differences or similarities across patients.

“Dr. Reid is already an exceptionally accomplished breast cancer researcher committed to ECOG-ACRIN,” said Gary I. Cohen, MD, consultant for ECOG-ACRIN, who helped to establish the organization’s partnership with the Robert A. Winn Excellence in Clinical Trials Award Program. “In a time of diminishing support for research, this award is critical in promoting her leadership skills for developing and supervising multi-institutional clinical trials.”

Heather L. McArthur, MD, MPH, is serving as Dr. Reid’s mentor. Dr. McArthur is a professor of medicine, the Komen Distinguished Chair in Clinical Breast Cancer Research, and the clinical director of the Breast Cancer Program at the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She also mentored Dr. Reid during her time in the Winn CDA Program.

Related: ECOG-ACRIN Welcomes Catherine Handy Marshall as its First Winn Clinical Investigator Leadership Awardee