ECOG-ACRIN Establishes Edith Peterson Mitchell, MD Health Equity Travel Scholarships

The ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN) is pleased to announce that the Group Meeting Attendance Awards for Minority Trainees are now called the Edith Peterson Mitchell, MD Health Equity Travel Scholarships. This honor recognizes Dr. Mitchell for her key role in establishing the scholarship program in 2017 and, more broadly, for her longstanding commitment to ensuring a diverse cancer research workforce. The scholarships support medical and research trainees, including students, residents, fellows, and early-career investigators, to attend an ECOG-ACRIN Group Meeting and subsequently join the Health Equity Committee, which Dr. Mitchell co-chairs. Candidates must self-identify with populations historically excluded from medicine and science or have a primary research focus on health equity.

Edith Peterson Mitchell, MD, MACP, FCCP, FRCP, is the enterprise vice president for cancer disparities at Jefferson Health’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia, where she is also a clinical professor of medicine and medical oncology and director of the Center to Eliminate Cancer Disparities. Notable among her many national leadership roles are appointments with the National Medical Association, President’s Cancer Panel, and Cancer Moonshot Initiative. Learn more.

Registration Now Open for the Fall 2023 Group Meeting

Register now for the ECOG-ACRIN Fall 2023 Group Meeting, taking place in person at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel (soon to be The Westin) from 8:00 AM on Wednesday, October 25 – 1:00 PM on Friday, October 27 (Eastern Time). View the schedule on the Group Meeting website and then register for three days of engaging sessions highlighting the latest in basic, clinical, and translational research.

Limited travel awards are available to attend this meeting, as follows:

• The Radiation Oncology Committee is offering travel grants to encourage radiation oncology investigators and trainees to attend this meeting in person. The committee seeks more individuals to actively participate in the development of radiation oncology-driven clinical trials and secondary analyses from completed studies. Learn more and apply by Friday, September 1.
• The Clinical Research Associates Core Committee is accepting applications for four travel awards of up to $1,000 for this meeting. Data managers, clinical research associates, or clinical research coordinators/nurses with no other form of travel support are eligible. Learn more and apply by Friday, September 8.

Call for Abstracts: 2023 Young Investigator Symposium

ECOG-ACRIN is accepting research abstracts from early-career investigators interested in presenting their research as part of the upcoming Fall 2023 Group Meeting (see above). You may be eligible to apply if you are engaged in clinical, translational, imaging, or basic cancer research or in non-cancer-related research that has application to cancer biology, prevention, screening, diagnosis, imaging, or treatment. View the full eligibility criteria and the official abstract submission form.

The Symposium will take place on Wednesday, October 25, from 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM (Eastern). The deadline for abstract submissions is Wednesday, September 6, 2023, 11:59 PM (Eastern).

TMIST Breast Cancer Screening Trial Update

The study chair for this trial is Etta Pisano, MD (University of Pennsylvania/American College of Radiology).

Enrollment of women in the Tomosynthesis Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (TMIST) stands at 91,000 women as of August 25, 2023 (towards the goal of 128,905). Welcome to a new participating site, Carle at The Riverfront in Danville, Illinois (part of the Carle Cancer Center NCORP). With this new addition, there were 126 active sites during the last quarter.

“We continue to focus on enrolling underserved populations to TMIST,” says Dr. Pisano. “African American enrollment exceeds the initial expectations set for the trial by more than double. Native American/Alaskan Native enrollments are three times our initial expectations. Participation among Asian American populations is slightly below expectations, and so is Hispanic/Latina enrollment in the United States. We expect future international sites in Thailand and Singapore to contribute to our overall Asian population participation in TMIST. At the same time, we redouble efforts to improve Hispanic/Latina enrollment in the United States.”

Help us expand TMIST! Do you know of any sites interested in offering this trial to constituents, particularly those serving primarily Asian, Native American, and Hispanic populations? If so, please instruct your colleagues to email TMIST@acr.org to learn about the study requirements, reimbursement/payment structure, and how to start the application process.

Read the latest TMIST newsletter for sites.

IMF Appoints Vincent Rajkumar as Chairman-Elect

The International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) has appointed S. Vincent Rajkumar, MD (Mayo Clinic Rochester), as the next chairman of its Board of Directors, effective Spring 2024. Dr. Rajkumar is a world-renowned myeloma clinician and researcher engaged in clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory research in myeloma and related disorders. He has chaired several practice-changing clinical trials in myeloma for ECOG-ACRIN and other organizations—studies that have transformed myeloma from a deadly disease into a chronic condition for most patients. In this new position, he will help further the IMF’s mission to connect to the patient and scientific communities to achieve the very best outcomes for myeloma patients everywhere.

Dr. Rajkumar is a longtime member of ECOG-ACRIN and currently serves as chair of the Myeloma Committee. In 2006, he received one of ECOG-ACRIN’s highest honors, the Young Investigator Award, to recognize scientific achievements he made during the early years of his career. Learn more.

NHLBI-MDS Study Makes Biospecimens Available for Research

Biospecimens from The National Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Natural History Study (also known as the NHLBI-MDS Study) are now available for MDS-related research in the United States. The study team invites investigators to query and request resources through an online Resource Request Portal. Specimens and data have been collected prospectively from a large cohort of study participants who were either confirmed or suspected to have MDS at study entry.

The NHLBI-MDS Study contains the following:

• > 1700 participants with baseline bone marrow and peripheral blood DNA samples
• Data and specimens from > 450 confirmed MDS and MDS/MPN participants
• Follow-up information on disease evolution from > 800 participants
• Digital H&E slides of bone marrow samples and targeted sequencing data from > 1300 participants
• Follow-up Quality of Life (QoL) assessments from > 500 participants

Resources from the study present an exciting opportunity for scientists to pursue cutting-edge research that can contribute to our understanding of MDS and improve diagnostic and treatment options. Access to the Interactive Inventory Browser is available by registering for an account at this link: https://thenationalmdsstudy.net/content/interactive-inventory-browser.

Please contact mdscontact@emmes.com if you have any questions.

ASCO GI and GU Abstract Submission Deadlines

ASCO is now accepting abstracts for both the 2024 Gastrointestinal (GI) and Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposia. Please notify the ECOG-ACRIN Operations Office as soon as you decide to prepare a submission. Near-final drafts must be sent two weeks before the ASCO submission deadline to publications@ecog-acrin.org.

• Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium
  ECOG-ACRIN submission deadline: Tuesday, September 5, 2023
  ASCO submission deadline: Tuesday, September 19, 2023
• Genitourinary Cancers Symposium
  ECOG-ACRIN submission deadline: Tuesday, September 12, 2023
  ASCO submission deadline: Tuesday, September 26, 2023