Cancer Nexus Blog

The Cancer Research Office (CRO) at the UMass Cancer Center has done it again! For the fourth year in a row, ECOG-ACRIN commended them for their outstanding performance.

ECOG-ACRIN got its hyphenated acronym from the merging of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN). The organization plays a vital role in the National Cancer Institute’s mission through its National Clinical Trials Network and offers membership to institutions with broad expertise in either clinical research or translational sciences. The group conducts innovative biomarker-driven cancer research on adults who currently have — or are at risk for — cancer.

Given the level of expertise required to acquire an ECOG-ACRIN membership, a thorough re-evaluation occurs every year to confirm each institution continues to meet its rigorous performance standards. A committee conducts a blinded review, assessing each institution on its data quality, management, timeliness, imaging compliance, and committee service. An outstanding performance review is impressive enough, but once the assessment criteria and the caliber of member institutions outlined are digested, this distinction seems even more noteworthy!

This year’s commendation from the ECOG-ACRIN review committee highlights their impressive data management and patient accruals. During the past year, they enrolled over five times as many patients as is minimally required.

Great performance always requires an all-star support team and the CRO is no exception.  That our CRO receives high marks year after year speaks volumes about its leadership. Overseen by Danielle Howard, Director of Clinical Research Operations for the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, directed by William Walsh MD with associate director Jan Cerny, MD, PhD, FACP — who also serves as the ECOG-ACRIN Institutional Principal Investigator at UMass — the CRO offers a full complement of services for clinical investigators in the Cancer Center.  The CRO embraces the considerable role of coordinating the daily aspects of cancer clinical trials.  Congratulations to CRO nurse manager Cara Gregoire, RN, BSN, MHA, and her outstanding group of clinical research nurses and clinical research coordinators.

“That the CRO team is commended year after year on their performance is an attestation of their excellence,” says Dr. Cerny. “It may be my name that goes on the certificate of commendation, but it all comes down to the team and I am proud to be a member.”