In describing the national clinical trials system last year, a term I used a lot was “sweat equity.” Physicians donate a great deal of free time to clinical cancer research. It is difficult to imagine that our federally funded clinical trials system could continue to exist without the un-reimbursed or poorly supported efforts of many medical oncologists. And with all due regard to my cancer center colleagues, a great deal of the heavy lifting is performed by community practitioners.
Most of these unsung heroes will never have a first-author publication in the New England Journal of Medicine. So the glory thing, like the compensation thing, fails to explain why these physicians participate in this system. What is left is part altruism (a large part, I suspect), part passing it forward, and part a desire to provide their patients with the benefits of modern science.
At the recent ASCO Annual Meeting, I had the opportunity to help recognize six practices that received the Conquer Cancer Foundation Clinical Trials Participation Awards. ASCO has given out these awards since 2003, with input from the NCI Cooperative Groups, the Community Clinical Oncology Program, as well as community-based research networks. Stephen Grubbs, who with his colleagues poured through a large number of submissions, chaired the CTPA Review and Selection subcommittee this year. The six winning practices were featured in the ASCO Daily News; photos on ASCO Connection. They represent an army of cancer researchers, and deserve our thanks and congratulations:
Children’s Hospital of New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
Cooper Cancer Institute
Voorhees Township, New Jersey
Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute
Sarasota, Florida
Missouri Baptist Medical Center
St. Louis, Missouri
Northeast Radiation Oncology Center
Dunmore, Pennsylvania
St. Joseph Hospital of Orange
Orange, California
Most of these unsung heroes will never have a first-author publication in the New England Journal of Medicine. So the glory thing, like the compensation thing, fails to explain why these physicians participate in this system. What is left is part altruism (a large part, I suspect), part passing it forward, and part a desire to provide their patients with the benefits of modern science.
At the recent ASCO Annual Meeting, I had the opportunity to help recognize six practices that received the Conquer Cancer Foundation Clinical Trials Participation Awards. ASCO has given out these awards since 2003, with input from the NCI Cooperative Groups, the Community Clinical Oncology Program, as well as community-based research networks. Stephen Grubbs, who with his colleagues poured through a large number of submissions, chaired the CTPA Review and Selection subcommittee this year. The six winning practices were featured in the ASCO Daily News; photos on ASCO Connection. They represent an army of cancer researchers, and deserve our thanks and congratulations:
Children’s Hospital of New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
Cooper Cancer Institute
Voorhees Township, New Jersey
Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute
Sarasota, Florida
Missouri Baptist Medical Center
St. Louis, Missouri
Northeast Radiation Oncology Center
Dunmore, Pennsylvania
St. Joseph Hospital of Orange
Orange, California
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Comments
Christopher A. Peters, MD
Jun, 27 2011 9:31 AM
On behalf of my entire team at Northeast Radiation Oncology Center (NROC), I would like to thank Dr. Sledge for his leadership and kind recognition of the Conquer Cancer Foundation CTP Awards. We are grateful to be recognized for high quality community-based clinical oncology research helping our patients and the field alike.
-Christopher A. Peters, M.D.