Who Leads SWOG Cancer Research Network

Our Senior Leaders

Charles D. Blanke, MD

Group Chair
Professor of Medicine
Knight Cancer Institute
Oregon Health & Science University

Blanke holds SWOG's highest office, an elected post, and oversees the science, statistics, data management and operations of the network.

Primo Nery Lara, Jr., MD

Deputy Chair and Vice Chair for Operations
Director
UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center

Lara holds SWOG's second-highest office, assists in setting scientific and operational strategy, and oversees SWOG's treatment trials through the NCTN.

Michael LeBlanc, PhD

Group Statistician
Member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Research Professor, University of Washington

LeBlanc is SWOG's senior statistician and oversees the group's Statistics and Data Management Center, which provides expertise in the design, implementation, monitoring, analysis, and interpretation of SWOG trials and translational medicine studies.

Kathy S. Albain, MD

Vice Chair for Clinical Trials Partnerships
Huizenga Family Endowed Chair in Oncology Research
Professor of Medicine
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine

Albain oversees SWOG's Clinical Trials Partnerships, or CTP, formerly the Clinical Trials Initiative. Studies run through the CTP are non-federal trials, with special attention to preferred industry partnerships and those that focus on comprehensive pipelines.

Don S. Dizon, MD

Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Professional Integrity
Professor of Medicine and Professor of Surgery
Brown University, Lifespan Cancer Institute, and Legorreta Cancer Center

Dizon provides strategic direction in identifying and achieving DEI goals to make SWOG group leadership and membership more diverse and to enroll more representative groups of participants to SWOG's clinical trials.

Lee M. Ellis, MD

Vice Chair for Translational Medicine
Professor of Surgical Oncology and Molecular and Cellular Oncology
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Ellis oversees SWOG's basic and translational medicine research, including biomarker driven trials.

Dawn Hershman, MD, MS

Vice Chair of the NCI's Community Oncology Research Program Research
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Columbia University

Hershman oversees the NCORP research portfolio, which includes prevention and epidemiology, cancer care delivery, palliative and end-of-life care, symptom control and quality of life, and survivorship trials and also serves as co-chair of the cancer care delivery committee.

Our Executive Officers

These are SWOG's executive officers, who oversee the development of clinical trials in their specific area of responsibility and report on progress to the SWOG chair. They serve as key advisors to the chair, and act as liaisons to the National Cancer Institute.

Katherine Crew, MD, MS

Executive Officer for Prevention & Epidemiology, Symptom Management & Survivorship, and Cancer Care Delivery Research
Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Columbia University

Anne Chiang, MD, PhD

Executive Officer for Breast and Lung Cancer Research
Associate Professor, Yale School of Medicine
Chief Network Officer and Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Smilow Cancer Network

Lisa A. Kachnic, MD

Executive Officer for Multi-Modality Research
Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology, Columbia University

Virginia Sun, PhD, MSN, RN

Executive Officer for Palliative Care Research
Professor of Nursing Research and Education, Departments of Population Sciences and Surgery, City of Hope

Mariana Chavez Mac Gregor, MD, MSc

Executive Officer for International Affairs
Associate Professor of Health Services Research and Breast Medical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Susan M. O'Brien, MD

Executive Officer for Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma Research
Director, Sue and Ralph Stern Center for Cancer Clinical Trials and Research, UC Irvine Health

James M. Rae, PhD

Executive Officer for Translational Medicine
Thomas H Simpson Collegiate Professor of Cancer Research, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, University of Michigan Medical School

Christopher W. Ryan, MD

Executive Officer for Gastrointestinal, Genitourinary, Melanoma, and Early Therapeutics Research
Professor of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University