SWOG Leaders Thrilled with Grant Scores

Operations scored a 23, which is in the “outstanding” range under NCI scoring guidelines (as with golf, smaller scores are better!) and is a point better than our last submission. SWOG’s statistics and data management center, led by Dr. Mike LeBlanc, earned a truly stellar score of 12 (“exceptional” range) – to the best of my knowledge, the best of any NCTN operations or stats mark earned by any group! We were also both recommended for six years of funding.

After months of work on our NCTN submission, and a six-month wait on our performance, I am thrilled and relieved, not to mention ever so grateful, for my exceptional staff and leadership teams. Both received major praise. Some quotes from the pink sheets:

• “Senior leaders have excellent credentials and a strong record of accomplishment”
• “Research committee leaders are prominent in their respective fields”
• “Experience and qualifications of members of the administrative core are excellent”
• “All leadership positions are capably filled and the network is functioning in a highly cooperative and collaborative manner within the NCTN.”

It is always instructive – and humbling and encouraging – to see your organization through the eyes of others. Which is why pink sheets are so useful.  Here are some more highlights from the 26-member NCI review team, points that were mentioned several times as strengths:

• Our accrual during the last grant cycle - 9,098 patients to SWOG-led trials and 3,721 patients to non-SWOG studies - was judged “robust” and “outstanding"
• Our Lung-MAP and DART trials were singled out for innovation, as was our focus on enrolling adolescents and young adults, patients with rare cancers, and military veterans
• Our  “unique and highly interactive” partnerships with JAX and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory were lauded
• Our publications – 47 primary endpoint manuscripts, 44 secondary endpoint manuscripts, and 53 abstracts in a little over three years  - were praised
• Our young investigator training and mentoring was judged “outstanding,” with specific mention of our Leadership Academy, Young Investigator Training Course, and grant writing workshops
• Our emphasis on involving and training patient advocates, our successful communications and digital engagement efforts, and our new emphasis on increasing diversity received strong praise
• Our engagement of NCORP members, which account for 40 percent of SWOG accruals, was noted as a strength

We won’t know until later this fall how much funding we will receive, beginning March 2019, when our new NCTN cycle starts. In the meantime, please know this outstanding review is a testament to all our members and the critical roles you play in our day-to-day functioning. Thank you for keeping our work efficient, rigorous, relevant, innovative, and inclusive.

I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together and excited about what we will tackle next.