Fall 2024 SWOG Group Meeting

• Meeting Booklet (available in late September)
  • As of the fall 2023 meeting, the agenda book will be provided in PDF form only. Printed agenda books will NOT be provided in Chicago.
  • A printed agenda pocket card/tri-fold brochure WILL be provided in Chicago, as at past meetings.
  • A mobile app with meeting details will also be available for download to your phone or tablet in late September. App content will also be accessible via a standard web browser (no app installation needed).
• Report of Studies (available in late September)
• Hotel Map
• CME Credit Are Available for Many Sessions: You must use the mobile app or the web-based version to claim credits during and after the meeting.  Details will be posted once the app is available.
• Exhibitor Information: Exhibits will be held October 17-18 from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
• Pharmaceutical Partners: We look forward to your participation at the SWOG 2024 Fall Group Meeting!
  Please note: SWOG has updated the registration policy to ensure we can maintain meetings of the highest caliber.  Pharma partners attending in person and not specifically invited to present as part of the group meeting agenda will be required to pay a per-person registration fee of $250.
  
  Please visit The Hope Foundation’s Group Meeting Registration Payment Page to make any necessary payments.  Payment can be made via credit card or check.  Questions can be directed to Mallory Glenn at mallory@thehopefoundation.org or (734) 546-8434.
• Speaker/Planner Disclosures
   

Tweeting the meeting? Please use the hashtag #swogonc.
 

Group Meeting and Travel Logistics

Airfare

Individuals are responsible for making their own flight arrangements to and from the Group Meeting.

Hotel Reservations

You can reserve your hotel room at the Hyatt Regency online or by calling 312-565-1234. When calling, ask for the SWOG room block. The Group room rate is $289 plus tax. The cut-off date for making reservations is September 16, 2024. Any reservations after that time will be based on rate and space availability. To cancel or change your Hyatt reservation, call 312-565-1234.

 

Need Special Accommodations?

If you need special arrangements or accommodations to fully participate in all Group Meeting functions, please contact the meetings manager at 210-614-8808, ext. 1009 after you register online.

​Group Meeting Funding/Travel Support

SWOG and The Hope Foundation provide funding to support travel for member CRAs and nurses, NCORP Early-Stage Investigators, Board of Governors members, and Modality and Discipline Investigators to attend the group’s semi-annual meetings. Committee funds are also available through The Hope Foundation to help support committee efforts at the group meetings that aren't funded via the NCORP or NCTN grants.

For specific details and links to apply, please visit the Funding and Travel Support page: Group Meeting Funding/Travel Support | SWOG

Group Meeting Event Information

ctDNA Platforms: Understanding Our Options and Utility from Colleagues in Industry

Thursday, October 17, 8:30-10:00 am CT

A round robin of our colleagues from industry will share concise overviews of their ctDNA platforms at this Thursday morning event. They will then be available at exhibit tables in the Ballroom Foyer for one-on-one questions and conversations on both Thursday and Friday.

 8:30 am – Welcome by Lee Ellis, MD, FASCO

• Representatives from six leading platforms have been invited to present

9:35 am – Q&A
10:00 am – Closing and thank you!

Please visit the meeting exhibits to follow up and learn more. 

Plenary I (Translational Medicine)

The fall meeting's Translational Medicine Plenary will take place Thursday, October 17, 3:30 - 5:00 pm CT:

Welcome and Introduction
Lee M. Ellis, MD, FASCO
Vice-Chair for Translational Medicine
MD Anderson Cancer Center

SEED or Soil in Bladder Cancer: The HOPE of Dissecting Mechanisms of Response to Immunotherapy
Joshua J. Meeks, MD, PhD
Feinberg School of Medicine

The SWOG Immunotherapy Committee and an Update on the iMatch Pilot Study
Katerina Politi, PhD
Yale Cancer Center

Siwen Hu-Lieskovan, MD, PhD
Huntsman Cancer Institute

No More Dancing in the Dark: Risk Refining Clinical Trial Designs with ctDNA-Informed Approaches
Van K. Morris, MD
MD Anderson Cancer Center

Attendees can earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits for this plenary session.

Plenary II (General)

Transforming Information into Insight: Solutions and Opportunities in Clinical Oncology Research

This fall’s general plenary (Plenary II) will take place Friday, October 18, 12 – 2 pm CT. It will highlight approaches to transforming what can be a crush of data and information into important insights and opportunities for advancing our cancer research, with the potential for improvements in efficiency, understanding, accuracy, scope, and access. We hope to provide glimpses of both forward-thinking solutions already in development and broader visions of what might be. Presentations will be followed by a brief Q&A session.

Chair’s Welcome and Update
Charles D. Blanke, MD
SWOG Group Chair
Professor, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University

Artificial intelligence: Landscape of opportunity in oncology research
Arturo Loaiza-Bonilla, MD, MSEd
Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer, Massive Bio
Chair of Research, Capital Health

Mapping our past to our future: SWOG’s key performance data dashboards
Nathan Eriksen
SWOG Chief of Administration

Advancing data collection and management: Streamlining initiatives, EHR to electronic data capture, and the promise of AI data assistance
Michael LeBlanc, PhD
SWOG Group Statistician
Director, SWOG Statistical and Data Management Center
Professor, Fred Hutch Cancer Center

TEFCA network access across EHR systems: Opportunities for clinical oncology research
Stephen J. Konya III
Senior Advisor to Deputy National Coordinator and Innovation Portfolio Lead,
Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, HHS

NCORP Research Base Clinical Trials Workshop

Join us for the Annual SWOG NCORP Research Base Clinical Trials Workshop on Wednesday, October 16 from 10:00 am - 2:30 pm CT.  SWOG members, clinical research professionals and investigators at NCTN and NCORP institutions are encouraged to attend the informative presentations and breakout session discussions. The presentation session will be hybrid for remote and in-person participation, but breakout sessions will be in-person only.

The workshop provides information on conducting clinical trials in the following four SWOG Committees:

• Cancer Care Delivery
• Palliative Care
• Prevention, Screening, and Surveillance
• Symptom Management and Survivorship

This is an opportunity for information sharing between attendees, SWOG NCORP Research staff, study teams, the NCI and other subject matter experts. Workshop presentations and topics are different from year to year. Stay tuned for this year's agenda!

(Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA) continuing education credit is available.)

Nursing Research Subcommittee

The Nursing Research Subcommittee meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 16, 12:30 - 2:15 pm CT.  The meeting is open to Nurse Scientists interested in advancing collaborative research within the clinical trials network as principal and co-investigators and to Nurses interested in serving as Coordinators for studies involving unique or unfamiliar assessments and/or behavioral interventions. Additionally, we are seeking to increase the representation and involvement of Advanced Practice Nurses within SWOG serving as site investigators for DCP studies. If you are interested in attending (and are not on our email distribution list), please contact Jamie Myers, Chair, at jmyers@kumc.edu.

The Site Operations meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 16, 5:30 - 7:30 pm CT. 

It "takes a village" to lead research sites and make it possible for participants to enroll on trials. This special perspective is the focus of Site Operations, a subcommittee of the Oncology Research Professionals (ORP) Committee. A variety of practical topics will be discussed, including:

• SWOG statistical and operations updates
• NCI changes and new information
• SWOG quality assurance topics and questions

This meeting is open to everyone and provides an opportunity to hear updates and ask questions.  Please join us!

 

Jeri & Noboru Oishi Symposium

Join us on Thursday, October 17, 8:00 - 11:00 am CT. Topics and speakers TBD.

Oncology Research Professionals Open Forum

The ORP Open Forum is set for Thursday, October 17, 12:30 - 2:00 pm CT. Please join us in-person to discuss topics in a small group setting.  Rotate among four 20-minute round table sessions of your choice to learn more about conducting SWOG trials, mitigating challenges, and implementing strategies with your facilitator and tablemates.

Please note we encourage in-person attendance as there will be no remote meeting links for this forum. Although recordings of the round table discussions will not be made, we will post handouts and facilitator contact details for each table topic to the SWOG website after the Group Meeting.

This meeting is open to everyone and provides an opportunity to hear updates and ask questions.  Please join us!

GU Symposium: The Art of Patient Enrollment in Genitourinary Oncology Clinical Trials

The SWOG GU committee is hosting a special seminar on Thursday, October 17, 7:30 - 9:30 am CT, on Patient Enrollment in Genitourinary Malignancy Clinical Trials. They will discuss best practices in creating an institution-specific clinical trial portfolio, successful techniques in improving clinical trial enrollment in various contexts (including NCORP and VA) and across disciplines, as well as patient-centered and culturally-sensitive recruitment. This seminar will feature the GU patient advocates and some of their most successful investigators sharing their insights. Early career investigators are strongly encouraged to attend, but this session will have value and relevance for all SWOG members.

This will be an informative symposium you won't want to miss!