1956 - Grant Taylor, MD, an MD Anderson pediatrician, forms the Southwest Cancer Chemotherapy Study Group to test leukemia cures for children
1958 - The group begins to study adult cancers
1962 - The group designs a precursor to today's "umbrella" trial by testing a number of treatments for myeloma under one protocol
1969 - The group merges with the Midwest Cancer Chemotherapy Study Group, a move that brings in member sites from Michigan, Ohio, and other heartland states
1969 - National Cancer Institute legend Dr. Emil "Tom" Frei III, MD, takes over for Grant Taylor to become SWOG's second group chair. Frei was a pioneer of combination chemotherapy, and helped produce the first complete cures for childhood leukemia. After leaving SWOG, Frei went on to become physician-in-chief of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
1970s
Barth Hoogstraten, MD \n SWOG's third group chair
1971 - The group establishes both adult and pediatric divisions
1972 - Barth Hoogstraten, becomes the third chair of SWOG. A native of Holland, Hoogstraten escaped the Nazis during medical school and went on to a distinguished career in oncology, helping to develop NCI guidelines for breast cancer trials, and authoring four medical textbooks
1973 - SWOG is born when the group changes its name to the Southwest Oncology Group
1974 - The group reports the results of S427, which nets the longest remission times to date for patients with acute myelogenous leukemia
1976 - SWOG begins working with investigators in community hospitals by joining the NCI's Cancer Control Program
1978 - The biannual group meeting tradition is born
1980s
Charles Coltman Jr., MD\n SWOG's Fourth Group Chair
1980 - Ovarian cancer trial S8092 becomes the first cooperative group trial to use a gene assay
1981 - Dr. Charles Coltman, Jr. is elected group chair and moves headquarters back to Texas. Coltman was the longest-running group chair, holding the post for 24 years
Coltman made a major impact on SWOG, inaugurating its international efforts in Japan, creating its first training program for young investigators, and launching dozens of high impact trials
1984 - The new SWOG Statistics and Data Management Center is founded at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, with John Crowley, PhD, appointed group statistician
1987 - SWOG forms a cancer control committee with Dr. Frank Meyskens as chair, making cancer prevention a central part of its mission.
1988 - S8378 identifies fludarabine as a highly effective treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia and is one of two trials on which the FDA bases its approval for the drug in 1990.
1989 - Results from S8412 show that carboplatin is an effective, and far less toxic, treatment for ovarian cancer. Based on the results, the FDA approves the use of carboplatin for ovarian cancer, and it remains the most commonly administered drug for the disease.
1990s
Jo Horn, President & CEO \n of The Hope Foundation for Cancer Research
1990 - SWOG adds seven minority community oncology program members to better serve the needs of African-Americans, Latinos, and other minority patients
1990 - Early results from S8591 lead to FDA approval of levamisole for treatment of colon cancer; The NIH recommends that this adjuvant therapy become standard of care
1991 - S8216 demonstrates the effectiveness of one of the first immunotherapies, the bacteria-based bladder cancer vaccine Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, or BCG. It remains standard of care
1993 - SWOG launches the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial, the largest ever for this disease
1994 - S7808 introduced the use of involved-field radiation into the treatment of patients with Hodgkin's disease. Although involved-field radiation did not increase remission duration or overall survival in the total population, patients with a nodular sclerosis histology remained in remission longer.
1995 - SWOG launches its website, SWOG.org
1998 - The Southwest Oncology Group Foundation is renamed The Hope Foundation. By 2016, The Hope Foundation provided more than $30 million in research support to SWOG - the most philanthropic support of any group in the NCI's National Clinical Trials Network. In 2013, Johanna Horn is appointed to lead the foundation
1999 - The Young Investigator Training Course is born
2000s
Laurence Baker, DO \n SWOG's fifth group chair
2001 - The nation's largest cancer prevention trial is launched. The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) enrolls more than 35,000 men
2003 - Results from the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial show the drug finasteride can reduce prostate cancer risk by 25 percent
2005 - Laurence Baker, DO becomes SWOG's next group chair and moves headquarters to the University of Michigan. Under Baker, SWOG launches its Latin America Initiative, expands its patient advocate and cancer prevention programs, and becomes the first NCI group to partner with basic science centers
2005 - SWOG establishes its biospecimen bank, which now holds more than 1.2 million samples and is a global cancer research resource
2006 - SWOG hits a major milestone, averaging 5,000 patient enrollments each year
2008 - The Dr. Charles Coltman, Jr. Fellowship Program for early career investigators debuts
2008 - Frank Meyskens, MD expands SWOG's Cancer Control and Prevention Programs
2009 - Results from SELECT show that selenium and Vitamin E supplements do not reduce the risk of prostate cancer - and, in fact, Vitamin E supplements slightly increase risk
2010s
Charles D. Blanke, MD \n SWOG's sixth group chair
2010 - Group drops "Southwest" from its name and becomes known simply by its acronym - SWOG
2010 - Mexico's INCan becomes the first Latin American cancer institute to join SWOG
2011 - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory becomes a SWOG member - and SWOG becomes the first cooperative group to partner with an NCI basic science center
2012 - SWOG launches its 1,000th cancer trial
2013 - Charles Blanke, MD is elected SWOG's sixth chair and moves SWOG headquarters to the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University. Blanke emphasizes inclusion and innovation, launching an effort to enroll more military veterans into SWOG trials, expanding efforts in translational medicine and international partnerships, and creating a digital engagement committee
2013 - SWOG submits its first National Clinical Trials Network grant to the NCI and receives "exceptional" ratings
2013 - The Hope Foundation celebrates 20 years of supporting SWOG
2013 - The Jackson Laboratory becomes a SWOG member, significantly expanding the group's translational medicine expertise
2014 - SWOG launches Lung-MAP, the first NCI-supported precision medicine trial
2014 - SWOG is awarded its first NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) grant to support community-based cancer research
2016 - SWOG launches the first financial toxicity trial in the National Clinical Trials Network
2017 - SWOG launches DART, the first federally funded immunotherapy trial devoted to rare cancers
2017 - SWOG launches a newly redesigned, mobile responsive SWOG.org
2018 - The Hope Foundation celebrates its 25th anniversary, and the 10th anniversary of the Dr. Charles A. Coltman Jr. Fellowship. It also changes its name to the Hope Foundation for Cancer Research and adopts a new logo
2018 - Practice-changing results from S0337, published in JAMA, show that flushing the bladder with a common chemotherapy drug immediately after surgery significantly reduces the chances of bladder cancer returning
2018 - Group changes its name to SWOG Cancer Research Network and adopts a new logo
2018 - Final, five-year results from S0230, or the POEMS trial, confirm that injections of the hormone drug goserelin along with standard breast cancer chemotherapy can protect ovaries and make it more likely for survivors to become pregnant – without developing negative side effects or shortening their lives.
