How We Work

Clinical trials are complicated

Our member experts ensure SWOG Cancer Research Network trials are safe, successful, and scientifically sound.

SWOG members work through cancer-specific committees to get a trial off the ground, make sure it's running effectively and efficiently, and prepare results for sharing so that trial data informs and improves cancer medicine - and patients' lives.

Teamwork is the solution

Here's how members, partners, and staff work together to create and conduct a trial:

Investigator

Physician investigators drive most SWOG trials, coming up with concepts to test and leading the teams that manage trials from launch to publication. Investigators take a new trial idea to their committee chair and executive officer for review and input.

Anne Chiang, MD, PhD \n Lung & Breast Committees

Executive Officer

Executive officers are SWOG's top senior leaders and are experts in their area of cancer medicine specialty. They provide high-level scientific and medical guidance on trial concepts.

Jhanelle Gray, MD \n Lung Committee Chair

Committee Chair

Committee chairs create and execute the research direction for their teams, and provide critical feedback, support, and mentorship to investigators.

Statistician

SWOG's statisticians are key players in the trial process, and help design trials, write protocols, manage data, and analyze results to ensure protocols - and trial results - are complete, accurate, and reliable.

Crystal Miwa & Mariah Norman \n Protocol Department

Protocol Project Manager and Program Manager

Along with statisticians, SWOG protocol project managers and program managers are major players in the trial process, overseeing the drafting and revising of protocols - the document that describes how a trial will be conducted - and shepherding them through the SWOG and National Cancer Institute approval process.

Patient Advocate

SWOG advocates represent the patient voice in trial development, reviewing and developing concepts and working within their disease committees to ensure that SWOG trials keep the patient at their center. By contributing to every stage of the clinical trial lifecycle, advocates can help ensure that studies are medically, logistically, emotionally and financially feasible for patients - and that trial results are shared with the public so they can inform cancer care.

Executive Review Team

Once an investigator and their team develop a trial idea, SWOG executive officers and senior leaders vet them and formally vote on whether they move forward to the National Cancer Institute for review and approval.

National Cancer Institute

Officials with the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Therapy and Evaluation Program or its Community Oncology Research Program. review every SWOG protocol to ensure they meet ethical, legal, financial, and safety standards and protect the rights, safety, and well-being of patients. The NCI can approve or deny trial concepts, or ask for revisions.

Siu Fun Wong, PharmD \n Pharmaceutical Sciences Committee Chair

Pharmacist

Pharmacists play an important role in SWOG, serving on the executive review team that approves trials and advising on ways to order, transport, store, and administer the drugs - many of them investigational - used in SWOG trials.

Casey Dawson \n Assistant Director of Administration

Budgets and Contracts Staff

Every SWOG trial is based on a budget, and most require contracts with pharmaceutical and other companies. Our budget and contracts staff help study teams identify funding sources, execute agreements, and manage resources so trials run efficiently and effectively, and so patients avoid unnecessary costs.

Allison Caban-Holt, PhD \n Recruitment and Retention Committee Chair

Research Support Committees

Some trials require special expertise, and members can turn to SWOG research support committees for expert advice. SWOG research support committees include Adolescents and Young Adults, Digital Engagement, Imaging, Oncology Research Professionals, Patient Advocates, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Radiation Oncology, Recruitment and Retention, and Surgery.

Desiree Goldstein, RN \n Oncology Research Professional

Oncology Research Professional

Along with investigators, oncology research professionals (ORPs) are the beating heart of our membership. Once a protocol is complete and approved, ORPs are the front-line staff in hospitals and clinics who answer questions about the trial, help patients with the enrollment process and trial requirements, and manage patient data.

Larry Crandall \n Clinical Trial Participant

Patients

SWOG trials wouldn't be possible without patients. By enrolling in a trial, and being treated under protocol rules, patients deliver the answers to cancer questions that all trials seek.