The ASCO Research Community Forum held its 2016 Annual Meeting from September 25–26, at ASCO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Nearly 100 physician investigators and research staff from all types of research sites across the United States attended the meeting.
Each year, the ASCO Research Community Forum holds its Annual Meeting to bring together researchers and research staff from across the country to connect, collaborate, and solve problems facing cancer research sites today. While this year’s meeting marked the 5th Research Community Forum Annual Meeting, it was the first to be held since the ASCO Board of Directors decided earlier this year to expand the scope of the Forum to provide support to all types of research sites, both in the community and academic settings.
ASCO Immediate Past President Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, delivered the keynote address following opening remarks by ASCO Research Community Forum Council Chair Michael A. Thompson, MD, PhD, and ASCO Chief Executive Officer Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO. Building on her presidential theme of “Collective Wisdom,” Dr. Vose highlighted how building on the research community’s collective knowledge and experience can improve cancer research across the country.
The first morning panel explored novel clinical trial designs and adaptive designs in community-based research, led by Howard A. Burris III, MD, FACP, FASCO, Immediate Past Chair of the ASCO Research Community Forum Council. Dax Kurbegov, MD, the Council’s Chair-Elect, led a panel on the role of research within value-based care, on which ASCO’s Chief Medical Officer Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FASCO, participated. The panel discussed the impact of the movement to value-based care on cancer research, including drivers behind the movement such as ASCO’s value framework. A third panel discussion looked at ways researchers and research sites could increase cancer clinical trial access, awareness, and engagement to give more cancer patients the opportunity to participate in clinical trials.
The meeting also included breakout sessions on topics related to administrative and regulatory burden associated with conducting and managing clinical trials. The Forum will look at the solutions proposed by the breakout session groups to serve as the basis for their activities and projects moving into 2017.
Visit www.asco.org/research-community-forum for more information about the Forum, its ongoing activities, projects, publications, and updates on the next ASCO Research Community Forum Annual Meeting, which will be held September 24–25, 2017. ■
© 2016. American Society of Clinical Oncology. All rights reserved.
