NRG Oncology announces new leadership of three committees

PHILADELPHIA, PA – NRG Oncology, a National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) group focused on improving outcomes for adults with cancer through multi-center clinical research, recently announced a new Chair to the NRG Genitourinary (GU) Cancer Committee, a new Vice-Chair of the NRG Radiation Oncology Committee, and a new Chair and Vice-Chair of the NRG Developmental Therapeutics Gynecologic Cancer Phase I Subcommittee.

Paul L. Nguyen, MD, MBA, FASTRO, was appointed the Chair of the NRG GU Cancer Committee after previously serving as a member of the committee. Dr. Nguyen is the Baldwin-Politi Distinguished Chair in Oncology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Genitourinary Disease Center Co-Leader at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Nguyen is very active within NRG Oncology, including currently leading the rapidly-accruing NRG-GU009 “PREDICT-RT” study utilizing genomics to personalize the type or length of hormone therapy received with radiation for patients with high-risk prostate cancer. At NRG Oncology, he also is the GU liaison for the NRG Early Career & New Investigator Committee where he helps early-career physicians establish pathways for their research goals within the organization. Outside of NRG, Dr. Nguyen is also the Co-Chair of the NCI’s GU Steering Committee, Chair of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Refresher Course, and Immediate Past Chair for the American Radium Society’s Appropriateness Criteria Committee for GU Cancers. In his new role as NRG GU Cancer Committee Chair, Dr. Nguyen will be responsible for leading the committee in developing, conducting, monitoring, and reporting results of clinical trials and translational science projects aimed at improving outcomes for cancer patients.

Diandra N. Ayala-Peacock, MD, was selected as Vice-Chair of the NRG Radiation Oncology Committee after previously serving as a member of the committee. Dr. Ayala-Peacock is a radiation oncologist at the Duke Cancer Center and an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at the Duke School of Medicine. At NRG Oncology, she is also a member of the NRG Oncology Cervix and Vulvar Cancer Subcommittee under the NRG Gynecologic Cancer Committee program, as well as Radiation Study Co-Chair for the currently accruing NRG-GY024 GROINSS V-III Vulvar Cancer Study evaluating the safety of replacing inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy with chemoradiation in early-stage vulvar cancer patients with a macrometastasis (>2mm) and/or extracapsular extension in the Sentinel Lymph Node (SLN). Dr. Ayala-Peacock’s research focusses on the management of patients with breast or gynecologic cancer. She will serve alongside current Committee Chair, Dr. Evan Wuthrick, and current Committee Vice-Chair, Dr. Charles B. Simone II. In her new role as NRG Radiation Oncology Committee Vice-Chair, Dr. Ayala-Peacock will be supporting the committee’s cross-group collaboration and engagement for radiation oncology research through the development of concepts and protocols where radiotherapy may be an appropriate treatment modality.

Stéphanie Gaillard, MD, PhD, was appointed Chair of the NRG Developmental Therapeutics Gynecologic Cancer Phase I Subcommittee after previously serving as Vice-Chair of the subcommittee. She is the Director of Gynecologic Cancer Trials as well as the Co-Director of the Developmental Therapeutic, Phase I Clinical Trials Program at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Gaillard has been incredibly active within NRG Oncology and is currently a member of the Developmental Therapeutics Committee, the Early Phase Trial Oversight Committee, and the Gynecologic Cancer Committee for the organization. In her research, Dr. Gaillard focuses on trials aimed at improving outcomes utilizing new biologic, targeted, and immune therapies in addition to standard treatment regimens. Additionally, Dr. Gaillard has a translational research focus on the immune environment associated with gynecologic cancers and mechanisms of resistance to current therapies.

Bradley Corr, MD, was selected Vice-Chair of the NRG Developmental Therapeutics Gynecologic Cancer Phase I Subcommittee after previously serving as a member of the subcommittee. He will be working alongside Dr. Gaillard in guiding this subcommittee. Dr. Corr is the Director of Clinical Research for Gynecologic Oncology and the LeBert Suess Family Endowed Professor in Ovarian Cancer Research in the Gynecologic Cancer Division at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He also serves as the Gynecologic Oncology lead for Phase I research at the University of Colorado. At NRG Oncology, Dr. Corr is a member of the Developmental Therapeutics Committee and the Uterine Corpus Cancer Subcommittee under the Gynecologic Cancer Committee. Dr. Corr is an active clinical trialist and has a translation science focus on developing therapeutic strategies for patients with “classic” low-risk endometrial cancer.

Drs. Gaillard and Corr will be responsible for leading the subcommittee’s efforts to test new cancer therapeutics in early phase studies within the gynecologic cancer committee.

NRG Oncology looks forward to the upcoming achievements and progress made under the new leadership of these committees and subcommittees. The organization extends their sincere gratitude to the outgoing Committee Leaders for their dedication and support of the NRG’s mission during their tenure: Dr. Felix Feng (Former NRG GU Cancer Committee Chair), Dr. Ivy Peterson (Former NRG Radiation Oncology Committee Vice-Chair), and Dr. Russell Schilder (Former NRG DT Gynecologic Cancer Phase I Subcommittee Chair).

About NRG Oncology
NRG Oncology conducts practice-changing, multi-institutional clinical and translational research to improve the lives of patients with cancer. Founded in 2012, NRG Oncology is a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit corporation that integrates the research of the legacy National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), and Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) programs. The research network seeks to carry out clinical trials with emphases on gender-specific malignancies, including gynecologic, breast, and prostate cancers, and on localized or locally advanced cancers of all types. NRG Oncology’s extensive research organization comprises multidisciplinary investigators, including medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons, physicists, pathologists, and statisticians, and encompasses more than 1,300 research sites located world-wide with predominance in the United States and Canada. NRG Oncology is supported primarily through grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and is one of five research groups in the NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network.