“Promoting a Culture Of Innovation, Mentorship, and Clinical Investigation in NCI Sponsored Clinical Research: NCI Research Specialist (Clinician Scientist) Award Application of Janice M. Mehnert, M.D

New York University School Of Medicine, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Janice M. Mehnert, M.D., is the Associate Director (AD) for Clinical Research, Director, Melanoma and Cutaneous Oncology and a tenured Professor of Medicine at the Perlmutter Cancer Center (PCC) of NYU Langone Health/NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Here, she engages in significant efforts to promote NCI-sponsored clinical research. She is active within NCI sponsored clinical trials networks, including the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN), where she serves as the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group-American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ECOG-ACRIN) Melanoma and Skin Committee Co-Chair, and the Early Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ET-CTN), where she serves as site PI overseeing PCC’s ET-CTN clinical trial efforts. Dr. Mehnert is the Director of American Society of Clinical Oncology Young Investigator Award Grant Preparation Course for Perlmutter Cancer Center Fellows and Faculty, and she is the Director for the PCC Paul Calabresi K12 Career Development Award in Clinical Oncology. She has conducted and published multiple investigator initiated protocols, many with NCI support, demonstrated a track record of mentoring junior investigators, and maintains a history of successful peer reviewed NIH funding, including R21 and R01 grants. She has provided mentorship to 7 early career faculty members, 15 predoctoral students, and 15 fellows who have gone on to academic clinical oncology research careers, including variable leadership positions. As AD, Dr. Mehnert is responsible for the supervision of clinical trial operations in Manhattan, Long Island (LI), and Bellevue Hospital Center (overseeing site Medical Directors and Clinical Trials Office (CTO) Administrative Directors and staff), CTO resource allocation, prioritization of PCC’s research protocols and oversight of PCC’s 12 Disease Management Groups (DMGs). She also completes strategic planning for future clinical research activities including those at PCC’s Brooklyn campus. Since her recruitment to PCC, she has spearheaded the reorganization of the clinical research infrastructure, decreased trial activation timelines, and assembled resources to support Phase I trial activity at PCC-LI.  She engaged PCC in NCI-sponsored initiatives to increase clinical trial accrual; In NYU-LI, trial recruitment has more than doubled between 2022 and 2020. She successfully competed for funding for the Create Access to Targeted Cancer Therapy for Underserved Populations (CATCH-UP) Program, which allowed her to rapidly activate 20 ET-CTN trials and assemble a prescreening infrastructure to navigate underserved patients to ET-CTN protocols.  She subsequently led the integration of PCC into the  Dana Farber-Harvard Cancer Center Lead Academic Organization (UM1CA186709) as an Affiliate Organization. In this application, she outlines plans to 1) Promote opportunities for PCC investigators to lead NCI-sponsored clinical trials; 2) Promote accrual to NCI sponsored trials, including the submission of a NCTN Lead Academic Participating Site (LAPS) grant, 3) Promote engagement with clinical trials and 4) Promote engagement with research opportunities. She also outlines plans to improve communication of trial offerings, increase access to precision medicine trials, and develop information technology approaches to streamline research processes. The R50 Clinical Research Specialist Award would allow PCC to protect Dr. Mehnert’s time to pursue these research activities. Her accomplishment of these goals will increase access for PCC investigators and PCC patients to NCI sponsored trials and clinical research opportunities, a significant reward for the PCC clinical research enterprise and the NCI clinical research mission.  Â