Clinical Investigator Development in Solid Tumor Oncology

Sloan-Kettering Inst Can Research, New York NY

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The principal purpose of this proposal is to provide salary support for Dr. Spriggs and his career development activities in the area of patient oriented research. Dr Spriggs currently leads the solid tumor group with 12 junior faculty members (within three years of appointment). He also has direct responsibility for one Gyn Fellow annually. The experimental hypothesis of Dr. Spriggs'own research program is that elements of drug resistance are controlled by post transcriptional regulation of gene expression. This laboratory program is complemented by leadership of two program project grants. In the Ovarian Program, Dr. Spriggs leads a clinically oriented project related to re-induction following relapse in Ovarian cancer as an extension for his RO1 which was initially included in the Ovarian PO1. In the Cancer Chemotherapy Program, he supervises the conduct of 4 projects directed at 1) HSP90 targeting, 2) Histone deacetylase targeting, 3) p53 dependent targeting, and 4) Inhibition of the MAPK kinase pathways. These two programs, along with the MSKCC UO1, form the basis of clinical research for both fellows and junior faculty development in clinical translational research. This proposal represents a unique opportunity to train fellows in the integration of laboratory studies of post transcriptional drug resistance with the initial clinical studies of targeted new agents. As part of this program, Dr Spriggs is the co-principal investigator with Dr. Dean Bajorin of the institutional K30 program for clinical investigation and a specific training program in grant writing is provided for 1st year fellows and for junior faculty members. In a related activity, we propose a novel mechanism for the evaluation of medical oncology faculty and propose to collect a fixed data set to create benchmarks for advancement of junior faculty members at MSKCC.