NCI clinical trials group re-elects chair

The principal investigators of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group re-elected Walter J. Curran Jr., MD, to a fourth term as group chair.

Curran, who has held the group chair position since 1997, is the executive director of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Atlanta. RTOG is a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded national clinical trials group administered by the American College of Radiology (ACR).

As group chair, Curran is principal investigator of the six-year, $60.5 million RTOG cooperative group grant from the NCI and chairs the group’s executive and steering committees. According to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, Curran ranks 32nd overall among all individual recipients of National Institutes of Health grant awards in 2009.

RTOG is a U.S. cancer cooperative group conducting large clinical trials for patients with brain tumors, tumors of the head and neck region and prostate cancer. In addition, its clinical trial portfolio includes protocols for patients with cancers of the lung, gastrointestinal tract, breast, gynecologic and genitourinary systems.

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