Establishing the University of Arizona Cancer Center as a Lead Academic Participating Site in the National Clinical Trials Network

The overall goal of this application is to establish the University of Arizona Cancer Center (UACC) as a Network Lead Academic Participating Site (LAPS) for the NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN). As the only NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center headquartered in the state of Arizona, the UACC currently provides significant leadership and mentorship in the development and conduct of important translational and therapeutic clinical trials for cancer patients across the state. This application will enhance participation and bolster the UACC’s infrastructure capabilities to continue to provide scientific leadership in the development and conduct of clinical trials and substantial accrual to clinical trials across the state and entire NCTN while simultaneously training the next generation of clinical investigators in state-of-the art clinical trials for the treatment of adult cancer patients. Specifically, this will support the UACC’s infrastructure to increase clinical research activities, protocol development, investigator leadership and junior faculty mentorship. UACC has a strong track record of past and present leadership and participation in the NCTN Program and will continue this participation as a LAPS site. We will achieve our goal through the following Aims: 1) to develop, lead, and participate in scientifically and clinically relevant NCTN clinical trials; 2) to support robust accrual, timely and accurate data reporting and internal monitoring for NCTN trials; 3) to support accrual at satellites sites across the state of Arizona as part of the Arizona Clinical Trials Network; and 4) to serve the community by utilizing a Clinical Trials Oncology Navigation program to assist with trial education and enrollment and retention of patients reflective of our catchment populations and the state of Arizona. We plan to do this through creating a LAPS Leadership Committee for oversight and mentoring, by working with the Clinical Trials Navigator to educate patients on clinical trials, and specifically targeting sites with access to rural and other underserved populations. Project Number: 1UG1CA308474-01 | Fiscal Year: 2026 | NIH Institute/Center: National Cancer Institute (NCI) | Principal Investigator: Rachna Shroff | Institution: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TUCSON, AZ | Award Amount: $310,412 | Activity Code: UG1 | Study Section: Special Emphasis Panel[ZRG1 CDPT-R (55)] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11290631