Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center LAPS Institutional Collaboration

The overarching goal of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center (SKCCC) is to leverage research expertise to reduce the overall incidence, burden, and mortality from cancer in Greater Philadelphia and beyond. SKCCC addresses cancer problems through collaboration across basic, clinical, and population research disciplines. SKCCC is a NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center nucleated at the Jefferson Health-Center City campus and enriched by fully integrated Regional Research Sites (RRS) including Jefferson Health- Abington, Jefferson Health-Northeast, Jefferson-Washington Township, and Jefferson-Einstein. The SKCCC is focused on addressing catchment area needs through transdisciplinary research, expanding innovative research capabilities, extending outreach and clinical research into the community, and enhancing the pace of bench-to- bedside discovery. The Jefferson Health system has expanded over the last 3 years and now includes a system of 12 Hospitals treating more than 10,000 new cancer cases annually. The SKCCC catchment area, spanning seven counties across Southeastern Pennsylvania (PA) and Southern New Jersey (NJ), is home to 5 million residents speaking more than 45 languages in socioeconomically diverse communities and neighborhoods, each with distinct challenges and opportunities. At any given time, hundreds of research studies are underway at the cancer center, ranging from basic laboratory research to clinical assessments of new treatments to meet the needs of this diverse population. Many of these studies are collaborative, involving other cancer centers or other partners in industry and the community. The overall objective and goal of this proposal is to enable the SKCCC to continue to participate as a Lead Academic Participating Site (LAPS) in the NCI National Clinical Trial Network (NCTN) Clinical Research Program and expanding to include the Jefferson RRS. Expansion to the RRS aligns with the NCTN mission to conduct high quality clinical treatment and advanced imaging trials by representing our diverse population across the region. We will continue and further advance our commitment to producing the next generation of scientific leadership for development and execution of NCTN trials. As an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, SKCCC has the established infrastructure to nurture discoveries that advance our fundamental knowledge of cancer biology, nurture translation into interventional trials, and provide outreach regarding clinical trial enrollment throughout our community. We propose the following specific aims in this LAPS application: Specific Aim 1: Deliver and enhance access to the most advanced cancer care through participation and dissemination of NCTN initiatives including trials for rare tumors across the SKCC. Specific Aim 2: Promote and support the scientific leadership within the NCTN. Specific Aim 3: To foster junior faculty investigators’ career development through NCTN participation in both NCTN/NCI committee engagement and as key contributors to conceptual protocol designs to assist in the development of the next generation of NCTN members and leaders. Project Number: 2UG1CA233341-06 | Fiscal Year: 2026 | NIH Institute/Center: National Cancer Institute (NCI) | Principal Investigator: Jennifer Johnson (+3 co-PIs) | Institution: THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY, PHILADELPHIA, PA | Award Amount: $544,790 | Activity Code: UG1 | Study Section: Special Emphasis Panel[ZRG1 CDPT-R (55)] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11291711