I recently joined the faculty at LSUHSC as an Assistant Professor in Research. My primary goal in my new position is to expand clinical trial access for Neuroendocrine Cancer patients – a largely underrepresented group of cancer patient, particularly in the southeastern region of the country.
In the 12-months since joining LSU (and moving from Ochsner to East Jefferson General Hospital), I have successfully moved and opened two industry-sponsored clinical trials (AlphaMedix Phase 2, Camurus Phase 3); opened two additional industry-sponsored studies (RMX-Alpha-04 Rollover Safety Study, Crinetics – Paltusotine Phase 2), and plan to initiate a new industry-sponsored study before the end of the year (ACTION-1 Ryz101-301 P1b/3). I have collaborated with sponsors and Clinical Research Organizations (CROs) to both secure study-site selection and manage all aspects of regulatory compliance, IRB compliance, and study monitoring.
Additionally, I have worked to secure funding for translational research. I have developed collaborations with both intramural and extramural academic research partners, including LSU-Baton Rouge, the University of Iowa, Vanderbilt University, and the National Cancer Institute. These collaborations have led to several peer-reviewed publications and NIH-grant awards and submissions. I have also partnered with Industry sponsors and received funding for Investigator-Initiated Trials (Curium LLC.).
My secondary goal is to further the research I’ve initiated at LSUHSC that focuses on disproportionate barriers faced by rare cancer patients and the value of increasing patient outreach and access to telemedicine; specifically, I will continue to work with the patient advocacy group, the Neuroendocrine Cancer Awareness Network (NCAN), to raise awareness and develop countermeasures to the barriers faced by marginalized patients.
My long term goals are to significantly expand the clinical research infrastructure within the Rare Cancer Program and gain national recognition for the program. I will accomplish this by aggressively pursuing additional industry-sponsored trial (by attending national NET conferences and establishing relationships with both industry and CRO leaders), and ensuring that existing trials are run efficiently and effectively to establish LSU’s Rare Cancer program as a reliable site for clinical trials. Once the Industry-sponsored clinical trial infrastructure is well established, I hope to shift some of my attention to translational and Investigator-initiated studies; leveraging the infrastructure in place and expanding intramural and extramural research within the Rare Cancer program and beyond.
