Peter J. O’Dwyer New Group Co-Chair Elect

Contact:
ECOG-ACRIN Office of Communications
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ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group Elects Peter J. O’Dwyer New Group Co-Chair

Dr. O’Dwyer will succeed Robert L. Comis and serve from 2019-2029

Philadelphia, Pa., November 10, 2016 — The ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN) today elected Peter J. O’Dwyer, MD, as the Group Co-Chair Elect from the cancer treatment disciplines at their Fall 2016 Group Meeting in Orlando, FL. He is succeeding current Group Co-Chair Robert L. Comis, MD, who is stepping down in 2019. Dr. O’Dwyer, a medical oncologist, is the Chair of ECOG-ACRIN’s Gastrointestinal Cancer Committee. He is Co-Chair of the landmark phase II precision medicine trial known as NCI-MATCH (National Cancer Institute-Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice). His academic affiliations are Director of the Developmental Therapeutics Program at the Abramson Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, both in Philadelphia.

Dr. O’Dwyer will serve together with Mitchell D. Schnall, MD, PhD, who will remain as the ECOG-ACRIN Group Co-Chair representing the diagnostic imaging-based disciplines through the end of the next National Cancer Institute’s funding cycle (2024). Dr. Schnall is the Eugene P. Pendergrass Professor of Radiology and Chair of the Radiology Department at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. After a transition period during which O’Dwyer will fully participate in strategic planning to set the Group’s future research directions, he will begin his tenure as Group Co-Chair on March 1, 2019.

About ECOG-ACRIN

The ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group is a membership-based scientific organization that designs and conducts cancer research involving adults who have or are at risk of developing cancer. ECOG-ACRIN comprises nearly 1100 member institutions in the United States and around the world. Approximately 12,000 physicians, translational scientists, and associated research professionals from the member institutions are involved in Group research, which is organized into three scientific programs: Cancer Control and Outcomes, Therapeutic Studies, and Biomarker Sciences. ECOG-ACRIN is supported primarily through National Cancer Institute research grant funding, but also receives funding from private sector organizations through philanthropy and collaborations. It is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pa. For more information, visit ecog-acrin.org or call 215.789.3631.

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