NRG Oncology Appoints Dr. Sue Yom as New Head and Neck Cancer Committee Chair

August 27 2021

PHILADELPHIA, PA – NRG Oncology, a National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) group focused on improving outcomes for adults with cancer through international clinical research, recently appointed a new Committee Chair to the organization’s Head and Neck Cancer Committee (HNCC). Sue S. Yom, MD, PhD, MAS, FASTRO will be assuming the role of NRG HNCC Chair immediately in place of Quynh-Thu Le, MD who was recently appointed as one of NRG’s Group Chairs.

Dr. Yom was the Principal Investigator of the NRG-HN002 trial which had a manuscript published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in January 2021 showing that reduced-dose radiation with cisplatin maintained outcomes for HPV associated oropharyngeal carcinoma. She is the current PI of NRG-HN005, which is testing reduced-dose radiation in the phase II/III setting. In addition to her work on clinical trials, she is a member of the NRG Radiation Oncology Committee, Publications Committee, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Committee and the Head and Neck Surgical Subcommittee. In her tenure as a member of NRG Oncology, Dr. Yom has also been active in several trials and additional subcommittees which has helped to develop her deep understanding of the organizational initiatives and goals of NRG.

Outside of NRG, Dr. Yom is the Jacobs Distinguished Professor and Vice Chair for Strategic Advisory in the Department of Radiation Oncology and a Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of California in San Francisco. She also lends her expertise in several ways to contribute to the head and neck cancer research community. Dr. Yom is the Editor-in-Chief-Elect of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, the founding Steering Committee Chair for the American Radium Society Appropriate Use Criteria Committees, a Panel Member for the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Radiation Oncology Quality Surveillance Services head and neck cancer Blue Ribbon Panel, and the Committee Co-Chair for the Head and Neck Cancer International Group Guidelines and Protocols Committee. Additionally, she is a member of the NCCN Head and Neck Cancers Panel and its Radiation Oncology and Framework Subcommittees and leads its Imaging Subcommittee.

“My top two goals in my new position within NRG Oncology are to foster an environment that produces continued improvements in therapeutic efficacy and quality of life through our head and neck cancer research efforts and to provide strong leadership, mentorship, and training to the next generation of investigators,” stated Dr. Yom.

NRG Oncology looks forward to the continued advancements and future direction Dr. Yom will provide to the organization’s head and neck cancer-focused research.

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About NRG Oncology
NRG Oncology conducts practice-changing, multi-institutional clinical and translational research to improve the lives of patients with cancer. Founded in 2012, NRG Oncology is a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit corporation that integrates the research of the legacy National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), and Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) programs. The research network seeks to carry out clinical trials with emphases on gender-specific malignancies, including gynecologic, breast, and prostate cancers, and on localized or locally advanced cancers of all types. NRG Oncology’s extensive research organization comprises multidisciplinary investigators, including medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons, physicists, pathologists, and statisticians, and encompasses more than 1,300 research sites located world-wide with predominance in the United States and Canada. NRG Oncology is supported primarily through grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and is one of five research groups in the NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network.

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