NRG Oncology PSC 2025 Winter Meeting Wrap Up

02/18/2025

Written by: Erin McCaig RN, BSN from Cancer Research for the Ozarks

On behalf of the Protocol Support Committee (PSC), we would like to thank everyone who attended the NRG Oncology Semiannual Meeting in balmy Phoenix. There were 134 in-person attendees and 187 virtual attendees at the PSC Nurse/CRA Introduction to Clinical Trials: Principles of Clinical Trial Management Thursday morning. There were 72 in-person attendees and 122 virtual attendees at the afternoon Introductions to Clinical Trials Discussion Sessions. Our Friday morning PSC Continuing Education Sessions saw 108 in-person attendees and 166 virtual attendees.

A huge thank you is owed to NRG Oncology for their commitment to offering a virtual option for our continuing education sessions. And a huge congratulations are owed to our wonderful Education & Training Subcommittee led by Chair, Cindy Licavoli, along with Vice Chairs Marissa Weiss, and Jacqueline Ludwig, as well as our NRG Oncology liaison, Kristen Kotsko, for putting on two days of fabulous programming.

Thursday morning’s education session got off to a great start with a warm welcome from Sharon Hartson Stine, NRG Oncology Executive Director. Sharon provided an overview of NRG Oncology’s inception and current operational status. Karan Boparai highlighted NRG Oncology Membership and thanked attendees for their contribution for NRG’s continued success. Judy Langer walked us through the history of our federal regulations and the impact regulatory affairs has on our work today. Judy started in biblical times which left me wondering if other cultural and/or religious practices have ancient documentation of randomized clinical trials?

Next up, Sara McCartney discussed Expedited Adverse Event Reporting, including changes to 24-hour reporting for all SAE’s and reviewed the new streamlined guidelines for SAE reporting. Erica Gray’s pre-corded presentation reminded us that our paper DARF’s expire this month and new DARF’s are currently available on the PMB website. Joseph Mroziak provided much appreciated information on RAVE training and Mary Jo Antonelli educated us all on NRG Quality Assurance Audit readiness. Lisa Beaverson reminded us of the importance of biospecimen collection and even more importantly, to use unexpired collections kits and blood tubes when collecting research samples. Dr. Shannon Puhalla presented RECIST criteria, a crowd favorite. The takeaway message is to collaborate with your radiologist and investigator to ensure reproducible lesions are followed and to record no more than 2 lesions per organ. Nancy Fusco highlighted our Mentorship program and thanked our wonderful Mentors for the incredible work they do each day. She also reminded attendees that resources are available on the NRG Oncology website. Kandie Dempsey closed out our morning with a quick update on Patient Reported Outcome Compliance.

The Thursday afternoon Discussion sessions were highly attended and covered a variety of topics, including Patient Screening & Enrollment; Treatment Modalities in Clinical Trial Management; Data Management; and a crowd favorite, Adverse Event Reporting. There was thoughtful discussion and enthusiastic participation by many! Thank you to the many PSC members who participated in topic presentations and meeting coordination: Cindy Licavoli, Erin McCaig, Tiffany Elsea, Terry Thomas, Pamela Mason, Alison Ivey, Alex Kudryashev, Mark Fischer, Rachel Lacy, Cortney Montgomery, Stacey Lewis, and Brittany Lansford. A huge THANKS is owed to Jackie Ludwig, our IT expert, who ran our virtual sessions, monitored the chat, and kept us organized and on time throughout the afternoon, despite internet connection issues.

Friday’s PSC Continuing Education Session, facilitated by Jackie Ludwig, with assistance from Alison Ivey, started with a Mentorship & Colleague Retention panel presentation by Edward Bleta, Pamela Mason and Erik Harden. These three reminded us that praise, recognition, and appreciation for one another often goes further than financial compensation. I hope you all take a few minutes to recognize a co-worker after reading this article. Dr. Thomas George followed our panel discussion with a presentation on Early Onset Colorectal Cancer & the Microbiome. How many of you texted your energy drinking friends and family members after that one? Wow! What an excellent, thought-provoking presentation. Next, we heard a pre-recorded presentation from pharmacist, Kayla Dye. Kayla reviewed PMB and Aurora Updates. Hopefully most every site has used Aurora by now. Speaking from personal experience, Aurora is a colorful and intuitive website! Following a short break, Dr. Shannon Jones McCall presented Pathology 101. I learned so much from Dr. McCall’s presentation. Research is often a silo approach with so many experts scattered throughout a campus or healthcare system. It is challenging to say the least, but Dr. McCall reminded me how important each piece is to the clinical trial continuum. It isn’t merely checking off the to-do list that the FFPE or slides were sent, it is ensuring that the patient and care team understand that this may be the only tissue left for future decisions to be made. Ultimately, it is on all of us to work together to help the patient make the best decision for themselves with the most up to date information available. Our morning came to close with an emotional and thoughtful panel presentation: Onboarding New CRP’s by Tiffany Elsea and Stacey Lewis. I was reminded of my “why” and left the meeting feeling renewed in my mission to serve and passion for oncology research.

Thank you to everyone who participated by presenting, facilitating, and asking questions. So much valuable information was presented! You can find pdfs of the slide presentations and recordings for all PSC sessions at this link (login required):

Protocol Support Committee Materials

We are excited to report the Protocol Support Committee obtained approval for a total of 11.25 continuing education contact hours through the Virginia Nursing Association for our Winter 2025 PSC programing. A reminder to complete the evaluations, certificates will be emailed on 2/18/2025. For any questions, contact balld@nrgoncology.org

Mark your calendars for our next NRG Oncology Semiannual meeting July 24-26, 2025, in Washington, DC. Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas about topics of interest for future meetings by emailing us at NRG-PSC@nrgoncology.org. Your input and participation are always encouraged and welcomed!

Don’t forget: If you are interested in participating in our innovative Mentorship program, as either a mentor or mentee, we encourage you to visit our website at the following link: Introductory Materials or email directly: pscmentorship@NRGOncology.org. This program works to provide resources, support, and guidance for research nurses and CRAs. Also, if you are interested in being a member of one of the PSC subcommittees watch for the election process in September.