January 12 2021
On December 15, 2020, the NRG Oncology Voting PI virtually gathered for their semiannual meeting and elected the newest members to the NRG Oncology Foundation Board of Directors. The Board is comprised of 17 Directors, with 3 elected General Directors. The General Directors will serve a three-year term that is renewable once. Due to the recent completion of terms for two of the previous General Directors, Dr. Charles Geyer and Dr. Julia White, Board Members voted to elect two new members. A nominating committee was appointed by the Board to put forth candidates, and the nominees were presented to the Voting PI at the meeting. Dr. Kristin Higgins and Dr. Priya Rastogi both received a majority of votes. Dr. Higgins and Dr. Rastogi will serve alongside Dr. Paul DiSilvestro, who has been serving in his capacity as a Board General Director since 2018.
Meet the two newest NRG Oncology Board of Director Members:
Kristin Higgins, MD
Dr. Higgins is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, a member of the NRG Oncology’s Lung Cancer Core Committee, Communications Committee, and Protocol Operations Management Committee and is the Principal Investigator of the NRG Oncology/Alliance NRG-LU005 trial testing the addition of atezolizumab to chemoradiation in patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer. Dr. Higgins has been incredibly active within NRG Oncology with several notable accomplishments including her leadership in NRG-LU005’s patient accrual that is currently significantly ahead of schedule, her development of a Principal Investigator toolkit for new investigators to learn NRG Oncology’s processes and available trial materials, and her role in the implementation of a social media ambassador plan for NRG Oncology Meetings and conferences that have NRG Oncology research represented.
Priya Rastogi, MD
Dr. Rastogi is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, a Medical Oncologist at the Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, the Medical Director of the NSABP Foundation, Co-Chair of the NRG Oncology New Investigators Committee, and a member of the NRG Oncology Breast Cancer Committee and Working Group. She has also served on committees with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Rastogi focuses on Phase II and Phase III neoadjuvant and adjuvant breast cancer clinical trials. She has been involved with the development and implementation of several NRG Oncology and NSABP Foundation clinical trials as well as multiple key executive and steering committees for Phase III trials. She has published on breast cancer in high impact medical journals, including the
New England Journal of Medicine and the
Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Congratulations to Drs. Higgins and Rastogi! We look forward to your continued contributions at NRG Oncology. NRG Oncology extends its gratitude to Drs. Geyer and White for their commitment to the Board during their terms and are grateful for their efforts and achievements.