August 14 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 Washington, DC. There were 104 in-person attendees and 169 virtual attendees at the PSC Nurse/CRA Continuing Education Session Thursday morning. There were 340 table visits and 171 virtual attendees at the afternoon Roundtable Discussions. The PSC Protocol Spotlight session on Friday morning included 70 in-person and 148 virtual attendees.
A thank you is owed to NRG Oncology for their commitment to offering a virtual option for our continuing education sessions. And 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 opened with a warm welcome from Sharon Hartson Stine, NRG Oncology Executive Director. Sharon shared a somber update on NRG’s cost cutting measures and current financial position, followed by new NRG Oncology leadership introductions, and highlighted the perfect score of 10 awarded on NRG’s application. Kandie Dempsey discussed patient reported outcomes (PROs), inception to impact, and reminded attendees the importance completing the PRO coversheets, even if patients complete them electronically. Dr. Liu shared her excitement for pragmatic clinical trials and explained why the cooperative groups are well positioned to develop and implement pragmatic studies. Kimberly Williams reminded us why we choose research and the importance of offering every patient an opportunity to participate in a clinical trial. Elaina Harper discussed the logistics of data management for pragmatic trials and used NRG-GY019 as a comparison for streamlined data collection. Sara McCartney reminded us of 24-hour reporting for all SAE’s and reinforced it being a two-step process now. Also, CTCAE 6.0 was released Tuesday.
Cindy Licavoli reviewed NRG Oncology Protocol Support Committee’s new structure and leadership changes. 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. Grace Mishkin shared CTEP webpage updates and Caroline Porter provided CSTU updates. Mary Jo Antonelli delivered NRG Oncology Quality Assurance Updates. Dr. George closed out our morning with a dynamic presentation on breakthroughs and bold futures in cancer treatment. We learned that we’ve come a long way from the days of mustard gas.
The PSC hosted its fourth “Lunch and Learn”, an interactive session in which 67 in-person attendees discussed preset questions mostly related to pregnancy and prisoners. We shared ideas and processes with the larger group. It was a lively, collaborative, and educational lunch which offered many great takeaways for the attendees.
The Thursday afternoon Roundtable Discussion session was highly attended and offered a variety of topics for discussion. Session topics included Organizing Your Workday, Study Start Up, Site Administration and Onboarding New Coordinators, in addition to crowd favorites such as Adverse Event Reporting, Quality Assurance and disease specific protocol review. 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, Pam Mason, Alex Kudryashev, Haley Kelly, Mahjabin Noroozi, Belinda Buehl, Elena Nelson, Cortney Montgomery, Alison Ivey, Timmy Guinn, and Marissa Weiss.
Friday’s PSC Protocol Spotlight Session, facilitated by Cindy Licavoli and Jaqueline Ludwig, highlighted protocols NRG-CC015, NRG-GY036 & NRG-BR009. 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 10 continuing education contact hours through the Virginia Nursing Association for our Summer 2025 PSC programing. A reminder to complete the evaluations, certificates will be emailed to you. For any questions, contact balld@nrgoncology.org.
Mark your calendars for our next NRG Oncology Semiannual meeting January 22-24, 2026, in San Francisco, CA. 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 the NRG Oncology website ➡️ About Us ➡️ Mentorship Programs ➡️ Clinical Research Coordinator Mentor Program or email directly: pscmentorship@NRGOncology.org. This program works to provide resources, support, and guidance for research nurses and CRAs.
Lastly, if you are interested in being a member of one of the PSC subcommittees watch for the election process this fall.