Cultivating programmatic efforts to optimize the conduct and implementation of NCI-funded clinical trials

Dr. Cathy Eng is an exemplary Clinician Scientist who, throughout her career, has held numerous roles within the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) and is viewed, by her peers, to be one of the leading senior female NCTN members in the field of gastrointestinal (GI) oncology. Dr. Eng has participated in NCI-funded clinical

research since her fellowship and continues to provide support for the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) through development of clinical trials, service engagement and leadership, and mentorship. Dr. Eng has led the development of multiple trials within NCTN and Experimental Therapeutic Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN), of

which two have changed the treatment landscape for anal cancer: EA2133, identified a new chemotherapy standard in treatment-naïve metastatic patients; NCI9673 Part A resulted in a change in national guidelines for the role of immune checkpoint inhibition in refractory metastatic patients. Dr. Eng is the national PI of EA2176,

which is the first NCI-sponsored phase III trial in metastatic treatment-naïve patients exploring chemotherapy plus immune checkpoint inhibition. Dr. Eng has been a contributing member to ECOG-ACRIN and SWOG since 2006, serving in multiple leadership roles for the NCTN including lead PI of the NCTN Lead Academic

Participating Site (LAPS) grant while at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Following her transition to Vanderbilt, she continued to serve as the institutional SWOG PI and Vice-Chair of the SWOG GI Committee. In 2021, she was nominated by her peers to serve as the co-Chair of the NCI Gastrointestinal Steering Committee. In this role,

she provides insight and oversight of all NCTN phase II/III GI concepts in development. She is also co-leading a new working group that is focused on incorporating circulating tumor DNA biomarker studies in future NCTN trials. For continuity of high- quality clinical research, it is imperative that successful Clinician Scientists mentor

early career faculty. Dr. Eng has served as a mentor for several NCTN mentees include Drs. Van Morris, Jennifer Dorth, Anwaar Saeed, Rajiv Agarwal, and Kristen Ciombor all impactful contributors to NCI-sponsored clinical research. In her new role for the cancer center, Dr. Eng is now the Director for Strategic Relations which allows

her to interact regularly with multidisciplinary leadership institution-wide with an overarching shared objective of increasing clinical trial engagement and enrolment with a critical component being NCI-sponsored clinical efforts given the association with her current role as NCI GI Steering Committee Co-Chair, institutional SWOG PI, and

the impact on the UM1, LAPS UG1 and the CCSG. The R50 grant affords the ability of Dr. Eng to continue to participate and expand on NCI-sponsored clinical trials research efforts through development of novel trials with early and mid-career faculty, executive administration, and leadership roles both internally at Vanderbilt, within

the NCTN Network and the NCI to help guide the next generation of Clinician Scientists so that they may also develop into successful contributors to their own institutions and at the national level for all NCI-sponsored clinical cancer research.