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NCCN Oncology Research Best Practices program to emphasize quality and efficiency in clinical trials operations

By Jennifer M. Hinkel, eBulletin Editor-in-Chief

On October 26 and 27 in Bethesda, Maryland, NCCN will convene a conference focused on best practices in conducting oncology clinical trials and research. This program, the NCCN Oncology Research Best Practices (ORBP) Conference, is aimed to bring together a wide audience of research clinicians and professionals, including research nurses, institutional review board (IRB) members, research administrators and managers, academics, ethicists, government regulators, and industry.

The overarching theme of the conference is identifying areas in the clinical trials process where improvements can be made. The conference is also designed to foster dialogue among multi-disciplinary research professionals.

“In order to bring innovative therapies to patients quickly, we have to look at conducting high-quality clinical research trials as efficiently and expediently as possible. This best practices conference is a step towards standardizing and improving efficiencies,” said Diane Paul, MS, RN, Vice President of the Oncology Research Program at NCCN.

Mark Barnes, JD, a national expert on clinical research ethics, practice, and compliance, will deliver the keynote address at the NCCN ORBP conference, speaking on major issues in conducting clinical trials. Mr. Barnes is the Managing Director of Huron Consulting Group and a regular consultant and speaker on issues related to research and clinical trials, including the ethics of research, stem cell and genetic research, and medical privacy. He has also served as the executive vice president and chief administrative officer of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital prior to becoming a consultant.

In the general sessions, panel discussions will address operational “nuts and bolts” issues such as budgeting, billing, reimbursement, and contracting issues, as well as larger policy and environmental issues that are increasingly impacting the design and conduct of clinical research, such as comparative effectiveness and managing potential conflicts of interest. In addition, interactive “breakout” groups will best practices in biospecimens and biorepositories, recommendations for conducting international and multi-institutional research, and issues related to the management of serious adverse events (SAEs). A special session will address process improvement in clinical trials operations, emphasizing increased efficiencies in the start-up of trials.

The conference will be hosted by NCCN at the Bethesda Marriott on October 26 – 27, 2009, and is supported with educational grants from from Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company and sanofi-aventis, US.. For more information and to view the program agenda, please visit the NCCN Oncology Research Best Practices Conference™ page.

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