The Brown University Oncology Research Group (BrUOG) was created in 1994 to coordinate clinical cancer research for Brown’s affiliated hospitals and Alpert Medical School faculty. BrUOG’s main mission is to improve cancer care through the implementation of innovative, multidisciplinary cancer clinical trials. BrUOG provides the infrastructure for the efficient development and implementation of these trials, which are created by Brown University faculty. Before BrUOG was founded, there was no unifying body for such research and no infrastructure through which Brown’s myriad scientists and physicians could share, advance, and garner support for their ideas on the treatment of cancer. The founding hospitals of BrUOG are Rhode Island Hospital, The Miriam Hospital, Roger Williams Medical Center, Memorial Hospital, and Women & Infants Hospital, which administer care to the majority of trial patients today. BrUOG, however, is the engine: its administrators and physicians provide support for the initial study concept and validation of trial design, and are responsible for trial administration, safety monitoring, data analysis, and the presentation and publication of findings. The trials sponsored by BrUOG investigate novel, cutting-edge applications of chemotherapy, biologic agents and other cancer treatments. They study anticancer agents in early development, and as such are Phase I trials (which determine the optimally tolerated dose of an anticancer treatment regimen) or Phase II trials (which assesses the potential therapeutic effectiveness). These trials provide essential preliminary data for definitive Phase III trials, often conducted under the auspices of the National Cancer Institute. Our trials are unique because they are investigator-initiated—conceptualized by practicing physicians, not by pharmaceutical companies. As such, these trials represent an incredibly important sector of cancer research. Because medical, radiation and surgical oncologists are deeply familiar with both the latest research and stark realities of cancer, they are an unrivaled source of ideas for novel approaches to treatments.
