About the Consortium
The Kidney Cancer Research Consortium is comprised of seven partner institutions at top academic research institutions across the country.
The pooled expertise of Consortium members ensures the highest quality of clinical study design, accelerated execution of clinical trials, cost-effective access to multiple research centers, and accurate interpretation and reporting of results.
Our Vision
KCRC will become the premier renal cell carcinoma clinical research platform by providing informatics-enabled solutions to academic and industry partners.
With seven partner institutions, each with a strong background of scientific and clinical leadership in RCC research, the Kidney Cancer Research Consortium has the unique infrastructure required to perform multicenter, tissue-rich, transformative clinical trials.
Our Aim
Our emerging understanding of the interaction between tumor-cell autonomous molecular features and the tumor microenvironment, as well as the marked differences in biology of RCC by histological subtype, requires the development of agents and strategies appropriate to specific disease states and settings.
The Consortium is a collaborative effort based on:
- development of clinical trials that span the complexity of the disease,
- development and maintenance of robust infrastructure that allows for the execution of these trials,
- development of a translational research infrastructure that will enhance and complement the clinical data generated by these trials, and
- institutional support for the conduct of such translationally-enhanced clinical investigation.
Find a trial or request an appointment at Consortium sites
University of Pennsylvania
MD Anderson
University of Michigan
Beth Israel Deaconess
Vanderbilt University
Duke University
UT Southwestern
The Kidney Cancer Research Consortium Members
The Consortium members have over 100 years of combined experience in kidney cancer clinical research. KCRC brings an unmatched commitment to and expertise to RCC trials.
Daniel George, M.D.
Dr. George oversees a large clinical research team at Duke focused on developing therapy and improving care and outcomes for patients with urologic cancers. His work involves both interventional trials with new and emerging therapies, as well as diagnostic tests and markers of cancer biology, response, and outcome.
Naomi Haas, M.D.
Dr. Haas is an international expert in the conduct and design of adjuvant clinical trials for kidney cancer, as well as a national expert in prostate and kidney cancer therapeutics. She is the director of the Prostate and Kidney Cancer Program at UPenn, as well as co-leader of the Cancer Therapeutics Program at Abramson Cancer Center.
Hans Hammers, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Hammers is a nationally and internationally recognized medical oncologist who focuses primarily on treating kidney cancer. Dr. Hammers is an international thought leader in immunotherapy, a form of treatment that boosts the body’s own immune defenses to help fight cancer – and one that is changing the kidney cancer landscape.
Eric Jonasch, M.D.
Dr. Jonasch leads the Consortium. He is a professor in the Department of GU Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Jonasch’s research focuses on clear-cell RCC and VHL with an interest in replication stress and microenvironmental determinants of resistance to therapy.
David McDermott, M.D.
Dr. McDermott is a professor of medicine at Harvard, as well as the co-leader of the Kidney Cancer program at Dana-Farber/HCC. He focuses on identifying meaningful biomarkers for early detection and prognosis, underlying mechanisms of disease biology, and novel therapeutic targets for various kidney cancer populations.
Brian Rini, M.D.
Dr. Rini is an internationally recognized leader in genitourinary oncology, kidney cancer, and clinical drug development. He is an Ingram Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University in the deperatments of hematology and oncology, where he leads kidney cancer clinical research efforts, and also serves as the Chief of Clinical Trials.
Ulka Vaishampayan, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Vaishampayan is the Director of the Phase I program at the Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI. Dr. Vaishampayan is a Professor of Internal Medicine and her research is primarily in translational drug development and early phase clinical trials in cancer with a focus on genitourinary malignancies.
Information for Patients
Patients with kidney cancer may benefit from participation in clinical trials at any point in their treatment. Read on for more information and to locate enrolling trials.
Research News
Kidney cancer research is a rapidly-advancing area of oncology. Read about the latest research coming from Consortium sites and others researching treatment for RCC.