How We Help
We are now seeing subsets of patients with kidney cancer consistently achieving complete response to agents that can be administered in an outpatient setting with an acceptable toxicity profile. This new reality provides us with the previously unavailable opportunity to analyze and expand on these remarkable clinical results.
To achieve this goal, we need to perform innovative, tissue-rich clinical trials that permit the efficient measurement and modulation of the tumor microenvironment using innovative agents and measurement tools.
Moving from a drug-centric to a patient-centric treatment paradigm in RCC is only possible through a coordinated effort by academic centers of excellence that possess the physical resources and human capital required to successfully execute these trials and analyze the data that arise from them.
This is what the Kidney Cancer Research Consortium does.
Patient Access
A challenge in researching kidney cancer treatments, particularly those for rare subtypes, is recruiting and retaining a sufficient volume of patients, including patients from diverse and underrepresented populations.
The cancer centers of the KCRC include some of the highest-volume renal cell carcinoma clinical trial sites in the country. The Consortium has the ability to quickly open trials across multiple sites, with the assurance of high quality trial execution and monitoring.
Leaders in the Field
The KCRC clinical trial sites are headed by the nation’s leading renal cell carcinoma researchers.
Each member of the Kidney Cancer Research Consortium has an extensive background of scientific and clinical leadership in RCC. Areas of expertise include:
Immunology
HIF Biology
Translational Science
Biomarker Development
Data Management
Informatics-Enabled Efficiency
By applying the Prometheus clinical trial management platform and application programming interfaces, we optimize data entry and protocol safety.
Centralized Institutional Review
We apply time saving strategies to accelerate trial initiation.
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.
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.
Hans Hammers, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Hammers is a nationally and internationally recognized medical oncologist focusing primarily on 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.