St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center is actively committed to clinical research as an integral part of high quality care for patients with cancer. The imprecise nature of cancer treatment means that research will remain a critical component of cancer care. For this reason, St. Vincent's endeavors to advance the understanding of the genetic makeup of cancer cells to develop novel therapies to diagnose, treat, and prevent the disease.

St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center:

• Provides an effective research infrastructure
• Has developed strategic and collaborative relationships with academia, industry and the community
• Emphasizes investigator-initiated, translational and genomic-based clinical research

Collaborative Relationships
Cancer Center physicians participate on national and international scientific advisory boards, and are Principal Investigators of national NCI-sponsored cooperative group studies. Researchers at St. Vincent's are joining forces with other leaders in the national and international scientific community to advance the basic and clinical science of cancer.

Collaborative relationships include:

• NCI-Sponsored National Cooperative Groups:
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG)
• Cancer Trials Support Group (CTSU)
• North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG)
• National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP)
• International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG)
• Mayo Clinic
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
• Frederick P. Siegal, MD, Director of HIV Clinic, SVCMC and Michael Shodell, PhD
• Daniel P. Sulmasy, OFM, MD, PhD, Chairman, Department of Ethics, SVCMC
• The Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC)
• Rockefeller University
• NYU Cancer Center
• Aptium Oncology Research Network (AORN)
• Various pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies

Treatment-Based Clinical Trials
Clinical testing (investigation) of experimental drugs are conducted in 3 phases:

• Phase I trials determine the best way to give an experimental therapy and how much of it can be given safely.
• Phase II trials determine if the experimental drug is safe and effective in the patient population of interest.
• Phase III studies usually compare standard treatments with experimental therapies that appeared to be good in Phase II studies.

Retrospective Studies
A retrospective study is when physicians and researchers analyze existing medical data and records. The studies follow a carefully written protocol or research plan that states the goals of the study, provides a background and rationale for the study, specifies the criteria for inclusion or exclusion of cases, outlines the methods and timings of follow-up, gives a precise definition of the types of anticipated outcome measures, and gives the details of the statistical design.

Tissue Collection
Some tissue sample studies involve tissue samples which are collected, and sent to a Research Tissue Bank (or Repository) which is involved in procuring, processing, storing and/or distributing tissue to multiple investigators expressly for use in research. Other tissue sample studies involve the collection of tissue samples which are sent to individual investigators who are conducting cutting-edge research, especially focusing on the development of novel, targeted therapies.

Translational Research
Translational research is a branch of medical research that attempts to more directly connect basic research to patient care. In the case of drug discovery and development, translational medicine typically refers to the "translation" of basic research into real therapies for real patients. The emphasis is on connecting results from the laboratory to the patient's bedside. This is often called "bench to bedside."