Collaboration
Caris Life Sciences® founded the Precision Oncology Alliance™ (POA) to promote the study and appropriate use of molecular testing in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Precision Oncology Alliance
The Caris Precision Oncology Alliance™ (POA) convenes the brightest minds in oncology, cancer care, clinical research, and drug development. The vision statement of the POA is to build the best-in-class collaborative research network focusing on precision oncology to identify predictive and prognostic markers that help in improving the outcomes and clinical care of patients with cancer. The POA aims to deliver molecular science solutions to promote clinical trials that cultivate combined clinical-genomic data and collaborative research to advance the science of cancer care. The alliance is comprised of a growing network of leading cancer centers from across the country that demonstrate a commitment to precision medicine and work collaboratively to:
- Integrate molecular testing where appropriate into cancer care and patient treatment management
- Collaborate on research studies and clinical trials
- Track longitudinal clinical outcomes, contribute data, and correlate outcomes with molecular clinical demographic attributes
- Publish innovative abstracts and manuscripts in top-tier journals promoting academic advancement in molecular profiling and its impact on clinical care
It’s important for oncologists and patients to know that their data is available to them for analysis. Our database of clinical outcomes is populated with anonymized data from POA member institutions and from commercially available data. This continuous feedback loop between finding new biomarkers and interpreting their significance, provides insights for drug developers, which ultimately feeds back into our system and directly helps patients.
In addition to creating a thought leadership network to develop best practices and guidelines for integrating molecular profiling into patient treatment management, POA members:
- Utilize the Caris Molecular Intelligence® platform to identify therapy options and clinical trial opportunities based on the unique molecular characteristics of a patient’s tumor.
- Contribute to the Caris database. We are increasingly able to link to their electronic medical records to augment their clinical outcomes data with our molecular data in a user interface that allows analysis of the combined data set.
- Leverage the network to conduct research and to generate and publish clinical outcomes data.
- Leverage available data to participate in pharma-sponsored precision oncology research studies and enhance the ability to efficiently conduct investigator-initiated trials.
- Explore cost-effectiveness studies and analyses leveraging Caris data.
- Partner with payors and regulatory bodies to establish value-based reimbursement.
POA Leadership
Executive Committee
The Caris Precision Oncology Alliance™ (POA) Executive Committee establishes appropriate molecular testing principles to serve as guidelines for the consistent application of tumor profiling across the oncology community. The Executive Committee facilitates collaborative research studies across the POA and coordinates outcome tracking initiatives to generate and document additional medical evidence for the appropriate use and impact of profiling. The Executive Committee of the POA serves as a resource to Caris leadership helping to drive research strategy and direction.
Chadi Nabhan MD, MBA, FACP
Chairman, Precision Oncology Alliance
Lee Schwartzberg, MD, FACP
Executive Director, West Cancer Center Division Chief, Hematology Oncology, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center
John L. Marshall, MD
Chief, Division Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, Georgetown University Professor of Medicine and Oncology, Georgetown University
Elisabeth Heath, MD
Associate Center Director for Translational Sciences, Karmanos Cancer Institute
Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, FACP
Associate Director for Clinical Research, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
Thomas Herzog, MD
Deputy Director, University of Cincinnati Cancer Institute and The Barrett Cancer Center
Wafik El-Deiry, MD, PhD, FACP
Associate Dean for Oncologic Sciences, Brown University
POA Tumor Groups
The POA Tumor Groups identify leadership opportunities, author publications, and develop protocols.
Breast
Antoinette Tan, MD, MHS
Carolinas HealthCare System, Levine Cancer Institute
Carolinas HealthCare System, Levine Cancer Institute
Central Nervous System
David Ashley, MBBS, PhD
Professor of Neurosurgery, Duke University
Professor of Neurosurgery, Duke University
Cutaneous Oncology
Ari VanderWalde, MD, MPH, Mbioeth
Director, Clinical Research, West Cancer Center
Director, Clinical Research, West Cancer Center
Gastrointestinal
Anthony Shields, MD, PhD
Karmanos Cancer Center Institute
Karmanos Cancer Center Institute
Genitourinary
Elisabeth Heath, MD
Associate Center Director for Translational Sciences, Karmanos Cancer Institute
Associate Center Director for Translational Sciences, Karmanos Cancer Institute
Gynecologic
Jubilee Brown, MD
Carolinas HealthCare System, Levine Cancer Institute
Carolinas HealthCare System, Levine Cancer Institute
Head and Neck
Ammar Sukari MD
Karmanos Cancer Institute
Karmanos Cancer Institute
Head and Neck
Trisha Wise-Draper, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Cincinnati Cancer Institute
Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Cincinnati Cancer Institute
Leukemia
Jay Yang, MD
Karmanos Cancer Institute
Karmanos Cancer Institute
Global Oncology
Gilberto Lopes, MD
Associate Director of Oncology, International, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Miami
Associate Director of Oncology, International, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Miami
Translational
Wafik El-Deiry, MD, PhD, FACP
Associate Dean for Oncology, Brown University
Associate Dean for Oncology, Brown University
Sarcoma
Jonathan Trent, MD, PhD
Associate Director for Clinical Research, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Miami
Associate Director for Clinical Research, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Miami
Thoracic
Edward Kim, MD
Carolinas HealthCare System, Levine Cancer Institute
Carolinas HealthCare System, Levine Cancer Institute
POA Members
The Caris Precision Oncology Alliance™ consists of leading cancer centers around the world that are committed to precision medicine and work collaboratively to advance the delivery of molecular testing and establish standards of care for profiling solid tumors.
POA Publications
Every day, new discoveries confirm the increasing and important role biomarker analysis and tumor profiling have in personalized cancer care. We contribute to the body of research in oncology to advance the understanding of molecular science and further enable the delivery of precision medicine.