Promoting a Culture Of Innovation, Mentorship, Diversity and Opportunity in NCI Sponsored Clinical Research: NCI Research Specialist (Clinician Scientist) Award Application of Janice M. Mehnert, M.D.

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Janice M. Mehnert, M.D., is the Associate Director (AD) for Clinical Research, Director, Melanoma and Cutaneous Oncology and a tenured Professor of Medicine at the Perlmutter Cancer Center (PCC) of NYU Langone Health/NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Here, she engages in significant efforts to promote NCI-sponsored clinical research. She is active within NCI sponsored clinical trials networks, including the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN), where she serves as the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group-American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ECOG-ACRIN) Melanoma and Skin Committee Co-Chair, and the Early Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ET-CTN), where she serves as site PI overseeing PCC’s ET-CTN clinical trial efforts. She has conducted and published multiple investigator initiated protocols, many with NCI support, and demonstrated a track record of mentoring junior investigators. As AD, Dr. Mehnert is responsible for the supervision of clinical trial operations in Manhattan, Long Island (LI), and Bellevue Hospital Center (overseeing site Medical Directors and Clinical Trials Office (CTO) Administrative Directors and staff), CTO resource allocation, prioritization of PCC’s research protocols and oversight of PCC’s 12 Disease Management Groups (DMGs). She also completes strategic planning for future clinical research activities including those at PCC’s Brooklyn campus. Since her recruitment to PCC, she has spearheaded the reorganization of the clinical research infrastructure, decreased trial activation timelines, and assembled resources to support Phase I trial activity at PCC-LI. She engaged PCC in NCI-sponsored initiatives to promote equitable access to clinical trials. She successfully competed for funding for the Create Access to Targeted Cancer Therapy for Underserved Populations (CATCH-UP) Program, which allowed her to rapidly activate 20 ET-CTN trials and assemble a prescreening infrastructure to navigate racially and ethnically diverse and underserved patients to ET-CTN protocols. She subsequently led the integration of PCC into the Dana Farber-Harvard Cancer Center Lead Academic Organization (UM1CA186709) as an Affiliate Organization. In this application, she outlines plans to 1) Promote opportunities for PCC investigators to lead NCI- sponsored clinical trials; 2) Promote accrual to NCI sponsored trials, including the submission of a NCTN Lead Academic Participating Site (LAPS) grant, 3) Promote equitable access to clinical trials and 4) Promote equitable access to research opportunities. She also outlines plans to improve communication of trial offerings, increase access to precision medicine trials, and develop information technology approaches to streamline research processes. The R50 Clinical Research Specialist Award would allow PCC to protect Dr. Mehnert’s time to pursue these research activities. Her accomplishment of these goals will increase access for PCC investigators and PCC patients to NCI sponsored trials and clinical research opportunities, a significant reward for the PCC clinical research enterprise and the NCI clinical research mission.