Alliance Cancer Control Program Pilot Project Award

The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology makes available funds to support pilot projects in the Cancer Control Program (CCP), including cancer prevention, risk assessment, screening, symptom intervention, surveillance, health outcomes research, or specific population groups, including minority and underserved, older adult, or adolescent and young adult populations. The purpose of these pilot projects is to generate preliminary data that will lead to Alliance protocols. These pilot project funds are available from the Alliance NCORP Research Base grant, which is supported by the NCI Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) and are available for pilot projects that can be completed within one year.

Applicants and their respective institutions must be Alliance members, and applicants must be a member of an Alliance CCP committee. Interested applicants must submit a letter of intent (LOI) to the Alliance CCP Deputy Director to confirm institutional and individual Alliance membership, as well as CCP committee membership.

Eligible applicants will be invited to submit an application in the form of a 3-5 page concept to conduct a CCP pilot clinical trial. Proposals should be written using 11-point (or larger) font in either Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype or Georgia typeface (black font color) with at least 0.5 inch margins on all sides.

The concept should follow the following format: 

  • Title page (include address, phone number, and preferred e-mail address for PI) (not included in page limit)
  • Background (include rationale and significance)
  • Study objectives
  • Study plan (include schema and eligibility criteria)
  • Data analysis plan
  • Feasibility (provide evidence that study can reach accrual goal within six months of the start of funding)
  • Description of how this pilot study will lead to an Alliance protocol in the future
  • Description of research environment
  • References (not included in page limit)

In addition to the concept, applications should include a biographical sketch of the PI(s), summary of Other Support for the PI(s), and a budget (following the PHS 398 budget format, including the Detailed Budget for Initial Budget Period AND the Checklist Form page) that may request up to $200,000 in total costs (including institutional indirect costs) with a budget justification. Awardees must budget for and attend at least one Alliance Group meeting to present the results of their research. Funds cannot be used for PI (or co-investigator) salary support, or salary support for Alliance Central Office staff. Please note, funding is released when pre-defined milestones are met, no exceptions. Therefore, please verify with your institution that they will be able to accept these milestone payment terms.

A checklist and FAQs are provided to ensure applicants submit a complete application.

Applications that propose to conduct the pilot trial as a multi-institutional study (rather than as a single institution study), that include an NCORP community or minority/ underserved community site and that have the potential to become a future Alliance protocol will be given highest priority. Note: These pilot studies will not be considered Alliance protocols, and as such, will not be assigned a protocol number or be eligible for cancer control credits/reimbursements or per-case payments for the participating site(s).

Complete applicants must be submitted to the CCP Deputy Director via e-mail. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their proposal to their local IRB for approval at the time the application is submitted to the Alliance CCP for review to reduce time to activation, if funded. If the study is not activated within the first 12 months after funding is awarded, the study will be shut down.

If the submitted application is not adherent to the requirements described above or if the submission is late, it will not be reviewed.

Questions about the application process should be addressed to Electra Paskett, PhD, Alliance Cancer Control Program Deputy Director at electra.paskett@osumc.edu or 614-293-7713.


Year Seven | Pilot Project Award Recipient

  • Kevin Cassel, DrPH, MPH (Hawaii Minority/Underserved NCORP)
    "Improving Quality of Life for Colon Cancer Patients and Their Caregivers"

Year Six | Pilot Project Award Recipients

  • Audrey Calderwood, MD, MS (Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center)
    "Non-invasive Stool Testing (FIT) for Surveillance of Colonic Neoplasia in Older Adults”
  • Tanya M. Wildes, MD, MSCI (Washington University School of Medicine)
    ”Adherence to Lenalidomide in Older Adults with Multiple Myeloma”

Year Five | Pilot Project Award Recipients

  • Rachel Freedman, MD (Dana-Farber)
    “‘ADVANCE’ (A Pilot Trial) ADjuVANt Chemotherapy in the Elderly: Developing and Evaluating Lower-Toxicity Chemotherapy Options for Older Patients with Breast Cancer”
  • Nathan Staff, MD and Charles Loprinzi, MD (Mayo Clinic)
    ”A Pilot Trial of Fingolimod for Prevention or Treatment of Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathy”
  • Lisa Yee, MD (City of Hope) and Maryam Lustberg, MD (Ohio State)
    “Curcumin for Breast Cancer Survivors with Aromatase Inhibitor-induced Joint Arthropathy: A Randomized Double-blinded Controlled Pilot Study”

Year Four | Pilot Project Award Recipients

  • Kathleen Lyons, ScD, Andrew Ray, PhD and David Finley, MD (Norris Cotton Cancer Center)
    "A remotely supervised exercise program for lung cancer patients undergoing chemoradiation"
  • Allison Quick, MD and Maryam Lustberg, MD (Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center)
    "Fractional CO2 laser therapy for survivors of gynecologic malignancies"

Year Three | Pilot Project Award Recipients

  • Aminah Jatoi, MD (Mayo Clinic)
    "Lipids to prevent carboplatin hypersensitivity reactions"
  • Rudolph Navari, MD, PhD (Northern Indiana Oncology Associates)
    "Olanzapine for the treatment of chronic nausea and/or vomiting, unrelated to chemotherapy or radiation, in advanced cancer patients: A pilot, dose-finding trial"
  • Nitin Pagedar, MD and Richard Hoffman, MD (University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine)
    "Supporting head and neck cancer survivors in making shared decisions for lung cancer screening"

Year Two | Pilot Project Award Recipient

  • William Wood, MD, MPH (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
    ”Assessing physical fitness in cancer patients with cardiopulmonary exercise testing and wearable data generation: An Alliance pilot study proposal”

Year One | Pilot Project Award Recipients

  • Arti Gaur, PhD and Konstantin Dragnev, MD (Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center)
    "MicroRNAs as biomarkers of treatment efficacy and toxicity in gioblastoma patients"
  • Aminah Jatoi, MD (Mayo Clinic) and Kendrith Rowland, MD (Carle Clinic)
    "Curcumin + piperine for ureteral stent-induced symptoms in older cancer patients:  A pilot study to derive a safe, optimal biological dose"
  • Hyung Kim, MD (Cedars Sinai Medical Center)
    "Cholesterol lowering intervention for prostate cancer active surveillance"