NCI Early Career Cancer Clinical Investigator Award

Project Summary/Abstract With support from the NCI Early Career Investigator Award, Dr. Rifaquat Rahman aims to focus on the development of clinical trials while exploring the use of novel clinical trial designs to identify therapies that can improve the outcomes of patients with adult gliomas. Specifically, this will include the continued development of a large cooperative group phase 3 trial evaluating the use of IDH inhibitors for IDH- mutant anaplastic astrocytomas, as well as several ongoing trials evaluating novel treatment approaches for glioblastoma. Furthermore, he will lead a national initiative to develop data-sharing mechanisms in the field of neuro-oncology. This initiative will also facilitate collaboration to develop, explore and validate the use of novel clinical trial designs that can increase the efficiency of the clinical trials in glioblastoma and accelerate drug development such as the use of adaptive platform trials and external control arms. This national initiative, along with Dr. Rahman’s ongoing validation research of these novel trial designs, has potential to improve the conduct of clinical trials, to enable data sharing in the field of neuro- oncology and to serve as a model for other disease sites in oncology. Dr. Rahman will continue efforts for collaborative, scientifically rigorous and cutting-edge clinical trial program for adult IDH-mutant and IDH-wildtype gliomas with the support of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. He will also become more involved in cancer center activities, attend relevant conferences and expand his roles within the NCI clinical trial network. As part of his career development as a leading clinical investigator, Dr. Rahman will continue to be dedicated to the mentorship of medical students, residents and fellows. In summary, Dr. Rahman will greatly benefit from the support of the NCI Early Career Investigator Award in his career goals to succeed as a cancer investigator with a focus on clinical trials and therapeutic development for adult gliomas.