Charles B. Scott, Ph.D., Named ACR Director of Statistics
Contact: Tom Wudarski
(215) 574-3205
twudarski@phila.acr.org
Sharon Hartson Stine
(215) 574-3150
shartson@phila.acr.org
Philadelphia –– Charles B. Scott, Ph.D., is the new Senior Director, Statistics for the American College of Radiology. In his position as head of the ACR statistical unit, Scott will direct the statistical efforts for two of the College's major grants from the National Cancer Institute: the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) and the Patterns of Care Study (PCS). Scott has been with the ACR since 1985, most recently as Associate Director, Quality of Life Research. He will continue as the senior statistician for the RTOG Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) grant and as co-principal investigator for a grant to evaluate sildenafil for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in men after prostate cancer therapy.
Scott replaces Thomas F. Pajak, Ph.D., who held this position since 1981. Pajak, who indicated his wish to step down from the senior director position last spring, will remain with the unit as a senior statistician and continue his work with head and neck cancer research, the evaluation of tumor makers and the identification of surrogate endpoints for survival in prostate cancer trials.
"The ACR, in conjunction with the leadership of RTOG and PCS, conducted a national search for the new statistical unit director, and we are quite pleased that Dr. Scott has accepted the position," says Thomas Caldwell, assistant executive director of the ACR.
Walter J. Curran Jr., M.D., group chair of the RTOG and clinical director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University, concurs: "During the 17 years that Dr. Scott has been associated with RTOG he has made significant contributions to the research of the group. His work in developing recursive partitioning analysis classifications of prognostic factors for patients with malignant glioma, non-small cell lung cancer and other malignancies has been instrumental in the design of new clinical trials. Dr. Scott is a recognized expert in the design and analysis of quality-of-life studies within cancer clinical trials. RTOG investigators look forward to continuing the successful collaboration with the ACR statistical unit that flourished under the leadership of Dr. Pajak."
J. Frank Wilson, M.D., principal investigator of the PCS grant, and professor and chair of radiation oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, states, "Dr. Scott's background in outcomes research will complement the work of the PCS investigators."
The Philadelphia Office of the American College of Radiology has managed multi-institutional national cooperative group research for over 25 years. It houses the data management and administrative offices of two NCI-sponsored cooperative groups, the RTOG and the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN). It provides statistical support for RTOG and is the administrative, data management and statistical headquarters for PCS. ACR Philadelphia has also assisted in the conduct of numerous industry-sponsored clinical trials. The staff of ACR Philadelphia is involved in over50 active clinical trials that involve more than 250 of the major research institutions nationally and in Canada. The current research projects of ACR Philadelphia include developing innovative cancer treatment strategies that involve radiation therapy either alone or in conjunction with surgery and/or chemotherapeutic drugs, assessing the role of emerging radiologic technologies, monitoring the quality of available care, and examining quality-of-life issues and their effects on the cancer patient.