CF3: Clinical Trials and Patient Advocacy Core ABSTRACT Sarcomas are a rare and heterogeneous group of malignancies of mesenchymal origin that affect individuals of all ages. Sarcomas portend a poor prognosis with an estimated 5-year survival rate of 25–35% for patients with metastatic disease. Improvements in treatment for patients with sarcoma have greatly lagged behind those available for the epithelial and hematopoietic malignancies. Sarcoma therefore represents an area of unmet potential in which there is a tremendous need for preclinical and clinical advancement. Clinical research on sarcoma presents unique challenges that are inherent to serving a patient population with a variety of rare diseases; each disease subtype has a unique biologic, pathogenic, genetic, and epigenetic basis that requires a tailored therapeutic strategy. The conduct of clinical trials on sarcoma is a labor-intensive undertaking that requires specific attention, initiatives, infrastructure, and expertise, apart from and in addition to those of any major cancer center. The main objective of the Clinical Trials and Patient Advocacy Core (CF3) is to support the translational and clinical efforts of the MSK SPORE in Soft Tissue Sarcoma. CF3 will be jointly run by key members of the adult and pediatric sarcoma programs at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), ensuring the fluid application of novel therapies across all age groups. CF3 will bridge the adult and pediatric sarcoma programs at MSK; the basic science, translational, and clinical aspects of the various SPORE projects; and the Administrative, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, and Biospecimen and Pathology Cores. Additionally, CF3 will facilitate seamless clinical collaboration with other SPOREs, cooperative/government mechanisms for clinical trials (NCI cooperative groups), pharmaceutical companies, and patient support and advocacy groups. CF3 will provide SPORE investigators with expertise in clinical trial development and administration, support staff for the clinical trials, expertise in and administration of clinical trial correlates, financial support for conducting clinical trials and performing correlative studies, and mechanisms for developing and acquiring novel therapies for rare diseases. CF3, in close collaboration with the other SPORE cores, will provide the much-needed infrastructure to ensure that the translational mission of the SPORE is realized across age groups in a timely, cost-effective, and cooperative manner. CF3 will work to facilitate the engagement and involvement of underrepresented populations in our clinical research. CF3 will also collaborate with patient advocates to ensure that MSK’s sarcoma clinical trial protocols best serve the needs of patients and to develop educational programming for patients and caregivers.