# Cancer Therapeutics Research Program

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2020 · $77,523

## Abstract

Project Summary 
The Cancer Therapeutics Program has been continuously approved by the NCI CCSG since 1993. The 
Program seeks to improve patient outcomes through the rapid development of novel research ideas which are 
translatable to the clinical arena and ideally can be individualized to disease and patient-specific settings. The 
Programmatic goals are as follows: 1) Bring forward novel preclinical breakthroughs from the bench to the 
bedside and bring relevant cancer therapeutics from the clinic to the lab in order to enhance the mechanistic 
understanding of cancer therapeutics; 2) Take new drugs from first-in-human Phase I trials to disease-specific 
clinical trials that will have a significant impact on establishing new standards of care; and 3) Develop 
pharmacodynamic and predictive markers to select the best drugs for the patients most likely to respond. 
These goals are applied across four research themes: targeted therapies, combinations to overcome 
resistance, immunotherapy, and predictive and pharmacodynamic biomarkers. This Program, which was rated 
as “Excellent” at the time of the prior CCSG renewal application, is led by Program Co-Leaders Drs. Ravi 
Amaravadi and Naomi Haas, who were jointly appointed in September 2013. They succeed Drs. Peter 
O'Dwyer and Corey Langer, who were asked to become leaders of new cross-Programmatic translational 
research Initiatives in pancreatic and lung cancer, respectively. The new Co-Leaders were chosen because 
they have complementary skill sets that match the future directions of the Program. Dr. Amaravadi has 
expertise in the preclinical-to-translational space, and Dr. Haas has expertise in taking Phase I studies into 
disease-specific studies and developing multi-institution clinical trials. Drs. Amaravadi and Haas are NCI- 
funded researchers who bring their scientific vision, innovativeness and energy to this Program, which includes 
an emphasis on basic and translational research. The 25 Program members represent 10 departments in the 
Perelman School of Medicine. During the current project period, translational research has continued to be a 
major focus. Members currently have $6.7M in annual research grant funding (direct costs), of which $3.6M is 
peer-reviewed and $2.4M is NCI-funded. There have been a total of 361 cancer-related publications authored 
by Program members during the project period. Of these, 12% are intra-Programmatic, 39% are inter- 
Programmatic and 57% are multi-institutional.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9836831
- **Project number:** 5P30CA016520-44
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** RAVI K AMARAVADI
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $77,523
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9836831

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9836831, Cancer Therapeutics Research Program (5P30CA016520-44). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9836831. Licensed CC0.

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