JEFFREY S. ABRAMS, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

Jeffrey S. Abrams, M.D., has led the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) since June 2007.  Dr. Abrams came to CTEP in 1993 when he joined as a clinical research scientist to oversee the breast cancer treatment trials portfolio and participate in clinical trials at the NIH Clinical Center and the National Naval Medical Center.

In 2004, Dr. Abrams was appointed Chief of the Clinical Investigations Branch. In this position, he was responsible for the direction of the NCI Clinical Trials Cooperative Group program, which performs nearly all the phase 3 cancer treatment trials sponsored by NCI and is the institute's primary vehicle for conducting definitive, practice-changing clinical trials. As Branch Chief, Dr. Abrams supervised a staff that collectively oversaw, reviewed, and coordinated more than 150 active phase 3 trials in all varieties of cancer. He pioneered the Cancer Trials Support Unit (CTSU), which has provided a one-stop shop for Cooperative Group clinical trials by offering a single repository for all regulatory and patient registration documents for Group trials.

As Director of CTEP, Dr. Abrams has focused on improving the rapidity with which all CTEP-sponsored clinical trials are implemented, increasing the number of novel agents brought to CTEP by collaborating companies, and evolving the Cooperative Group program in a direction that will make it better able to mount trials that reflect the scientific opportunities of the 21st century.