Working Groups

Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion

The mission of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Working Group is to actively address disparities and champion inclusion in research, clinical care, and academic and industry culture. PCCTC investigators, leadership, and employees have established initiatives focusing on interrelated aims:
  • To build meaningful relationships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to establish research partnerships and improve enrollment from traditionally underserved communities.
  • To examine protocols, informed consents, and other documents for problematic language concerning gender, sexual orientation, race, and other patient characteristics.
  • To identify and share resources related to anti-racism, diversity, and inclusion.
  • To establish a partnership between the PCCTC, Prostate Health Education Network (PHEN), and PCCTC research centers to conduct prostate cancer clinical trials patient education sessions, aimed at increasing representation of African American patients on clinical trials.

Germline Genetics

Advances in germline genetics, and related therapeutic opportunities, present new opportunities and challenges in prostate cancer. Composed of leaders across multiple disciplines, the PCCTC Germline Genetics Working Group (GGWG) was formed in 2017 to create a collaborative clinical and research culture aligned around germline genetics and targeted therapeutics centered around patients with prostate cancer. GGWG members work to develop creative, scalable strategies to deliver high-quality personalized genetics care for patients with prostate cancer. Recent publications include:

Trial Design & Objectives

In 1999 the first iteration of the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Working Group issued recommendations for standardizing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) outcomes in phase II castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) trials. In 2008, when docetaxel was the only drug proven to prolong survival in metastatic CRPC (mCRPC), the successor group, the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Working Group 2 (PCWG2), outlined more extensive principles of clinical trial conduct for this disease. Subsequently, leaders from the group came together to address evolving treatments, disease phenotypes, and biology—along with the changing drug development environment—issuing new standards for trial conduct via PCWG3. Investigators continue to monitor discoveries in cancer biology to move the drug and biomarker development process closer to common clinical scenarios encountered in routine practice.