Application Information-2025

The 2025 ASCO/AACR Methods in Clinical Cancer Research Workshop applications will open in January 2025.

To be notified when applications for the 2025 Workshop open, please sign up using the button below:

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2024 Application Timeline

  • January 2025-Application portal opens
  • Late March 2025-Application Deadline
  • Late March-Late May, 2025- Applications reviewed and scored by faculty
  • Late May 2025-Applicants notified of acceptance status


Application Summary

The online application procedure requires the following six items:

  1. A description of the clinical trial protocol you intend to write during the Workshop. Applications with protocols that are already written and submitted to an Institutional Review Board are not permissible and will be administratively withdrawn.
  2. A visual schema of the proposed protocol.
  3. A statement of Feasibility of the proposed protocol.
  4. Your personal C.V. (electronic version).
  5. A personal statement explaining why you wish to participate in this Workshop.
  6. A letter of recommendation and feasibility questionnaire from your Program Supervisor or Department Head or mentor in support of your application for this Workshop, submitted online separately.

Detailed instructions for each of these items can be found on the online application as well as below. Applications will not be accepted unless they contain all SIX elements described above. All parts of the application form, including the letter from your sponsor (mentor, supervisor, or department head), must be submitted before the application deadline.


Application Instructions

Individuals interested in submitting an application for the workshop must do so through the AACR online submission service linked above. Application submissions will only be accepted electronically; paper applications will not be accepted.

To create an application, you must login to your myAACR account. If you are an AACR member and do not remember your username and/or password, please follow the instructions on the upper left side of the login page. If you are not an AACR member and do not have an account, choose the “Please create a new account” option. This does not register you to become a member of the AACR, but simply allows you access to the myAACR site for applying to the Workshop and/or registering for other AACR Conferences. Once you have accessed your account, you will be taken directly to the Workshop application.

More details about the application procedure are outlined below:

1. Clinical trial description: Submit a description (up to 6000 characters including spaces) of the clinical trial protocol you intend to write during the Workshop. Figures and tables are not permitted. The Workshop seeks straightforward trials and intervention studies that can be done in a reasonable time period by an individual with available resources (generally not Phase III trials or adjuvant trials with the necessary long-term follow-up). This must be a new and original proposal. Protocols that are already written or must be written before the Workshop will not be accepted.

The description should follow the format below and include all of the following elements: 

  • Title
  • Investigators (PI, Co-PI, Collaborators, Statistician)
  • Study Center(s) where trial will be conducted
  • Concept and Rationale
  • Primary and Secondary Objectives
  • Primary and Secondary Endpoints/Criteria for Evaluation
  • Analysis Plans
  • Correlative Studies, if applicable
  • Study Design, including Number of Patients

2. Schema: Upload a study design schema or flow diagram. The simplified, graphical representation of the study design should include number of patients and not exceed 1 page (.pdf files only, up to 15 MB).

3. Feasibility Statement: Upload a single PDF file with a description of the feasibility of your proposed trial that:

  • Clearly states whether or not you currently have access to, or permission to use, the drug(s) proposed in your study. If yes, upload your description along with appropriate documentation from the pharmaceutical supplier merged together as a single PDF file.
  • Explains how you plan to obtain access to your therapeutic intervention agent if you do not currently have access. Again, upload your description along with any correspondence with the company suggesting their likely support of the trial merged together as a single PDF file.
  • Describes the number of potentially eligible patients in your institution (if a single-institution trial is planned) that would support the feasibility of your study.
  • Estimates how long you believe it will take to complete your study (including enrollment and follow-up).

4. Personal Statement: Provide statement (up to 3000 characters with spaces) explaining why you wish to participate in this Workshop. Be sure that your statement provides the following information:

  • A description of your previous research background.
  • The nature of the program in which you are scheduled to participate for the next two years.
  • A description of the kind of institute/program in which you would like to be working in five years.
  • An explanation of how participation in the Workshop will help you to design and conduct the trial to be outlined in your protocol.
  • A commitment to participate in the long-term evaluation of this Workshop by maintaining contact with organizers and responding to questionnaires when requested.

5. Letter of Recommendation: Within the online application, provide the name and email of your Program Supervisor, Department Head, or mentor in support of your application for this Workshop. A separate, automated email will be sent to your recommender with a link to complete and online feasibility questionnaire and upload a recommendation letter. Your recommender must submit the letter of recommendation by the application deadline.

  • Only one letter of recommendation is accepted per applicant. If you are in transition, please choose either your current or future supervisor to submit this letter.
  • Although you will be able to fill out and save your application, you will not be able to submit it until after your letter of recommendation has been received. Once your Recommender has submitted their letter, you will be notified by email and asked to log back into this system to finalize and submit your application.
  • Without a letter of recommendation and submitted application, your application will be INCOMPLETE and WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

Eligibility

The Workshop is intended for clinical oncology researchers at the early stages of their careers. Applicants will fall under one of two general categories, Fellows or Junior Faculty, as outlined below. Individuals not meeting the eligibility criteria for either category may be accepted under special circumstances and are an encouraged to reach out before completing an application.

Fellows
(Those who will complete their fellowships after August 3, 2024)

The Workshop faculty will select approximately 75 clinical fellows from any oncology subspecialty or radiology who have made outstanding progress in their medical training, who have displayed an interest and competence in clinical cancer research, and who come from a diverse group of training institutions and personal backgrounds.

Individuals should have obtained an MD, DO, PharmD or similar degree and will completed their fellowships after the Workshop concludes on August 3, 2024.

Junior Faculty
(Those who have completed their fellowships between April 30, 2019 and July 28, 2024)

The Workshop faculty will also select approximately 25 junior faculty – i.e., clinical researchers in training who have already embarked on academic careers; who hold an appointment at the level of Assistant Professor, Instructor, or Lecturer; and completed their fellowships no earlier than April 30, 2019.


Review and Selection Criteria

The Workshop faculty will review and accept applications from clinical fellows and junior faculty, as described under the Eligibility Criteria. The faculty will base their decisions in large part on the quality of the proposed protocol and on the submissions by the applicant and the mentor (Program Supervisor or Department Head). These documents will be scrutinized both for the information they supply about the applicant and the assurances they provide about the participation of the applicant and mentor in the long-term evaluation of the Workshop. In addition to the innovation and quality of the proposed clinical trial, the faculty reviewers will be asked to evaluate the applications on:

  • Does it appear that the question(s) to be answered are meaningful?
  • Will the protocol be able to be executed assuming the agent(s) are available?
  • Is there a financial commitment by the institution to carry out the protocol?  Is there grant funding or funding by the sponsor to conduct an investigator-initiated protocol and/or planned uncovered research expenses?
  • Is there commitment from the participating institution to do the trial?  Does it appear that enough patients will be available and if not, that additional sites can be recruited?  Will the protocol be a priority, or does it appear that there will be overlap and competition with existing institutional protocols of a similar patient population?
  • Is there a mentor that is interested in the proposal?  This is important as, if a fellow is writing the protocol, there is a high probability that, by the time the trial is executed or well into recruitment, the fellow may be leaving the institution and the study may continue in the hands of either an additional fellow or the mentor.
  • Does it appear that the environment is conducive to carrying out the work proposed? 
  • How committed does it appear that the student is to an investigative career? 
  • Does it appear that the student really has the interest and the capability to carry a clinical trial forward? Will they be engaged in recruiting the patients to the study?
  • Will the project be able to be executed and completed in a timely manner?


The Workshop organizers have set a priority on increasing the participation of fellows and junior faculty investigators from racial/ethnic minority groups (as identified by the NCI) that are traditionally underrepresented in cancer and biomedical research. Individuals from these groups are strongly encouraged to submit applications. Note that selection of Workshop applicants is conducted on a competitive basis with approximately one-half of the applicants accepted each year due to limited space. Unsuccessful applicants are encouraged to reapply the following year.

For questions about the submission of your application online, contact Asiyah Bhallo at asiyah.bhallo@aacr.org. For all other questions about the Workshop, including eligibility, please contact Dean Post at dean.post@aacr.org.