Company Profile
Sarah Cannon Research Institute
Company Overview
Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI) is a global strategic research organization focusing on advancing therapies and accelerating drug development. It is one of the largest clinical research programs, conducting community-based clinical trials in oncology, cardiology and other therapeutic areas through affiliations with a network of more than 700 physicians in the United States and United Kingdom. Additionally, SCRI offers management, regulatory and other research support services to drug development sponsors and strategic investigator sites.
Our Current Portfolio of Research
Through the careful work of multiple investigator sites and hundreds of principal investigators across the country, SCRI is able to offer clinical trials that have benefited thousands of individual patients and in some cases, changed the standard of care for all.
Highlights include:
•Extensive pre-qualified network with hundreds of multi-specialty physicians across the country
•Oncology and non-oncology strategic investigative sites with dedicated PIs, research and data management personnel
•Over two hundred clinical trials in active enrollment and follow-up
•Over 20,000 patients enrolled since 1993
•Access to approximately 100,000 new patients per year
•Successful Oncology Drug Development (Phase I) Program – Conducted 100 first-in-man trials
•Publications – hundreds of abstracts and articles in peer-reviewed journals
Our Founding Researchers
Howard A. “Skip” Burris, III, M.D., Chief Medical Officer; Director, Drug Development
In addition to serving as chief medical officer and director, drug development for SCRI, Dr. Burris is a partner with Tennessee Oncology, PLLC. He received his undergraduate degree from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point in 1981, and medical degree from the University of South Alabama in 1985. He then completed his residency and fellowship in hematology/oncology at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. While there, he served as director of clinical research at the Institute for Drug Development of the Cancer Therapy and Research Center, and was an associate professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center. He joined Tennessee Oncology in 1997 to initiate the Drug Development Program. His research interests have focused on the development of investigational agents.
F. Anthony Greco, M.D., Director of Sarah Cannon Cancer Center
During his tenure at Sarah Cannon, Dr. Greco has treated thousands of patients and undertaken hundreds of research studies. Specializing now in cancers of unknown primary origin, lung cancer and germ cell tumors, his principal professional interest has been clinical cancer research. He has helped to define the complex group of patients with unknown primary cancer recognizing many subsets of patients that are different requiring specific therapy. He has developed or helped develop new and improved therapies for patients with several types of neoplastic diseases, including small cell lung and non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, germ cell tumors, neuroendocrine tumors and unknown primary cancer. His undergraduate and medical degrees were both received from West Virginia University. He completed his internship at the University of California, Los Angeles and residency at West Virginia University Medical Center, both in internal medicine. He then earned a fellowship in medical oncology from the National Cancer Institute.
John D. Hainsworth, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer, SCRI
Dr. Hainsworth is the chief scientific officer at SCRI and a partner with Tennessee Oncology, PLLC. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University, followed by a medical degree from Vanderbilt University. After completing an internal medicine residency and a medical oncology fellowship, he remained at Vanderbilt as a faculty member in the Oncology Division from 1981–1993. In 1993, he and Dr. F. Anthony Greco left Vanderbilt to become directors of the newly established Sarah Cannon Cancer Center. He has a wide variety of clinical research interests and has published extensively in the areas of lung cancer, unknown primary cancer, and lymphoma. Recent work has resulted in expanded roles and innovative uses for several new drugs including docetaxel, gemcitabine, rituximab, and bevacizumab. As chief scientific officer, he is responsible for the scientific progress of SCRI including protocol development, data analysis and manuscript preparation.
Lawrence D. Wruble, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.C.G., Medical Director, GI Research
Dr. Wruble is the medical director of GI research. A graduate of the University of Tennessee School of Medicine, he is clinical professor of medicine and former acting chairman for the Department of Gastroenterology at the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences. He is also president and senior physician at Memphis Gastroenterology Group and Memphis Gastroenterology Endoscopy Center in Memphis, TN. He has over 30 years of successful experience in clinical research and is board certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology.
Our Services
SCRI offers research support services to its pharmaceutical and biotech partners which include project management, data management, monitoring, site qualification, regulatory, safety, quality assurance, medical writing, scientific analysis, contracting and budget services and site payments.
Please visit http://www.sarahcannonresearch.com for more information.
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) selected 52 abstracts by SCRI for presentation at the 2011 ASCO Annual Meeting, the premier educational and scientific oncology conference.
Two of SCRI’s studies were chosen for the Best of ASCO program, which condenses highlights from ASCO’s Annual Meeting into a two-day program and reflects research that is particularly significant in oncology today.
Additionally, three SCRI abstracts were selected for oral presentation at a clinical science symposium. These high-profile sessions incorporate the presentation of meritorious abstracts with an instructive lecture by an expert who summarizes the field and places the abstracts in the appropriate context, with a focus on how the findings apply to clinical practice.
“Our physicians are committed to bringing innovative new treatments to cancer patients and elevating SCRI’s reputation as a world leader in clinical research in the areas of leukemia, lymphoma and other hematologic malignancies,”
- Howard A. Burris III, M.D. (SCRI Chief Medical Officer and Executive Director, Drug Development )