The University of Arizona Cancer Center’s Clinical and Translational Oncology Program is led by Aaron Scott, MD and Steffan Nawrocki, PhD.

The overarching goal of the Clinical and Translational Oncology Program (CTOP) is to bring together basic and clinical scientists to transform scientific discoveries into clinical applications to diagnose or treat cancer. The program emerged from the long-standing Therapeutic Development Program (TDP) with a broadened focus on the full spectrum of translational and clinical research.

Member activities include development of new anti-cancer drugs for clinical translation, investigator-initiated clinical trials to elucidate mechanism of cancer therapies, clinical trials testing the efficacy of new or repurposed cancer treatments, evaluation of human biospecimens for novel targets originally discovered in cell and animal models, the discovery and application of tissue-based or imaging biomarkers, and enhanced tumor detection and imaging approaches

CTOP activities are organized under three major aims:

• Discover and optimize new agents, biomarkers and imaging modalities for therapeutic translation.
• Develop mechanistic investigator-initiated trials for translation or reverse translation.
• Conduct clinical trials testing the efficacy of new or repurposed therapies.

Program Goals

The scientific goal of CTOP is to transform scientific discoveries into clinical applications in pursuit of the broader UArizona Cancer Center mission to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer in the catchment area and beyond. The three major aims of the program are further strengthened through cross-cutting themes and complementary research being performed in the Cancer Biology Program and Cancer Prevention and Control Program. These themes include:

1. Modulating oxidative and nitrosative stress;
2. Autophagy, protein turnover and nutrient acquisition;
3. Targeting oncogenic signaling networks; and
4. Overcoming cancer-related pain.