June 08, 2021
Natalie Streeter has been appointed assistant vice-chancellor of The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s Clinical Trials Office. In this role, she will oversee the cancer center’s efforts to offer the latest breakthrough clinical trials to our patients. Streeter previously served as executive director of clinical research, strategy and operations.
“We created this position because we want to ensure we are putting our very best foot forward when it comes to clinical trials,” said Roy Jensen, MD, director. “Natalie has a deep understanding of oncology clinical research and its many intricacies.”
Clinical trials are a crucial element of cancer research and lead to new ways to prevent, detect or treat cancer. KU Cancer Center manages about 600 clinical trials at a time, with approximately 250 of those trials actively enrolling participants. The cancer center’s Clinical Trials Office provides a centralized infrastructure to ensure all clinical trials follow federal, state and local regulations.
“All advances in cancer medicine come from rigorous testing of new strategies in clinical trials, and in the last 10 years we have seen remarkable advances across many tumor types. Natalie’s experience in clinical research will help us develop new strategies for long-term growth to meet the increasing complexity of cancer clinical trials,” said Tara Lin, MD, medical director of the Clinical Trials Office.
Streeter will serve as a key advisor to Dr. Lin and Weijing Sun, MD, director of Medical Oncology and associate director for clinical research, aiding in the development and implementation of high-quality clinical research practices, policies and regulations.
“With Natalie’s excellent vision, leadership style and experience, she will contribute tremendously to elevating the quality and capacity of KU Cancer Center-led investigator-initiated trials, we well as national studies including Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN),
NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) and cooperative group-led trials,” Dr. Sun said.
Streeter, who joined the cancer center in 2018, intends to work with leaders to develop a strategic clinical research plan that expands the institution’s reach to more people in the catchment area and across the U.S. Broadening the cancer center’s research portfolio is an important step towards achieving National Cancer Institute (NCI) Comprehensive, which we will apply for in Sept. 2021.
“Research in the field of oncology is highly regulated. We must ensure we hold ourselves to the highest standards and meet all safety and quality measures, as well as look at all stages of research from screening and prevention through treatment and survivorship,” Streeter said. “Achieving NCI Comprehensive designation will bring even more research opportunities, benefiting those living in our catchment area. Our commitment is to offer to our patients the best possible care, and that starts with research.”