Dr. Anderson appointed chairman of NCI subcommittee









picture disc.


James Anderson, Ph.D.

James Anderson, Ph.D., chairman of UNMC’s Department of Preventative and Societal Medicine, has been appointed chairman of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Initial Review Group Subcommittee on Clinical Groups.

The subcommittee is responsible for conducting the scientific reviews of the NCI-funded cancer cooperative groups.

“NCI funds a cooperative program, which includes hospitals, researchers and physicians all over the world, that was formed so that physicians could work as consortia,” Dr. Anderson said.

Established in 1937, The National Cancer Institute, is the U.S. government’s principal agency for cancer research and training.

Through the National Cancer Program, NCI supports and conducts cancer research, collects and disseminates information on cancer and supports education through scholarships, fellowships and grants.

The Clinical Trials Cooperative Group Program supports research of new cancer treatments, cancer prevention, detection and rehabilitation from cancer treatment.

“We review applications from these groups, assess research and submit our suggestions for funding to the NCI,” Dr. Anderson said.

After serving on the Initial Review Group Subcommittee for four years, Dr. Anderson was asked to serve as chairman for the 2006-2007 term.

Dr. Anderson received his Ph.D., in biostatistics from the University of Washington in 1979. Before joining the UNMC faculty in 1989, Dr. Anderson was an assistant professor at the University of Southern California, a statistician with the Children’s Cancer Group — an NCI-funded cooperative group — and an assistant professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Anderson currently serves as the chief statistician for all children’s cancer clinical trials in the U.S.