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NIH grant 1R50CA304999-01A1: Enhancing NCI Clinical Trial Engagement Through Digital Innovation and Leadership
Institute: {'code': 'CA', 'abbreviation': 'NCI', 'name': 'National Cancer Institute', 'admin_org_id': '12500008', 'admin_funding_url': ''}. PI: Lior Z Braunstein. Award: $138388.
Start: 2026-09-18T00:00:00.
PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Dr. Lior Braunstein is a leading clinician scien@st in breast cancer clinical trials at Memorial Sloan
KeDering Cancer Center (MSK), where he serves as Principal Inves@gator of the phase III HERO
trial (NRG BR008) and Clinical Co-Chair of the RADCOMP trial. Through his NCTN leadership
posi@ons on the NRG Breast Cancer Core CommiDee and Locoregional Breast Cancer
CommiDee, he has accrued several hundred pa@ents to NCI-sponsored trials and advanced
mul@ple prac@ce-changing trial concepts. Dr. Braunstein has developed a pipeline of NCTN trial
concepts currently under review, including protocols evalua@ng consolida@ve therapy for
oligometasta@c HER2-posi@ve breast cancer, ultra-hypofrac@onated par@al-breast irradia@on,
and pre-opera@ve image-guided radiotherapy—each incorpora@ng correla@ve endpoints.
Dr. Braunstein directs the Laboratory for Breast Cancer Innova@on at MSK, where he mentors
junior and mid-level faculty in trial design and NCTN engagement, resul@ng in mul@ple mentee
presenta@ons at NRG and SWOG mee@ngs and a substan@al record of publica@ons. Recognizing
cri@cal barriers to trial accrual, he has pioneered digital innova@on in collabora@on with Cornell
Tech, developing a large language model-based plaZorm for automated pa@ent-trial matching
that has demonstrated feasibility in a published proof-of-concept study and is currently
undergoing internal valida@on for NCTN implementa@on.
The R50 award will enable Dr. Braunstein to scale this digital plaZorm across MSK's alliance
network of eight regional sites spanning New York, New Jersey, and Florida, significantly
expanding NCTN trial access and enrollment capacity. He will formalize his mentoring program
with structured curriculum and NCTN immersion experiences, support junior inves@gators in
advancing trial concepts through coopera@ve groups, and establish sustainable infrastructure
for efficient pa@ent screening and trial ac@va@on. With protected @me, Dr. Braunstein will
advance his trial porZolio from concept through ac@va@on while op@mizing ins@tu@onal
capacity for NCTN trial par@cipa@on. His proven track record in trial leadership, innova@ve
approaches to accrual challenges, and commitment to training the next genera@on of
coopera@ve group inves@gators posi@on him to maximize the impact of NCI-sponsored breast
cancer research through the R50 mechanism.document fetched 2026-09-27 02:45