Research and Innovation
Our team is actively involved in clinical research and innovation that spans from outcomes database research to clinical trials to medical informatics.
Our faculty have given oral presentations and presented abstracts at national meetings, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American College of Physicians, the Society of Hospital Medicine, and the Society of General Internal Medicine. Through participation in weekly conferences and disease-specific meetings with the UCSF Division of Hematology/Oncology, our providers are at the forefront of progress in the field.
Our outcomes research is focused on veterans with cancer. We have collaborated across disciplines with the UCSF/SFVA Division of Geriatrics and with the QUERI (Quality Enhancement Research Initiative) group here at SFVAHCS. Our studies are based on data from the national VA Central Cancer Registry data and linkage to the VA Corporate Data Warehouse, within the VA Informatics and Computing Infrastructure. We have also utilized the VA national database on veterans living in our long-term facilities, community-living-centers.
Dr. Ben Davoren is the Associate Chief of Staff for Clinical Informatics for the SFVAHCS. He is a key member of national VA committees on medical informatics and is a vital leader here at SFVA in transforming and innovating our health informatics/EMR to improve the delivery of patient care. He is currently a member of the National Ad Hoc VHA Committee, VHA Field-based Health Informatics Leadership Group and member of the National Standing Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Committee, Computerized Patient Record Clinical Workgroup.
Current active research projects/trials include:
Outcomes Research:
Impact of Comorbid Mental Health Illness on Outcomes for Veterans with Lung Cancer: PI Sunny Wang
Impact of pelvic radiation for prostate cancer on activities of daily living in CLC dwelling veterans: PI Carling Ursem
Adjuvant treatment and overall survival in younger vs. older stage III colorectal cancer patients: PI Carling Ursem
Active Enrolling Clinical Trials:
Triton 2: A Multicenter, Randomized, Open-label Phase 2 Study of Rucaparib in Patients with Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer Associated with Homologous Recombination Deficiency. PI: Co-Site PIs: Amy Lin and Sunny Wang.
RTOG 0924: Androgen Deprivation Therapy and High Dose Radiotherapy With or Without Whole-Pelvic Radiotherapy in Unfavorable Intermediate or Favorable High Risk Prostate Cancer: A Phase III Randomized Trial. (Collaboration with UCSF Radiation-Oncology) PI – Mack Roach SFVA Site PI: Sunny Wang
Upcoming clinical trials include Triton 3 clinical trial, ALCHEMIST Lung Cancer Alliance clinical trial, symptom-management and geriatric oncology clinical trials. Future outcomes research projects include studies on outcomes of SBRT in Lung Cancer and Lung Cancer Screening.