The NCRI Head & Neck Group identified their priorities in July 2022 to address challenges faced in head and neck cancer research and to improve outcomes for head and neck cancer patients with currently unmet needs.

NCRI Head & Neck Group strategic priorities 2022-2025

Identify the optimal approach for collaboration between basic scientists, translational scientists, and clinicians to engage and collaborate in future head and neck cancer clinical trials.

This priority aims to develop a workshop and produce a position paper, with HPV as a possible topic, to encourage collaboration between clinicians and scientists to strengthen clinical trials and ultimately convert discovery science into patient benefit.

Identify the gaps in salivary gland cancer research and develop strategic priorities for this area of research.

By addressing this priority, we aim to improve outcomes for patients with rarer cancers, specifically salivary gland cancer by hosting a workshop. This working group will bring together researchers from across the community to host a strategy day to identify the most important unanswered research questions in the field and develop a set of strategic priorities for future salivary gland cancer research.

Improve outcomes for patients with locally advanced hypopharyngeal cancer.

This priority aims to improve outcomes for locally advanced hypopharyngeal cancer patients by designing a study that will deliver direct patient benefit to a patient population with current unmet need.

Identify ways to improve outcomes for elderly and geriatric head and neck cancer patients and provide guidelines of how to achieve this.

Barriers resulting in a lack of diversity in clinical trials across cancer types has been raised as an issue in many of NCRI’s discussions with researchers. For this reason, this priority will be addressed collaboratively in a working group comprising experts from across NCRI Groups. This priority aims to establish the reasons behind a lack of diversity in clinical trials and provide solutions to increase participation of a diverse cohort of patients in future studies. A working group will address the common issues across the board, as well as identifying cancer-type specific barriers, and produce guidelines on the steps to take to improve the inclusion of patients from a range of backgrounds into clinical trials from their inception. More details on this working group will be decided in due course.

Working groups addressing each specific strategic priority are currently being formed. These groups will be made up of the experts needed to address each priority. To ensure you are made aware of opportunities to join the working groups, join the NCRI Head & Neck Network.

Join the NCRI Head & Neck Network