Priyanka Sharma Named Vice Chair of SWOG Breast Committee

Priyanka Sharma, MD

Priyanka Sharma, MD

Priyanka Sharma, MD, has been named vice chair of SWOG’s Breast Committee. Formerly known as the Southwest Oncology Group, SWOG is a global cancer research community and 1 of 5 National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network-funded groups.

Sharma is an associate professor of medicine and a breast cancer medical oncologist at the University of Kansas Cancer Center, with an interest in both clinical and translational research. She has also been a committed member of SWOG’s Breast Committee since 2013.

“I am deeply privileged and delighted to be given this opportunity. In this position, I hope to continue to foster the development of high-impact research to inform clinical practice,” Sharma said in statement.

She has been the principle investigator of multiple investigator initiated phase I and II clinical trials of novel targeted agents in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Additionally, she headed a regional multisite prospective TNBC registry, which has enrolled 500 participants from the Kansas City Metropolitan area. Her work has awarded her an institutional career development grant from the department of medicine at the University of Kansas and pilot grants from both the National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Awards and the University of Kansas Cancer Center for clinical and translational research in TNBC.

“Dr. Sharma has been a pioneer in deepening our understanding of triple-negative breast cancer. Her intense, focused approach will be a great asset to SWOG,” Roy Jensen, MD, KU Cancer Center director, said in a statement.

In addition to her new vice chair role with SWOG, Sharma will continue co-leading a project funded by the SWOG Integrated Translational Science Center program. The program seeks to facilitate the incorporation of translational science into NCI-supported cancer clinical trials. She has served with additional organizations including the University of Kansas Cancer Center’s Breast Cancer Disease Working Group. She was also on the institutional review board and the internal advisory board of the University of Kansas Cancer Center Biostatistics and Informatics Shared Resources.

Sharma received her medical degree from the University of Baroda Medical College in Gujarat, India in 1997. She later completed her residency in internal medicine and the fellowship in hematology oncology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.