Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI) Scientific Session Report

Presentation/Conference

September 09, 2019 2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. ET

NCI's Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT) director, Dr. Anthony Kerlavage, and NCI's Office of Data Sharing director, Dr. Jaime Guidry Auvil, will present an update on the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI) to the National Council of Research Advocates.

The CCDI is a proposed federal investment of $50 million per year for the next 10 years which focuses on the critical need to collect, analyze, and share data to address the burden of cancer in children, adolescents, and young adults (AYAs). The initiative would support childhood cancer research and aim to make it easier for researchers to learn from each of the approximately 16,000 children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year. In July of 2019, scientific stakeholders convened at the CCDI scientific planning symposium to discuss ideas on how to make the most of the federal investment to enhance childhood cancer data sharing. Dr. Kerlavage and Dr. Guidry Auvil will discuss the findings from the symposium and ideas shared through the Cancer Research Ideas website.

For more information about the initiative, visit the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative webpage.

Tony Kerlavage, Ph.D.

Dr. Tony Kerlavage is the director of NCI’s Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT), having previously served for 5 years as chief of the Cancer Informatics Branch. Under his purview were the launches of the Cancer Research Data Commons and the NCI Cloud Resources. Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Kerlavage spent over 25 years managing a range of information technology services and data science programs with an emphasis on open software and open data. He was a founding member and director of the Department of Bioinformatics at The Institute for Genomic Research and, subsequently, Celera Genomics, where he served as senior director of the Online Information Business.

Jaime M. Guidry Auvil, Ph.D.

Dr. Jaime M. Guidry Auvil is the director of the NCI Office of Data Sharing at CBIIT. Since joining NCI in 2010, Dr. Guidry Auvil has coordinated programmatic and data sharing activities within NCI's Center for Cancer Genomics, most extensively for the pediatric cancer genomics Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments (TARGET) initiative. She additionally serves as an NCI representative on leadership and working group teams to provide guidance for the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program through the NIH Office of the Director. Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Guidry Auvil led clinical and biomedical translational research studies within academia (Veteran Affairs Hospital of Baltimore and the University of Maryland Medical School) and the biotechnology industry (BBI Biotech, Inc.).