Dr. Patrick J. Loehrer Sr., W. George Pinnell awards for outstanding service

 

Dr. Patrick J. Loehrer Sr.Kenneth K. Wiseman Professor of Medicine Director, Division of Hematology/Oncology Associate Director of Clinical Research, IU Cancer Center IU School of Medicine IUPUI

Interim President Gerald Bepko, Loehrer and IUPUI Acting Chancellor William Plater at the Founders Day ceremony

Cancer patients throughout Indiana now have greater access to advanced treatments, thanks to Dr. Patrick Loehrer. In 1984, Loehrer established the Hoosier Oncology Group, which as worked to move clinical trials from their centralized location at the IU School of Medicine to communities across the state and in other parts of the Midwest.

Before Loehrer started the group, only about 2 percent of cancer patients in the Midwest were included in clinical trials. Now the group is fast closing in on its goal to raise that percentage to 20 percent.

The Hoosier Oncology Group—affectionately referred to as “the HOG” by its members—has already reached another of its goals—to become, as Dr. Stephen D. Williams, director of IU’s Cancer Center, states, “one of the preeminent community-based research organizations in the country.”

The HOG, which includes more than 200 doctors and 200 nurses from Indiana and surrounding states, holds meetings twice a year to provide a forum where academic and community physicians can discuss current issues in cancer treatment. Because of such dialogue, the quality of life of many cancer patients in Indiana and across the nation has improved by leaps and bounds.

Practicing oncologists, academic oncologists, nurses, clinical research associates and research fellows from all over Indiana have gained invaluable practice and knowledge from the groups trials. Further, both the faculty of the IU School of Medicine and community doctors have benefited not just from the research conducted by the HOG, but also from the group’s increasing prestige.

The group’s independent, “investigator-initiated” trials are largely funded by philanthropic and private organizations. Some of the group’s more prestigious affiliations have been with institutions such as the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Columbia Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in New York. In the almost 20 years since its inception, the HOG has conducted more than 85 trials, which have included more than 3,000 patients.

The Hoosier Oncology Group, or ‘the HOG’ as it is affectionately called by its members, was established by Patrick Loehrer to move clinical trials from their centralized location at the IU School of Medicine to communities across the state and in other parts of the Midwest.