February 13, 2025
Clinical trials are essential to advancing cancer treatment, and behind every study is a dedicated team working to ensure patients have access to the latest advancements in cancer research. Kelsey Schwensen, a project manager for The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s Clinical Trials Office, is one of those people playing a crucial role in cancer research. Below, Schwensen shares insight into her work, what inspires her and the impact clinical trials have on the future of cancer care.
1. Describe your role at the Clinical Trials Office. How does it play into the bigger picture of advancing medical research?
The Project Manager (PM) position at the Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office is an oversight role that works with a variety of groups and stakeholders (clinical operations, regulatory, physicians, leadership, clinical trial sponsors, etc.) to manage key aspects of clinical trial start-up and clinical trial portfolio maintenance.
At the cancer center, operations are divided by disease site or treatment modality, creating 14 unique Disease Working Groups that each have portfolios, clinical trials and operations to manage. Each Disease Working Group is assigned a project manager who leads study start-up activities, assists with building/maintaining the portfolio of clinical trials and helps with any other ad-hoc tasks Clinical operations, investigators, or sponsors may need assistance with. The PMs have the bird’s eye view of each of their Disease Working Groups, as well as each of the groups operating under them. We use that perspective to put all the pieces together for a cohesive clinical trial process from start to finish. It is an extremely collaborative role that requires building excellent relationships with your operations, regulatory and investigator counterparts, as well as the sponsors of the clinical trials.
The Disease Working groups I currently work with are Radiation Oncology, Lymphoma/Myeloma, Cancer Care Delivery and Health Equity. Without the teamwork between myself, the physicians, operations, and regulatory staff for each of these groups, we would not be able to open the key clinical trials that serve our patients, or operate at the level expected from National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers like ours.
2. What inspired you to work in clinical research?
I have been interested in medicine since I was a child and originally planned on going to medical school. However, by the time I graduated with my bachelor’s in biochemistry, I was no longer sure that the medical school path made the most sense for me. I began looking into jobs where I could get more exposure to research and/or medicine and stumbled across a job posting for the research assistant position for Dr. Priyanka Sharma’s personal research team here at the cancer center. It seemed like a great fit, so I applied, and was lucky enough to get the job.
I learned an incredible amount in the time I spent on her team, and seeing the difference her research and our team’s work made in the lives of patients, as well as the overall research community, really excited me. I knew I had found the field I wanted to continue to be in and have spent each year since growing my knowledge and relationships so that I can do the best job I possibly can.
I really believe in the work the cancer center is doing and getting to work with people that believe in that research mission as much as I do, and care about the patients and their experiences as much as I do, keeps me striving to do my best every day.
3. What’s one aspect of clinical trials that most people don’t realize or understand?
I think there are two main things about clinical trials and clinical research that people don’t necessarily realize:
First, clinical trials are absolutely a team effort, and there are lots of integral roles within the overall team. Although we sometimes operate in silos and focus solely on our assigned tasks, I could not do my job effectively without my very diligent clinical operations manager, research coordinator and data coordinator counterparts. My Disease Working Groups would not be able to function without our incredible physicians. Start-up of clinical trials would be infinitely more difficult without our detail-oriented regulatory, finance and contracts staff. And then there is the invaluable work that specific teams like investigational pharmacy, nuclear medicine, radiation safety, and our various lab groups complete, without which we wouldn’t be able to operate at all. We all care deeply about our mission and our patients, and every single role has to work together every single day for us to deliver ground-breaking care.
Second, from a future career perspective, clinical research was always presented to me ambiguously, without a lot of detail or explanation. I had a vague sense that the work was done in a lab, and you needed to be a physician or have PhD to work in the field. And while those roles do exist, and are extremely important, the clinical research structure is vast. There are roles that require expertise from a variety of backgrounds, and I encourage everyone to look into this field if they are interested in being part of the structure that drives medicine forward.
4. If you could bust one myth about cancer clinical trials, what would it be?
That treatment trials are the only kinds of trials available for patients to participate in. While drug and device studies are the “typical” trials that come to mind, there are many other options available to patients and their families depending on their circumstances and the trials available at their institution.
For instance, registry trials analyze patients’ health records in relation to the study topic, creating datasets that help track trends in patient populations or the treatment outcomes. There are supportive trials that focus on cancer prevention screening methods and care delivery trials that focus on ways to better support patients as they receive treatment or enter survivorship.
If you are interested in participating in a clinical trial, there are many options available to you, and your care team can help you find the path that works best for you.
5. What excites you about the future of cancer clinical research?
Right now, I am working with key members from my Radiation Oncology Disease Working Group, as well as cancer center and health system leadership, to build a new radiopharmaceutical research program for the cancer center.
Radiopharmaceutical research in cancer (also called theranostics) is a rapidly developing and expanding field, utilizing radioactive compounds to perform targeted imaging and treatment of various cancers. Our goal is to develop this program and our site into the leading radiopharmaceutical treatment facility in our region, expanding the options available to our patients.
1. Describe your role at the Clinical Trials Office. How does it play into the bigger picture of advancing medical research?
The Project Manager (PM) position at the Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office is an oversight role that works with a variety of groups and stakeholders (clinical operations, regulatory, physicians, leadership, clinical trial sponsors, etc.) to manage key aspects of clinical trial start-up and clinical trial portfolio maintenance.
At the cancer center, operations are divided by disease site or treatment modality, creating 14 unique Disease Working Groups that each have portfolios, clinical trials and operations to manage. Each Disease Working Group is assigned a project manager who leads study start-up activities, assists with building/maintaining the portfolio of clinical trials and helps with any other ad-hoc tasks Clinical operations, investigators, or sponsors may need assistance with. The PMs have the bird’s eye view of each of their Disease Working Groups, as well as each of the groups operating under them. We use that perspective to put all the pieces together for a cohesive clinical trial process from start to finish. It is an extremely collaborative role that requires building excellent relationships with your operations, regulatory and investigator counterparts, as well as the sponsors of the clinical trials.
The Disease Working groups I currently work with are Radiation Oncology, Lymphoma/Myeloma, Cancer Care Delivery and Health Equity. Without the teamwork between myself, the physicians, operations, and regulatory staff for each of these groups, we would not be able to open the key clinical trials that serve our patients, or operate at the level expected from National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers like ours.
2. What inspired you to work in clinical research?
I have been interested in medicine since I was a child and originally planned on going to medical school. However, by the time I graduated with my bachelor’s in biochemistry, I was no longer sure that the medical school path made the most sense for me. I began looking into jobs where I could get more exposure to research and/or medicine and stumbled across a job posting for the research assistant position for Dr. Priyanka Sharma’s personal research team here at the cancer center. It seemed like a great fit, so I applied, and was lucky enough to get the job.
I learned an incredible amount in the time I spent on her team, and seeing the difference her research and our team’s work made in the lives of patients, as well as the overall research community, really excited me. I knew I had found the field I wanted to continue to be in and have spent each year since growing my knowledge and relationships so that I can do the best job I possibly can.
I really believe in the work the cancer center is doing and getting to work with people that believe in that research mission as much as I do, and care about the patients and their experiences as much as I do, keeps me striving to do my best every day.
3. What’s one aspect of clinical trials that most people don’t realize or understand?
I think there are two main things about clinical trials and clinical research that people don’t necessarily realize:
First, clinical trials are absolutely a team effort, and there are lots of integral roles within the overall team. Although we sometimes operate in silos and focus solely on our assigned tasks, I could not do my job effectively without my very diligent clinical operations manager, research coordinator and data coordinator counterparts. My Disease Working Groups would not be able to function without our incredible physicians. Start-up of clinical trials would be infinitely more difficult without our detail-oriented regulatory, finance and contracts staff. And then there is the invaluable work that specific teams like investigational pharmacy, nuclear medicine, radiation safety, and our various lab groups complete, without which we wouldn’t be able to operate at all. We all care deeply about our mission and our patients, and every single role has to work together every single day for us to deliver ground-breaking care.
Second, from a future career perspective, clinical research was always presented to me ambiguously, without a lot of detail or explanation. I had a vague sense that the work was done in a lab, and you needed to be a physician or have PhD to work in the field. And while those roles do exist, and are extremely important, the clinical research structure is vast. There are roles that require expertise from a variety of backgrounds, and I encourage everyone to look into this field if they are interested in being part of the structure that drives medicine forward.
4. If you could bust one myth about cancer clinical trials, what would it be?
That treatment trials are the only kinds of trials available for patients to participate in. While drug and device studies are the “typical” trials that come to mind, there are many other options available to patients and their families depending on their circumstances and the trials available at their institution.
For instance, registry trials analyze patients’ health records in relation to the study topic, creating datasets that help track trends in patient populations or the treatment outcomes. There are supportive trials that focus on cancer prevention screening methods and care delivery trials that focus on ways to better support patients as they receive treatment or enter survivorship.
If you are interested in participating in a clinical trial, there are many options available to you, and your care team can help you find the path that works best for you.
5. What excites you about the future of cancer clinical research?
Right now, I am working with key members from my Radiation Oncology Disease Working Group, as well as cancer center and health system leadership, to build a new radiopharmaceutical research program for the cancer center.
Radiopharmaceutical research in cancer (also called theranostics) is a rapidly developing and expanding field, utilizing radioactive compounds to perform targeted imaging and treatment of various cancers. Our goal is to develop this program and our site into the leading radiopharmaceutical treatment facility in our region, expanding the options available to our patients.