Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Selects the OnCore® Clinical Research Management System

The search for an integrated clinical research management system came to an end in February when Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) selected the OnCore® system.

“At some level, we’ve been looking for a product over a decade,” said Jeffrey W. Clark, MD, Medical Director of Clinical Trials Operations at DF/HCC. Unfortunately, a system that was sophisticated enough to handle the complexity of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center’s seven-institution consortium did not exist until recently.

“In many ways, we had gone as far as we could in improving the operation. What was really missing were the integrated systems that would give us the automation, information, and management decision making tools to take our clinical trials program to the next level,” said Beverly Ginsburg-Cooper, MBA, Associate Director for Administration at DF/HCC and Senior VP for Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Currently, DF/HCC uses informatics to support its clinical research operation. However, these systems are not fully integrated and there are opportunities to eliminate the duplication of effort and enhance the flow of data.

DF/HCC is comprised of seven separate independent institutions that function as a cohesive consortium. The center has a unified clinical trials structure with a single IRB, a single Protocol Review and Monitoring System, a single Data Safety and Monitoring Process, a single set of operating policies and procedures, and a centralized clinical trials infrastructure to support these functions. Additionally, the center has coordinated budgeting and contracting processes. But, each institution coordinates its own data management activities independently.

Immediately, the goal is to start using OnCore for all of the centralized administrative functions at DF/HCC. Additionally, there are several existing systems in place at the center that are under consideration for direct integration with OnCore. DF/HCC will also be identifying any critical functionality they would like to see added to OnCore.

Working Together to Improve Cancer Research and Care

The implementation of OnCore was kicked-off earlier this month at DF/HCC, and the center has already started participating in user community events and activities through Onsemble, a community comprised of OnCore users and others concerned with improving clinical research operations.