Membership

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center seeks MUSC faculty and community partners who have an interest in cancer research and a desire to promote the center’s mission to eradicate cancer. Membership in Hollings Cancer Center is open to all MUSC faculty who meet the criteria listed below. Hollings Full Members are given priority access to Hollings Cancer Center-supported Shared Resources and are eligible to apply for pilot project funding.

For questions about membership, please contact Julia Singleton at singleju@musc.edu.

Membership Categories & Eligibility

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center has two types of members: Full Member and Affiliate Member.

Full Member

Full Members must have:

  • A faculty appointment at the Medical University of South Carolina AND
  • Contributed to the peer-reviewed cancer literature within the past 3 years

In addition, Full Members must also meet one of the following criteria:

  • Principal investigator (PI, multi PI [MPI] or project leader) on a cancer-related, peer-reviewed, funded research grant or training grant (i.e., NIH K awards, COBRE awards, or other similar career development awards); OR
  • Principal investigator or co-investigator on an investigator-initiated, cancer-focused clinical trial; or appointment as Hollings Clinical Scholar; Contributions to protocol development, implementation, patient accrual and participation at a level justifying publication co-authorship are expected from investigators; OR
  • Clinician accruing a minimum of 10 patients to interventional treatment (therapeutic), cancer-focused clinical trials per year; Clinician accruing a minimum of 10 patients to interventional non-treatment trials, particularly those that support NCORP and demonstrate high collaboration or contribution to the NCI Research Bases; OR
  • Faculty at the assistant/instructor level planning to conduct cancer research who receive MUSC faculty appointment who have a track record of productivity; OR
  • Faculty who play a leadership/key role in the cancer center (Senior Leader or Chair of Hollings Committee, Disease Focus Group leader, Transdisciplinary Cancer Team leader); OR
  • Faculty who play a critical role in team-based science, support the cancer center’s mission, and have a consistent record of publishing cancer-related manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals; Provided specialized medical, scientific or administrative expertise to the overall research mission of the cancer center; OR
  • At the Director’s discretion.

Full Members are assigned to a scientific research program based on a recommendation from the Cancer Center Senior Leadership and approval by the Director. Research activities, grants, publications and clinical research participation of Full Members will be highlighted in the Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG). 

Affiliate Member

Affiliate Members are faculty, including clinicians and health care professionals, who are:

  • An investigator, including non-faculty investigators (e.g., instructor, research associate, and non-tenure track assistant professors), who have no active, independent, cancer-related extramural funding but are interested and/or involved in cancer research; OR
  • Tenured faculty working in non-cancer-related areas who are interested in making his/her research more cancer relevant; OR
  • An investigator at the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, South Carolina State University, or other higher academic institution deemed appropriate by the Director who has initiated early interactions with cancer center members and participates in cancer center activities.

Membership Benefits

All members receive:

  • Eligibility for Hollings Cancer Center funding opportunities
  • Hollings Cancer Center publications and communications
  • Educational opportunities including Hollings-sponsored conferences, seminars, and retreats
  • Association with specific disease-site, specialty, and/or scientific program affiliation on Hollings Cancer Center website

Full Members receive:

  • Priority access to and subsidized rates for cancer center shared resources
  • Receive access to peer-reviewed mechanism (Protocol Review Committee) for scientific and technical review of oncology clinical research studies involving humans and/or human specimens/data proposed for activation
  • Receive access to Data and Safety Monitoring Committee for oncology trials
  • Eligible for pre- and postdoctoral student research stipends
  • Eligible for access to administrative support in submitting research proposals for funding
  • Eligible for assignment to Hollings Cancer Center laboratory or other research space as available

Commitments & Obligations

  • Full Members and Affiliate Members must actively participate in one of the following research programs:

    Cancer Biology & Immunology Program
    Program co-leaders: Philip H. Howe, Ph.D., & Sophie Paczesny, M.D., Ph.D.

    Cancer Control Program
    Program co-leaders: Matthew Carpenter, Ph.D., & Ashish Deshmukh, Ph.D.

    Developmental Cancer Therapeutics Program
    Program co-leaders: Nancy Klauber-DeMore, M.D., & John O'Bryan, Ph.D.

  • Participation includes developing new research projects in collaboration with other program members; attendance at Hollings Cancer Center research program meetings, sponsored conferences, seminars, etc.; authorship of cancer-related manuscripts with other program members, etc.

  • Full Members who are clinicians must actively participate in established Hollings Cancer Center multidisciplinary clinics, tumor boards, clinical trial meetings, and other Hollings-sponsored clinical and educational programmatic activities.

  • Full Members and Affiliate Members must submit all prospective oncology studies involving humans and/or human specimens/data to Hollings’ Protocol Review Committee prior to Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. The policies and procedures for the Protocol Review Committee are available on the Hollings Cancer Center intranet.

  • Full Members and Affiliate Members must provide information on cancer clinical studies (patient data, adverse events, protocol deviations, copies of IRB approval letters, revised protocols, audit reports, etc.) regardless of whether they utilize the Hollings Clinical Trials Office.

  • Full Members and Affiliate Members must provide copies of IRB submissions in regards to serious adverse events, protocol deviations, and audit reports regardless of whether they utilize the Hollings Clinical Trials Office.

  • Full Members and Affiliate Members oncology clinical trials will be reviewed semiannually for accrual by the Protocol Review Committee. For trials not meeting their accrual goals per the committee's policy, probation letters will be issued. To avoid closure, members must respond to the probation letter by the deadline given so that the committee may review the reasonableness of the accrual corrective action plan. Members agree that this committee has the authority to close low- or non-accruing trials. The policies and procedures for the Protocol Review Committee are available on the Hollings Cancer Center intranet.

  • Full Members must actively participate in the preparation of the P30 Cancer Center Support Grant application to the NCI.

  • Full Members and Affiliate Members must provide information on clinical studies, publications, research support, and other information needed to fulfill P30 Cancer Center Support Grant requirements.

  • Full Members and Affiliate Members must acknowledge use of Hollings facilities, shared resources, space, or assistance (when appropriate) in research publications and new grant submissions.

Application Process

  1. Complete the Hollings Cancer Center Membership Application Form and upload an NIH-formatted biosketch including extramural support (C.V. if biosketch is not available). Additional information can be obtained by contacting Julia Singleton at 843-792-5489 or singleju@musc.edu.
  2. Individual applications will be reviewed by Hollings leadership.
  3. Applicants will receive notification of the decision indicating their type of membership.

Review and Renewal of Applications

All Members will be reviewed annually by Hollings leadership, and they may reassign membership categories based on current review of category criteria and member information. Full Members and Affiliate Members must meet all the criteria listed for new applicants in their current membership category or their membership status will be reassigned. Membership recommendations will then be sent to the Hollings director for approval. The director has final authority on approval, disapproval, or termination of membership.

Definition of Peer-Reviewed, Funded Research that Meets Criteria of a Member

  • Awarded individual cancer-related research grants, cooperative agreements, and research contracts from the NCI or NIH with the following prefixes: R00, R01, R03, R15, R18, R21, R24, R25, R33, R37, R41, R42, R43, R44, R55, R56, P01, P20, P30s (other than the CCSG), P50, SC1, SC2, U01, U10, U19, U54, U56, N01; training and career development awards (i.e., NIH K awards, COBRE awards, or other similar career development awards); and Hollings Clinical Scholar awards.
  • Please see this list of Peer Review Funding Organizations (PDF) for a list of other peer-reviewing agencies.