SARC Appoints Dr. Jonathan Fletcher To New Role of Chief Scientific Officer

ANN ARBOR, MI October 22, 2021 – SARC (Sarcoma Alliance for Research Through Collaboration) is pleased to announce that Jonathan Fletcher, M.D., has been appointed Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), a new role at this non-profit cancer research organization which leads collaborative discovery, translational research, and clinical trials in sarcoma, a form of cancer that impacts children and adults.

Dr. Fletcher is a lab-based medical and pediatric oncologist at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. 
He is also trained in genetics. Dr. Fletcher also serves on the SARC Board of Directors and on its Scientific Steering, Career Development, and Discovery/Translation Committees.

As CSO, Dr. Fletcher will expand SARC commitments in sarcoma biology, discovery science, and biomarkers, thereby strengthening SARC’s portfolio of clinical trials. State-of-the-art correlative science studies will continue to be a SARC priority, and efforts to maximize clinical trial data-sharing with the scientific community will be increased.

“Dr. Fletcher is an inspirational leader in sarcoma research and, apropos to this appointment, is widely recognized for his commitment to advancing the team science efforts which are so key to accelerating discoveries from the lab to the clinic,” said Steven Young, President and Chief Executive Officer of SARC. “SARC welcomes the opportunity to further deepen Dr. Fletcher’s hands-on engagement supporting our mission to convert sarcoma biologic discoveries into more effective treatments.”

Dr. Fletcher will also serve as chief spokesperson for SARC’s scientific strategy, translating sarcoma science for diverse audiences such as the NIH, patient advocates, sarcoma clinicians, and SARC industry partners.

“SARC fosters multi-institutional collaborations, providing expertise in clinical trials, biostatistics, and biospecimen processing,” said Dr. Fletcher. “We now aim to expand SARC’s commitment to discovery and translational sciences. One goal is to integrate more science in each SARC clinical trial, explaining why new therapies help some people and not others. This will enable us to refine the therapeutic approaches, helping more people and reducing needless treatment toxicity.”

About SARC
SARC (Sarcoma Alliance for Research Through Collaboration) is a US-based, non-profit (501(c)(3)) sarcoma research cooperative solely dedicated to fostering progress in the prevention and treatment of sarcoma to improve patient outcomes and ultimately find a cure.

Given the rarity of sarcoma and the multiple histologic subtypes, no single institution has sufficient patient resources for timely accrual and adequate statistical power to complete trials that will yield meaningful results. Accordingly, SARC was formed in 2003 by the sarcoma research community to bring together the best cancer centers in the world supported by centralized infrastructure for the conduct of multi-institutional collaborative sarcoma research. Since founding, SARC has successfully established itself as a leader in providing a unified platform for sarcoma experts to collaborate and accelerate Phase I, II and III clinical trials (SARC as sponsor), correlative studies to better understand what drugs and combinations are most effective in treating sub-groups of patients, young investigator mentorship and grants programs, and the investigation of key biological questions across nearly 90 medical centers with specialized sarcoma programs in the United States and globally.

What Is Sarcoma?
Sarcomas are cancers of the bony skeleton (the skull, vertebrae, ribs, and extremities), and the so-called soft tissues, including muscle and fat. Sarcomas are disproportionately common in children and young adults but occur at all ages. There are many different types of sarcomas, leading to diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. SARC and our collaborators are working to advance the science and treatments of sarcomas.

Media Contact
Steven Young
SARC President & CEO
syoung@sarctrials.org
(734) 930-7557

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