Data-sharing efforts create breakthroughs in pediatric cancer research

Published in University of Chicago Science Life | September 16, 2025

“Pediatric oncology as a success story is really founded on the notion that we can’t be successful unless we share.”

– Dr. Sam Volchenboum

A new article published by the University of Chicago highlights how the Pediatric Cancer Data Commons is creating breakthroughs in pediatric cancer research. Reflecting on two decades of collaborative work to build and grow the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group (INRG) Task Force, the article comes alongside a retrospective by INRG leaders recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The foundation for the PCDC was established through the pioneering work of INRG, which demonstrated the transformative potential of global data collaboration in rare pediatric cancers. Led by Dr. Susan Cohn and Dr. Andy Pearson, working in collaboration with Dr. Sam Volchenboum and the D4CG team, INRG has enabled more than 40 research studies that would have been impossible with individual institutional datasets alone. Twenty years after the initial meeting of INRG, the PCDC has grown into a global effort with consortia now gathering and harmonizing clinical data for 16 different cancers and conditions.

Read the article to learn more about INRG’s history and the impact it is having today.

“Providing data on thousands of neuroblastoma patients to investigators around the world has led to new discoveries that have changed treatment approaches.”

– Dr. Susan Cohn