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Biography

Dr. Torres-Saavedra joined the BRP in 2024. His current responsibilities include serving as the liaison to the NCI’s Cancer Imaging Program (CIP), providing statistical expertise and oversight for NCI-sponsored imaging studies, acting as an ex-officio member of the ECOG-ACRIN Data Monitoring and Safety Committee, and being a member of the NCI’s Cancer Imaging Steering Committee. Prior to joining the NCI, he worked as a Manager Biostatistician at the Center for Research and Innovation at the American College of Radiology (ACR). He was a Senior Statistician for the NRG Oncology Head and Neck Core Committee. He closely collaborated with statisticians, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, surgeons, and other cancer specialists to design multi-institutional phases I, II, III, and IV clinical trials sponsored by NCI/CTEP. As the team leader, he oversaw all clinical trials in the head and neck portfolio, from concept and protocol development to publication. Before his role at ACR/NRG, he was an Associate Professor in the Mathematical Sciences Department at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. 

Research Interests: Design, monitoring, and analysis of oncology clinical trials (phases I-IV); survival analysis; longitudinal data analysis; semiparametric models using frequentist and Bayesian approaches; statistical methods for diagnostic tests and agreement studies; and risk prediction and model validation.

Education

  • Ph.D., North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, US
  • M.S., University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, PR, US
  • B.S., National University of Colombia, Bogotá D.C., Colombia

Scientific Publications

  1. Machtay M, Torres-Saavedra PA, Thorstad W, Nguyen-Tân PF, Siu LL, Holsinger FC, El-Naggar A, Chung C, Cmelak A, Burtness B, Bednarz G, Quon H, Breen SL, Gwede CK, Dicker AP, Yao M, Jordan RC, Dorth J, Lee N, Chan JW, Dunlap N, Bar-Ad V, Stokes WA, Chakravarti A, Sher D, Rao S, Harris J, Yom SS, Le QT; NRG Oncology RTOG 0920 Collaborating Team; TransSCOT Consortium. Postoperative Radiotherapy ± Cetuximab for Intermediate-Risk Head and Neck Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2025 Jan 22:JCO2401829. doi: 10.1200/JCO-24-01829. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39841939.
  2. Loren K Mell, Pedro A Torres-Saavedra, Stuart J Wong, Julie A Kish, Steven S Chang, Richard C Jordan, Tian Liu, Minh Tam Truong, Eric W Winquist, Vinita Takiar, Trisha Wise-Draper, Jared R Robbins, Cristina P Rodriguez, Musaddiq J Awan, Beth M Beadle, Christina Henson, Samir Narayan, Sharon A Spencer, Steven Powell, Neal Dunlap, Assuntina G Sacco, Kenneth Shung Hu, Henry S Park, Julie E Bauman, Jonathan Harris, Sue S Yom, Quynh-Thu Le, Radiotherapy with cetuximab or durvalumab for locoregionally advanced head and neck cancer in patients with a contraindication to cisplatin (NRG-HN004): an open-label, multicentre, parallel-group, randomised, phase 2/3 trial. The Lancet Oncology, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(24)00507-2
  3. Li Guan, Pedro A. Torres-Saavedra, Xiaobei Zhao, Michael B. Major, Brittany J. Holmes, Ngan K. Nguyen, Parasakthy Kumaravelu, Tim Hodge, Maximilian Diehn, Jose Zevallos, F. Christopher Holsinger, Bahman Emami, Richard C. Jordan, Michele C. Hayward, Stephen M. Sagar, William Morrison, Christopher Schultz, Jimmy J. Caudell, Christopher U. Jones, Scott V. Bratman, Thomas J. Galloway, Daniel J. Ma, Sue S. Yom, Mahesh Kudrimoti, Harold E. Kim, Jonathan Harris, Quynh-Thu Le, D. Neil Hayes; Association between Locoregional Failure and NFE2L2/KEAP1/CUL3 Mutations in NRG/RTOG 9512: A Randomized Trial of Radiation Fractionation in T2N0 Glottic Cancer. Clin Cancer Res 2025; https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-24-2334
  4. Wong SJ, Torres-Saavedra PA, Saba NF, et al. Radiotherapy Plus Cisplatin With or Without Lapatinib for Non–Human Papillomavirus Head and Neck Carcinoma: A Phase 2 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Oncol. 2023;9(11):1565–1573. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.3809 
  5. J.J. Caudell, P. Torres-Saavedra, D.I. Rosenthal, R. Axelrod, P.F. Nguyen-Tan, E. Sherman, R.S. Weber, J.M. Galvin, A.K. El-Naggar, A.A. Konski, A. Trotti, N.E. Dunlap, G. Shenouda, A.K. Singh, J.J. Beitler, A.A. Garsa, M. Birrer, A.S. Garden, T.S. Herman, Q.T. Le. Long-Term Update of NRG Oncology RTOG 0522: A Randomized Phase III Trial of Concurrent Radiation and Cisplatin with or without Cetuximab in Locoregionally  Advanced Head and Neck Cancer. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, Volume 106, Issue 5, 2020, Pages 1116-1117, ISSN 0360-3016, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2019.11.393

For the full list check the Google Scholar list of publications.

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