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Dr. Pedro A. Torres-Saavedra

Mathematical Statistician, Biostatistics Branch

Biosketch:

Dr. Torres-Saavedra joined the Biometric Research Program at the NCI in 2024. His current responsibilities in BRP include serving as the liaison to the Cancer Imaging Program (CIP) and reviewing imaging-related studies in protocols and proposals. Before coming to the NCI, Dr. Torres-Saavedra was a Manager Biostatistician at the Center for Research and Innovation at the American College of Radiology (ACR) in Philadelphia, PA (2018-2023). He was also the Senior Statistician for the Head and Neck (HN) Core Committee at NRG Oncology, one of the NCTN groups. He worked closely with statisticians, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, surgeons, and other cancer specialists in designing phase I, II, III, and IV multi-institutional clinical trials sponsored by the NCI/CTEP. Dr. Torres-Saavedra was the team leader of all clinical trials in the HN portfolio, from concept and protocol development to publication. Before coming to ACR/NRG Oncology, he was an Associate Professor at the Mathematical Sciences Department at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM). He taught undergraduate and graduate statistics courses, and he was the Coordinator of the Statistical Consulting Laboratory. Before this, he worked at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), where he participated in several research efforts to curb impaired driving in the US through the application of statistical methods to the study of fatal vehicle crashes, drinking, and drugging.

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 risk prediction.

CV (Updated January, 2024)

Peer-Reviewed Publications:

Wong S., Torres-Saavedra, P., et al. TRYHARD (RTOG Foundation 3501): A Randomized Phase II Clinical Trial of Concurrent Radiation plus Cisplatin with or without Lapatinib for Stage III- IV Non-HPV Head and Neck Carcinoma. JAMA Oncology, Published online September 28, 2023. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2023.3809

Lee N., Harris J., ..., Torres-Saavedra, P., Quynh-Thu L. Long-term Results of Bevacizumab and Chemoradiation for Loco-regionally Advanced Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: An Update of NRG Oncology RTOG 0615. JAMA Network Open.

A.S. Garden, J. Harris, A. Eisbruch, K.S.C. Chao, W.H. Morrison, P.M. Harari, T.A. Swanson, C.U. Jones, S.S. Yom, S.A. Spencer, R.A. Scrimger, G. Shenouda, M.E. Shukla, H. Lau, M.L. Mierzwa, P. Torres-Saavedra, Q.T. Le, Final Report of NRG Oncology RTOG 0022: A Phase I/II Study of Conformal and Intensity Modulated Radiation for Oropharyngeal Cancer, International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, Volume 111, Issue 3, Supplement, 2021, Page S143, ISSN 0360-3016, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2021.07.322

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

Eric J Sherman, Jonathan Harris, Keith C Bible, Ping Xia, Ronald A Ghossein, Christine H Chung, Nadeem Riaz, G Brandon Gunn, Robert L Foote, Sue S Yom, Stuart J Wong, Shlomo A Koyfman, Michael F Dzeda, David A Clump, Saad A Khan, Manisha H Shah, Kevin Redmond, Pedro A Torres-Saavedra, Quynh-Thu Le, Nancy Y Lee, Radiotherapy and paclitaxel plus pazopanib or placebo in anaplastic thyroid cancer (NRG/RTOG 0912): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre, phase 2 trial, The Lancet Oncology, Volume 24, Issue 2, 2023, Pages 175-186, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(22)00763-X

Dian Wang, MD, ..., Pedro Torres-Saavedra, PhD, David R. Lucas, MD. Pathologic Complete Response and Clinical Outcomes in Localized Soft Tissue Sarcoma Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy or Radiotherapy in NRG/RTOG 9514 and 0630. Accepted. JAMA Oncology.

Gillison ML, Ferris RL, Harris J, Colevas AD, Mell LK, Kong C, Jordan RC, Moore KL, Truong MT, Kirsch C, Chakravarti A, Blakaj DM, Clump DA, Ohr JP, Deeken JF, Gensheimer MF, Saba NF, Dorth JA, Rosenthal DI, Leidner RS, Kimple RJ, Machtay M, Curran WJ Jr, Torres-Saavedra P, Le QT. Safety of Nivolumab Added to Chemoradiation Therapy Platforms for Intermediate and High-Risk Locoregionally Advanced Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: RTOG Foundation 3504. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2023 Mar 15;115(4):847-860. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2022.10.008 Epub 2022 Oct 11. PMID: 36228746.

Chieko M., Torres-Saavedra P., Silver N.L., Harari PM, Kies M.S., Rosenthal D.I., Le Q., Jordan R.C., Duose D.Y., Mallampati S., Trivedi S., Luthra R., Wistuba I.I, Osman A.A., Lichtarge O., Foote R.L., Parvathaneni U., Hayes D.N., Pickering C.R., Myers J.N. (2022), Evolutionary Action Score of TP53 Analysis in Pathologically High-Risk HPV-Negative Head and Neck Cancer from a Phase II Clinical Trial: NRG Oncology RTOG 0234, Advances in Radiation Oncology, 100989, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adro.2022.100989

Lu D., Luu M., Gay C., Nguyen A.T., Anderson E.M., Bernier J., Cooper J.S., Harari P.M., Torres-Saavedra P.A., Le Q., Chen M., Mallen-St. Clair J., Ho A., Zumsteg Z. (2022). Nodal Metastasis Count and Oncologic Outcomes in Head and Neck Cancer: A Secondary Analysis of NRG/RTOG 9501, NRG/RTOG 0234, and EORTC 22931, International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2022.03.033

Torres-Saavedra, P., Winter K.A. (2021) An Overview of Phase 2 Clinical Trial Designs. International Journal of Radiation Oncology-Biology-Physics (IJROBP), 112:1, 22-29. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2021.07.1700

Pugh SL and Torres-Saavedra P (2021). Fundamental Statistical Concepts in Clinical Trials and Diagnostic Testing. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 62(6):757-764.

Petit C. et al. (2021). Chemotherapy and radiotherapy in locally advanced head and neck cancer: an individual patient data network meta-analysis. The Lancet Oncology, Volume 22, Issue 5. doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(21)00076-0

Yom SS, Torres-Saavedra P, et al. (2021). Reduced-Dose Radiation Therapy for HPV-Associated Oropharyngeal Carcinoma (NRG Oncology HN002). Journal of Clinical Oncology, 39(9); DOI: 10.1200/JCO.20.03128

Rivera R, Marazzi M, and Torres P (2019). Incorporating Open Data into Introductory Courses in Statistics. Journal of Statistics Education, 1-13.

Romano, E., Moore, C., Kelley-Baker, T., and Torres-Saavedra, P. (2019). The utility of delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) measures obtained from oral fluid samples in traffic safety. Traffic Injury Prevention, 29:1-6.

Romano, E., Torres, P., Calderon, H., Voas, R. B., and Ramírez, A. (2018). Alcohol-Related Risk of Driver Fatalities in Motor-Vehicle Crashes: Comparing Data from 2007 and 2013-2014. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Vol. 79:4, 547-552.

Romano, E., Torres, P., Voas, R. B., and Lacey, J.H. (2016). Marijuana and the Risk of Fatal Car Crashes: What Can We Learn from FARS and NRS Data? The Journal of Primary Prevention, Vol. 38 (3), 315-328.

Baker, N., Appeldoorn, R. and Torres-Saavedra, P. (2016). Fishery independent surveys of the queen conch stock in western Puerto Rico, with an assessment of historical trends and management effectiveness. Marine and Coastal Fisheries, Vol. 8, Issue 1.

Torres, P., Romano, E. and Lacey, J.H. (2014). The relative risk of involvement in fatal crashes as a function of race/ethnicity and blood alcohol concentration. Journal of Safety Research, 48, 95-101.

Romano, E., Torres, P., Voas, R. and Lacey, J. (2014). Drugs and Alcohol: Their Relative Crash Risk. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 75(1), 56-64.

Popa-Burke, I., Lane, C.A., Hogan, R., Novick, S., Torres-Saavedra, P., Hardy, B., Ray, B., Gomez, M., Paulus, I., Miller, L. (2014). The effect of Initial Purity on the Stability of Solutions in Storage. Journal of Biomolecular Screening, 19(2), 308-316.

Torres, P., Zhang, D. and Wang, H. (2013). Constructing Conditional Reference Charts for Grip Strength Measured with Error. Topics in Applied Statistics, Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics, 55, pp 299-310.

Voas, R. B., Torres, P., Romano, E. and Lacey, J.H. (2012). Alcohol-Related Risk of Driver Fatalities: An Update Using 2007 Data. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, May, 73, 3:341-50 (second place in 2012-2013 top downloads of original research/reviews).

Lacey, J.H., Kelley-Baker, T., Voas, R.B., Romano, E., Furr-Holden, C.D., Torres, P., and Berning, A. (2011). Alcohol- and Drug-Involved Driving in the United States: Methodology for the 2007 National Roadside Survey. Evaluation Review, Vol. 35, Issue 4, 319-353.

Torres, P. and Ospina, D. (2001). Cluster Sampling with Multiplicity: Estimation of the Population Size in Rare Populations (in Spanish). Revista Colombiana de Estadística, 24, 2: 121-140.

Ortiz J., Torres, P., Neira, T., Castaneda, J., and Castro A. (2000). Rules to Use the Normal Distribution as an Approximation to the Binomial Distribution (in Spanish). Revista Colombiana de Estadística, 23, 1: 65-70.