The SIOP PARC Committee is pleased to announce that Dr. Jorge Luis Buitrago Escobar has been awarded the 2026 PARC Early Career Award, made possible through the generous support from the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research and the NaiKong and Irene Cheung Family.
VIGICANCER has reported a 5-year overall survival (OS) probability for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) of 69%, significantly lower than the 85%–92% reported in high-income countries (HICs). Interinstitutional variability in diagnostic and treatment protocols is a structural factor contributing to this gap. Evidence shows that treatment within clinical trials is linked to improved survival.
ACHOP is a non-profit scientific society that brings together Colombian pediatric hematologists and oncologists to promote excellence in pediatric care through scientific research, continuing education, and patient advocacy. In our setting, ACHOP is the natural leader to spearhead the development and implementation of a National Protocol for the Treatment of Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ENPPALL) in Colombia. This project aims to integrate VIGICANCER’s capacity for monitoring clinical outcomes with ACHOP’s leadership and its experience implementing successful childhood cancer treatment protocols in HICs, in order to develop, using implementation science methodology, an evidence-based national protocol for the diagnostic confirmation and treatment of pediatric ALL in Colombia.
We will deliver an implementation strategy across five centers over 24 months. The primary implementation outcome will be fidelity, with adoption, acceptability, and feasibility as co-primary outcomes. Early signals of clinical effectiveness will be assessed through VIGICANCER. Long-term clinical outcomes (OS and event-free survival [EFS]) will be tracked through VIGICANCER’s routine surveillance beyond the funded period.
This research will strengthen VIGICANCER’s research capacity in three areas: (1) the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) methodology and the ADAPTE framework for evidence-based protocol development; (2) the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation, version II (AGREE II), for guideline appraisal; and (3) the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), for assessing implementation determinants. The skills acquired will contribute to improving survival among Colombian children with ALL.
Bio
Dr. Jorge Luis Buitrago Escobar is a Pediatric Hematologist-Oncologist specializing in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy. He currently serves as a Pediatric Hematologist-Oncologist and Leader of the Therapeutic Apheresis Program at the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit of Clínica Imbanaco in Cali, Colombia. Strongly committed to advancing pediatric cancer care and research in the region, Dr. Buitrago serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors for the POHEMA Foundation and works actively as a researcher with the VIGICANCER collaborative group. He holds a Master’s degree in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, Immunotherapy, and Cellular Therapy from the University of Valencia, Spain.
