Effective networking and mentorship are critical determinants of career satisfaction and success in academic medicine. The American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPHO) mentoring program was developed to support Early Career (EC) members. Herein, the authors report on the initial 2-year outcomes of this novel program. Mentees selected mentors with expertise in different subspecialties within the field from mentor profiles at the ASPHO Web site. Of 23 enrolled pairs, 19 mentors and 16 mentees completed electronic program feedback evaluations. The authors analyzed data collected between February 2013 and December 2014. The authors used descriptive statistics for categorical data and thematic analysis for qualitative data. The overall response rate was 76% (35/46). At the initiation of the relationship, career development and research planning were the most commonly identified goals for both mentors and mentees. Participants communicated by phone, e-mail, or met in-person at ASPHO annual meetings. Most mentor-mentee pairs were satisfied with the mentoring relationship, considered it a rewarding experience that justified their time and effort, achieved their goals in a timely manner with objective work products, and planned to continue the relationship. However, time constraints and infrequent communications remained a challenge. Participation in the ASPHO mentoring program suggests a clear benefit to a broad spectrum of ASPHO EC members with diverse personal and professional development needs. Efforts to expand the mentoring program are ongoing and focused on increasing enrollment of mentors to cover a wider diversity of career tracks/subspecialties and evaluating career and academic outcomes more objectively.

With modern chemotherapy, approximately 90% of patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia are now cured. However, subsets of patients can be identified who remain at very high risk of relapse with expected 4-year disease-free survival rates <80%; such patients are appropriate candidates for intensive therapeutic strategies designed to improve survival. The AALL1131 trial was designed to determine, in a randomized fashion, whether substitution with cyclophosphamide/etoposide (experimental arm 1) would improve the 4-year disease-free survival of children, adolescents, and young adults with very high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia compared to a modified Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster regimen (control arm). Patients 1-30 years of age with newly diagnosed very high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia were randomized after induction in a 1:2 fashion to the control arm or experimental arm 1 in which they were given cyclophosphamide (440 mg/m2 days 1-5)/etoposide (100 mg/m2 days 1-5) during part 2 of consolidation and delayed intensification. Prospective interim monitoring rules for efficacy and futility were included where futility would be determined for a one-sided P-value ≥0.7664. The study was stopped for futility as the interim monitoring boundary was crossed [hazard ratio 0.606 (95% confidence interval: 0.297 - 1.237)] and the very high-risk arm of AALL1131 was closed in February 2017. Using data current as of December 31, 2017, 4-year disease-free survival rates were 85.5±6.8% (control arm) versus 72.3±6.3% (experimental arm 1) (P-value = 0.76). There were no significant differences in grade 3/4 adverse events between the two arms. Substitution of this therapy for very high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients on the Children's Oncology Group AALL1131 trial (NCT02883049) randomized to cyclophosphamide/etoposide during part 2 of consolidation and delayed intensification did not improve disease-free survival.