Children's Oncology Group's 2013 blueprint for research: Adolescent and young adult oncology

The discipline of Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Oncology addresses compelling medical and psychosocial needs of AYA patients across the spectrum of cancer survivorship. To be successful, extraordinary collaboration involving multiple scientific disciplines and specialties is required. While AYA Oncology is international in scope, recent AYA-focused studies conducted in the Children's Oncology Group (COG) have documented survival disparities, toxicity differences, and biological insights that provide the basis for new COG trials and initiatives for this population. This experience will be useful in leveraging the new United States National Cancer Institute Clinical Trials Network to transform AYA Oncology research.