Our History

The cooperative group system for clinical research began in 1955 with a consortium focused on childhood cancer research. By the end of the 1990s there were nine groups funded by the NCI to conduct research in adults with cancer, and four cooperative groups funded focused on childhood cancer research. Two groups, the Children's Cancer Group (CCG) and the Pediatric Oncology Group (POG) studied a diverse array of childhood cancers, while two groups, the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group (IRSG), and the National Wilms’ Tumor Study Group (NWTS) were cancer specific. In the year 2000 the four pediatric groups voluntarily merged efforts to create COG.