OncoPRO: Transforming Cancer Care Through Real-Time Symptom Monitoring
Summary
- OncoPRO is a next-generation symptom monitoring program designed to detect problems earlier, strengthen cancer patient safety and deliver data-driven cancer care.
- At Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, OncoPRO embeds patient-reported outcomes directly into MyUHealthChart, the health system’s electronic medical record.
- OncoPRO demonstrates how digital infrastructure can bridge research and clinical operations and align oncology, survivorship and clinical trials around shared priorities of safety, quality and patient experience.
As cancer care becomes more complex with the rapid expansion of immunotherapy and early-phase clinical trials, understanding how patients are doing between visits is no longer optional. It is essential to safety, outcomes and the future of precision oncology.
At Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, that need led to the development of OncoPRO, a next-generation symptom monitoring program designed to detect problems earlier, strengthen patient safety and deliver more responsive, data-driven cancer care.
From Early Innovation to Integrated Infrastructure
OncoPRO builds on Sylvester’s pioneering immune-related adverse event (irAE) monitoring initiative, launched in 2022 as a web-based, multidisciplinary clinic led by melanoma expert Jose Lutzky, M.D., director of cutaneous oncology services at Sylvester and professor of medical oncology at the Miller School. The program established a collaborative approach to managing immunotherapy side effects by recognizing that timely symptom detection can mean the difference between manageable toxicity and serious harm.
OncoPRO advances this model by embedding patient-reported outcomes captured by the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-created Patient-Reported Outcomes version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (PRO-CTCAE®) directly into MyUHealthChart, the health system’s electronic medical record. The PRO-CTCAE is a patient-facing assessment of symptoms and toxicities that can be delivered in real-time and beyond the confines of a clinic visit. This integration transforms symptom tracking from a parallel process into a core component of clinical care, creating a continuous, real-time feedback loop between patients and their care teams.
“We are a patient care-centered institution, and integrating OncoPRO into EPIC was a natural progression,” said Dr. Lutzky, Sylvester’s Cutaneous and Ocular Oncology Site Disease Group lead. “It enables earlier identification and more consistent management of immunotherapy toxicities, improving trial safety and reducing preventable hospitalizations, emergency visits and even deaths.”
Turning Cancer Symptoms into Actionable Signals
OncoPRO enables patients to report symptoms as they occur rather than recalling them weeks later.
Phase 1 and phase 2 trial patients receive structured symptom questionnaires every two weeks through MyUHealthChart, with responses flowing directly into the medical record. When predefined safety thresholds are crossed, best practice alerts prompt immediate review and intervention.
“OncoPRO allows us to hear the patient’s voice in real time, days or weeks prior to a clinic visit,” said Frank Penedo, Ph.D., associate director for population sciences, the Sylvester DCC Living Proof Endowed Chair in Cancer Survivorship and director of the Sylvester Survivorship and Supportive Care Institute (SSCI). “That immediacy is critical when therapies can escalate from mild symptoms to serious toxicities very quickly, thus allowing the clinicians to modify treatments as needed and prevent adverse events or treatment discontinuation.”
Confidence, Clarity and Connection for Cancer Patients
By making symptom reporting routine and structured, OncoPRO transforms monitoring from a passive, visit-based task into an active partnership between patients and clinicians. It removes guesswork about what is “important enough” to report, automatically flagging clinically meaningful symptoms and reassuring patients that their concerns are seen and addressed.
This early signal detection is central to OncoPRO’s impact. Subtle changes like fatigue that worsens, gastrointestinal symptoms that persist or early immune-related effects can be identified before they become emergencies. Clinicians can adjust treatment, initiate supportive care or bring patients in sooner, often preventing hospitalizations or treatment interruptions.
“As immunotherapy and emerging technologies become more widely used across oncology, structured early symptom monitoring is a natural evolution of care,” said Jessica MacIntyre, D.N.P., M.B.A., APRN, clinical operations lead at SSCI. “OncoPRO strengthens the safety of clinical trials, enhancing data capture and reporting, and advances a more responsive, patient-centered model of care aligned with the future of oncology.”
Advancing Cancer Survivorship and Precision Care
OncoPRO is a cornerstone of Sylvester’s broader strategy to advance tech-enabled survivorship and supportive care. The platform complements ongoing initiatives, including a U01-funded research effort and the work of Dr. Penedo’s survivorship team, all focused on improving outcomes through innovation, data integration and patient-centered design.
As Sylvester expands its leadership in survivorship care through the SSCI, OncoPRO demonstrates how digital infrastructure can bridge research and clinical operations and align oncology, survivorship and clinical trials around the shared priorities of safety, quality and patient experience.
While currently focused on early-phase trial patients, OncoPRO is expanding to all immunotherapy patients. Continuous symptom monitoring is especially critical to that patient population. Future iterations will integrate AI-enabled tools, including My Wellness Check, creating a comprehensive, personalized view of patient well-being and supporting proactive outreach, especially for those with limited access to in-person care.
Ultimately, OncoPRO reflects Sylvester’s commitment to precision oncology and modern survivorship care by using smarter systems to deliver safe, responsive and compassionate treatment. For patients, it means their symptoms are seen, heard and acted on every step of the way.
Tags: cancer research, clinical trials, Dr. Frank Penedo, Dr. Jose Lutzky, Jessica MacIntyre, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, technology