application intended to support surgical activities within CALGB including the recruitment of patients to adjuvant trials, development and performance of surgical trials, and surgical quality control. Historically, surgical participation within CALGB had been limited, in part due to the early focus of CALGB investigations of leukemia and late-stage solid malignancies. Increasing emphasis on adjuvant trials has required greater surgical participation, both for recruitment of perioperative patients, but as well for surgical quality control. The application describes five specific aims of the Surgery Modality Committee: (1) to develop a quality control program that will seek to standardize the surgical component of CALGB protocols; (2) to provide a platform to support the intellectual activity of CALGB surgeons; (3) to provide a mechanism for the practical support of surgical activity within the group; (4) to assure regular review and monitoring of individual surgical productivity; and (5) to permit CALGB surgeons to assume leadership roles in protocol development. The Surgery Modality Committee consists of a consortium of 29 surgeon members, each representing a CALGB institution. The group is organized and run by a central committee for which Dr. Sugarbaker is chair and Dr. Leslie Kohman is vice-chair, as well as three disease site subcommittees, including Thoracic, Breast, Gastrointestinal, and an Institutional Coordinators Committee. Protocol concepts are developed in the disease committees. Three stages of group development are described: (1) surgeon recruitment phase; (2) patient recruitment phase (educational activities about adjuvant therapy trials. etc.); and (3) protocol development phase (intellectual activities).