In this issue of Surgical Oncology Clinics of North America, Guest Editor Clifford Ko, MD has assembled the top experts concerning Outcomes Research in Oncology.  Topics in this issue will include: Currently Available Quality Initiatives in Surgical Oncology; Variation in Mortality After High Risk Cancer Surgery: Failure to Rescue; Readmission as a Quality Measure Following High Risk Cancer Surgery; Randomized Controlled Trials in Surgical Oncology: Where Do We Stand?; Lymph Node Staging in GI Malignancies; Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Cancer Care; Patient Safety in Surgical Oncology: Perspective from the Operating Room; Value Based Health Care: A Surgical Oncologist Perspective; Monitoring the Delivery of Cancer Care: Commission on Cancer and National Cancer Data Base; Prediction Tools in Surgical Oncology; Collaboration With the Community Cancer Center: Benefit for All; and Evaluating the Appropriateness of Cancer Care in the United States.