Isabelle Tabah-Fisch, MD, a medical oncologist in Paris who contributed greatly to drug development, died August 28, 2020, at age 64. An announcement about Dr. Tabah-Fisch’s death was made by GamaMabs, where she served as Chief Medical Officer until her retirement in March 2020. Under her...
Susan G. Komen is recognizing two widely respected and innovative breast cancer researchers—Donald McDonnell, PhD, and Laura Esserman, MD, MBA—as this year’s recipients of their highest scientific honor, the Brinker Awards. Established by Komen in 1992, the awards recognize advances in the...
Lesley Solomon, MBA, Senior Vice President for Innovation and Chief Innovation Officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has received the 2020 Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare Award from The Commonwealth Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to advancing women in leadership positions....
Radiation oncologist Abigail T. Berman, MD, was born and reared in Philadelphia, the daughter of an orthopedic surgeon whose passion for his work was an early influence on her decision to pursue a career in medicine. “My father absolutely adored his job and worked very hard, which inspired me to...
Mountainside Medical Center has announced that Lori Leslie, MD, has been named Co–Medical Director of the hospital’s Cancer Program, which is affiliated with John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center. Dr. Leslie joins the Cancer Program leadership, serving alongside Donna...
In part 1 of this three-part article, which was published in the October 10, 2020, issue of The ASCO Post, we chronicled the progress made in geriatric oncology up to the decade of the 1990s, which saw an explosion of research activity in the study of aging and cancer. In part 2, we review the...
As the cancer community marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) is starting a new 5-year program aimed at accelerating progress in breast cancer control. “While the incidence of breast cancer is generally higher in more developed regions, ...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) awarded Lourdes A. Báezconde-Garbanati, PhD, the 2020 AACR Distinguished Lectureship on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities. Dr. Báezconde-Garbanati presented her award lecture, “Optimizing Engagement to Reduce Disparities Among...
On October 7, 2020, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 would be awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier, PhD, and Jennifer A. Doudna, PhD, “for the development of a method for genome editing,” the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors. “There is enormous power...
The rate of obesity is rising dramatically in the United States and Europe, with more than 60% of women in the United States1,2 and 50% of women in Europe3 classified as overweight or obese based on their body mass index (BMI). Obesity is associated with an increased risk of hormone...
The Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology (APSHO) presented the third annual Mary Pazdur Award for Excellence in Advanced Practice in Oncology to Christina Cone, DNP, APRN, ANP-BC, AOCNP®, of Duke Cancer Institute, at the JADPRO Live Virtual conference, an annual educational...
Limited English-language proficiency may be a risk factor for receiving screening mammograms less often, according to new study results using national data. These findings, concerning women age 40 and older living in the United States, were presented at the American College of Surgeons Clinical...
Among accredited cancer centers in the United States, hospitals serving primarily minority patients are as likely as other hospitals to offer the standard of surgical care for early-stage breast cancer, according to results presented at the virtual American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress...
Automated analysis of the routine scans of patients with breast cancer may help to predict which women have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to research presented by Gal et al at the 12th European Breast Cancer Conference (Abstract 7). Women who have been treated for...
The Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer, sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and held virtually this year, showcased cutting-edge discoveries and promising advances in the understanding and treatment of pancreatic cancer, reported by some of the world’s foremost...
The well-loved Art of Oncology section of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) and its pioneering podcast are both resonating as never before, as cancer specialists are prompted into deeper reflections about the poignant moments that give life meaning by the COVID-19 pandemic. JCO’s Art of...
Despite decades of research and clinical advances, the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer remain formidable challenges. Recently, enormous efforts have been made to develop new methods for the early diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer, such as those led by Diane M. Simeone, MD, a ...
Although cancer incidence and mortality rates for all cancers combined are considerably lower in younger adults than older adults, a disturbing pattern is beginning to emerge in the development of early-onset cancers, typically diagnosed in older patients, occurring in younger adults. The rising...
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Patricia Keegan, MD, who served at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for 30 years, most recently as Acting Associate Director of Medical Policy at the Oncology Center for Excellence (OCE)....
Pain is one of the most common byproducts of cancer and its treatment. Tumors, surgery, intravenous chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, supportive care therapies (such as bisphosphonates), and diagnostic procedures can all cause pain in patients and may contribute to symptoms of...
Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti, PhD, Vice Chair of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Department of Immunology, has received a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Outstanding Investigator Award to build on her discoveries related to the innate immune system, inflammation, and cell death in health and ...
To accelerate progress in the survival rates of people with cancer in the United States and to reduce cancer disparities across the entire spectrum of cancer from diagnosis to survivorship, there needs to be increased access to cancer screening and prevention programs. To shed light on this...
The lockdown phase of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and continued measures, such as social distancing, while necessary, are disrupting cancer care in ways that will have consequences for months, if not years, to come. Studies are showing that delayed or suspended cancer treatments,...
LUNGevity Foundation, a nonprofit organization, recently announced three recipients of its 2020 Career Development Awards for lung cancer research. These awards were presented to Kathyrn Arbour, MD, Assistant Attending at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Carl Gay, MD, PhD, of The University...
Colorectal cancer is more prevalent among Black people, a group with the highest rates of death for an illness that is curable if caught early. “The unfortunate reality is that minorities, especially Black people, have a much lower chance of getting life-saving cancer treatment. Health care works...
Ruth O’Regan, MD, Chief of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care at the University of Wisconsin, has been named the next Charles A. Dewey Professor and Chair of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s (URMC) School of Medicine and Dentistry, pending approval by the...
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the face of U.S. health-care services in such rapid fashion that many providers were caught off guard, learning and preparing on the fly. Patients with cancer, given their multiple physical and emotional challenges, were especially vulnerable. To get a sense of the...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Cristina Saura, MD, of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, and colleagues, the phase III NALA trial has shown significantly prolonged progression-free survival with the irreversible pan-HER tyrosine kinase inhibitor neratinib plus...
Deirdre J. Cohen, MD, MS, an expert in pancreatic and other gastrointestinal cancers as well as an accomplished clinical trial leader, has joined Mount Sinai Health System as Director of the Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology Program and Medical Director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office at The...
As a high school student growing up in St Petersburg, Russia, I was so obsessed with chemistry that I begged my professor for extra problems to complete after school. When I rode the bus home on cold winter evenings, I traced chemical reactions with my finger in the frost on the window. By the...
“One of the most challenging oncologic situations is the diagnosis of breast cancer in a young pregnant patient,” Jacqueline Jeruss, MD, PhD, Associate Dean, Regulatory Affairs; Director of the Breast Care Center; and Professor of Surgery, Pathology, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of...
Born in Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1900, Mary Woodard Lasker was introduced to the ravages of cancer when she was just 3 or 4 years old and went with her mother to visit the family’s laundress, Mrs. Belter, who had just undergone surgery for breast cancer. On the way over to Mrs. Belter’s home, Ms....
Robert Knoerl, PhD, RN, Instructor in Medicine and Nurse-Scientist at the Phyllis F. Cantor Center for Research in Nursing and Patient Care Services at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has been awarded the 2020 Oncology Nursing Society’s Victoria Mock New Investigator Award. This prestigious award is ...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that occasionally quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this installment, the authors highlight the most common type of systemic amyloidosis in the United States: immunoglobulin light chain [or amyloid light...
On October 7, 2020, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 would be awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier, PhD, and Jennifer A. Doudna, PhD, “for the development of a method for genome editing,” the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors. “There is enormous power...
Benign breast disease is known to increase the chances of subsequent breast cancer. According to Spanish researchers, the way benign breast disease is detected may be an indication of how likely it is to become cancerous. The findings from the team led by Xavier Castells, MD, PhD, Head of the...
In the post-trastuzumab era, a number of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved targeted agents for metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer are available, but there is no preferred option for third-line treatment and beyond. At the 2019 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium, Shanu Modi, MD,...
In a retrospective analysis reported in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics, Joseph Abi Jaoude, MD, of the American University of Beirut Medical Center, and colleagues found that a radiation boost did not reduce the risk of local recurrence among women with...
New agents for the treatment of advanced HER2-positive breast cancer should be coming soon to your clinic, according to Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, Director of the Breast Cancer Clinical Research Program and Associate Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of...
Here we present summaries of several additional clinical trials in HER2-positive breast cancer reported over the past year. Jame Abraham, MD, Chair of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the Taussig Cancer Center, Cleveland Clinic, shared his perspective on several of these trials presented ...
Neratinib is an oral pan-HER tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for two indications. The first is as adjuvant treatment of early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer following adjuvant trastuzumab therapy. The second is in combination with...
Next-generation sequencing of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) obtained from blood samples may improve diagnostic testing in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and may also be faster and less expensive than standard tissue profiling, according to research presented by Natasha B. Leighl, ...
Invited study discussant Lisa A. Carey, MD, the Richardson and Marilyn Jacobs Preyer Distinguished Professor in Breast Cancer Research and Deputy Director of Clinical Sciences at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, framed her remarks as a tale of two trials. Dr. Carey asked these...
For patients with rectal adenocarcinoma treated with neoadjuvant therapy followed by operative resection, “achieving a pathologic complete response is associated with excellent long-term disease-free and overall survival,” according to the results of a study reported by Naomi M. Sell, MD, MHS, of...
Residents of counties that experience persistent poverty face a disproportionately high risk of cancer mortality, according to a study published by Jennifer L. Moss, PhD, and colleagues in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Persistent Poverty Areas of persistent poverty are defined...
Five years ago, as Rachel B. Issaka, MD, MAS, was beginning her second year as a gastroenterology fellow and feeling proud of the progress she was making in her training, she was suddenly confronted with an all-too-familiar slight that underrepresented minority providers may often experience. As...
Before Judith Kaur, MD, the self-proclaimed “Mother of the YIA” became Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation’s first grant recipient more than 35 years ago, she was a wife, a teacher, and then a stay-at-home mom. Going to medical school and becoming a research pioneer was just a daydream. “When I...
Neratinib is an oral pan-HER tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for two indications. The first is as adjuvant treatment of early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer following adjuvant trastuzumab therapy. The second is in combination with...
The first half of 2016 was arguably the most exciting of my life. My wife, Jaione, and I had decided to leave the United Kingdom and move with our two children, Andrew, then 14, and Alba, then 10, to Denver, where I was taking on a leadership role in corporate affairs for a brewery company. By the...
She was elderly, slightly confused, and very, very worried. I was not quite sure why. It was a minor procedure—a routine angiogram, one of a dozen to be performed that morning. The risks were so small that the job of admitting her had been handed to me, then a final-year medical student, with a...