Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, has been named the new Director of the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the Hanna Wise Professor in Cancer Research at the Perelman School of Medicine and currently serves as the ACC’s Associate Director for Translational Research ...
Hyman Muss, MD, a pioneer in geriatric oncology, considers himself “a real Brooklyn boy.” His father was a dentist, and his uncle was a general practitioner. “They both practiced out of a small brownstone house in Brownsville-Crown Heights. It was sort of reminiscent of the famous movie The Last...
First presented in 2016 by the Conquer Cancer Foundation, the Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Award honors extraordinary female leaders in oncology who have both excelled as mentors and demonstrated outstanding commitment to the professional development of women colleagues as clinicians,...
Anna T. Meadows, MD, an internationally distinguished pediatric oncologist who led paradigm-changing survivorship research and clinical care of children with cancer, had an unusual introduction to the United States. “My mother was traveling abroad on vacation and got married in Poland. Although...
Pembrolizumab (Keytruda), an anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) therapy, received regular approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who have disease progression during or following platinum-containing...
Waun Ki Hong, MD, FACP, one of the nation’s leading experts in head and neck and lung cancers, was born in South Korea and grew up in a tiny village outside the nation’s capital of Seoul. Number six of seven siblings, Dr. Hong described his early life in the cozy village as blissful, until the...
George P. Canellos, MD, President of ASCO from 1993 to 1994, was born in Boston on November 1, 1934. “I came from a business family and never wanted to do business at all. As long back as I can remember, I always found medicine attractive—not only because you could help people, but you could also...
Daniel Von Hoff, MD, FACP—Distinguished Professor, Physician-in-Chief, and Director of Molecular Medicine at the Translational Genomics Research Institute—received a gold medal for excellence in clinical medicine from his alma mater, Columbia University. Columbia University College of Physicians...
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to many individuals whose research directly impacted the understanding of cancer: In 2008 to Harald zur Hausen, for his discovery of human papillomavirus causing cervical cancer In 2005 to J. Robin Warren and Barry J. Marshall, for their...
David Baltimore, PhD, whose work profoundly influenced international science, was born on March 7, 1938, in Queens, New York, to Gertrude and Richard Baltimore. While he was in second grade, the family moved to Great Neck, New York, a middle-class suburb with top-notch public schools. “My father...
The nationally recognized hematologist-oncologist Mojtaba Akhtari, MD, was born and reared in Tehran, Iran. “In my early years, I had a couple of cousins who were medical students. When I visited them in their homes, I was fascinated with the images in their medical text books. I would flip the...
A new survey finds that doctors would refer more patients with incurable blood cancers to hospice for end-of-life care if they could receive transfusions, which are generally not available because of hospice reimbursement policies. The findings, published by Odejide et al in Cancer, help explain...
Draft recommendations as part of a focused update to the ASCO/College of American Pathologists (CAP) evidence-based guideline for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) testing in breast cancer are now open for public comment through June 12, 2017. For patients with invasive breast...
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University is mourning the loss of an esteemed colleague: H. Jean Khoury, MD, FACP, died on Monday, May 22, after a year spent battling cancer. His many colleagues and friends remember him as an outstanding physician, researcher, and educator, and a respected and...
2016–2017 Daniel Hayes, MD 2015–2016 Julie Vose, MD, MBA 2014–2015 Peter Paul Yu, MD, FACP 2013–2014 Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP 2012–2013 Sandra M. Swain, MD 2011–2012 Michael P. Link, MD 2010–2011 George W. Sledge, Jr, MD 2009–2010 Douglas W. Blayney, MD 2008–2009 Richard...
Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO, 2017–2018 ASCO President, was born in St. Peter, Minnesota, and grew up on a rural dairy farm. “Neither of my parents had college degrees, but working on a dairy farm with them gave me a solid work ethic. I was working outside on the farm before I was 10 years old. In...
If enacted, the proposed budget reduction of $5.8 billion to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will slow research, deprive patients afflicted with cancer of hope, and deliver a devastating blow to our science workforce and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This proposed reduction directly...
Bisphosphonates were first synthesized more than a century ago, with their initial usage restricted to a range of industrial processes until their potential clinical relevance was appreciated in the late 1960s.1 Then, following development for the treatment of osteoporosis and Paget’s disease of...
Is there enough evidence to support the incorporation of weight management and physical activity interventions into an oncology practice? And if so, what is the best way to do it? The answer to the first question was a resounding yes from oncologists, patient advocates, dietitians, public health...
Research is still lacking to support a link between obesity and an increased risk of developing all types of cancer. Nevertheless, a review1 of more than 1,000 epidemiologic studies by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a division of the World Health Organization, examining...
Patients with some types of breast cancer will have a new clinical trial option at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Medical oncologists Lori Goldstein, MD, and Elias Obeid, MD, MPH, are opening a phase II immunotherapy clinical trial for newly diagnosed, locally recurrent, or metastatic HER2-overexpressing ...
In response to the introduction of the Cancer Drug Parity Act (H.R. 1409) by Representatives Leonard Lance (R–NJ) and Brian Higgins (D–NY), American Society of Hematology (ASH) President Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, issued the following statement: “Oral and...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Chair of Immunology, James Allison, PhD—whose pivotal insight to attack cancer by treating the immune system instead of the tumor revived cancer immunotherapy—has been named to the 2017 TIME 100 Most Influential People. His approach launched a...
According to the American Cancer Society, over 252,700 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2017, and about 40,610 women will die of their disease. Between 7% and 10% of those new cases will be diagnosed in women younger than age 40, accounting for more than 40% of all cancer...
Sir Richard Peto, FRS, will receive the William L. McGuire Memorial Lecture Award at the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), to be held December 5–9. The McGuire Award was established in 1992 to honor William L. McGuire, MD, who, along with Charles A. Coltman, MD, founded SABCS in...
The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance announced the six winners of the 4th annual Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research, awarded annually to promising early-career, New York City–area scientists. Recipients receive $200,000 in funding per year for up...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) recognized Mina J. Bissell, PhD, FAACR, with the 14th AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research during the 2017 AACR Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. The AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research was established in 2004 ...
The University of Minnesota Medical School has announced the addition of Clark Chen, MD, PhD, as the Lyle French Chair in Neurosurgery and the Head of the University of Minnesota Medical School Department of Neurosurgery. He will assume his new position in August 2017. Dr. Chen is a nationally...
As the subtleties of metastatic prostate cancer become increasingly recognized, treatment should evolve accordingly, said Jessica M. Clement, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health System and Neag Cancer Center, Farmington. Of particular interest to Dr. Clement ...
Ensuring that all patients with cancer have access to the potential benefits of precision medicine regardless of where they are treated has been a primary goal of Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO, since the concept was first introduced following completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. Dr....
Radiotherapy at a high enough dose may increase survival in early-stage pancreatic cancer, according to research presented at the European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) 36 Conference.1 Previous research has suggested that radiotherapy may be of little help in this setting. The...
Encourage your practice to participate in the 2017 ASCO Practice Census—the only annual survey of the entire U.S. oncology practice community that aims to capture and describe changes in cancer care and oncology practice over time. The data and insights obtained from the Practice Census are...
The hematology/oncology workforce continues to struggle with adequate representation of racial and ethnic minorities. To promote the development of an oncology workforce that reflects the demographics of the population it serves, ASCO has introduced its Strategic Plan for Increasing Racial &...
Next month, more than 30,000 oncology professionals will gather in -Chicago for the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting. This year’s theme, “Making a Difference in Cancer Care WITH YOU,” speaks to driving advances in cancer care and treatment through teamwork among clinicians, researchers, educators, and...
On May 23, President Trump presented the White House’s fiscal year 2018 budget request, which proposes a $7.18 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—a budget decrease of 21%. In addition, it cuts the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s chronic disease...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for pembrolizumab (Keytruda) seeking approval for treatment of patients with recurrent or advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma who have already...
Ronald P. DeMatteo, MD, FACS, has been named Chair of the Department of Surgery in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He will assume his new post July 1, 2017, and will lead a department that includes 130 faculty across 11 divisions who provide advanced patient care ...
Launched during the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) 22nd Annual Conference: Improving the Quality, Effectiveness, and Efficiency of Cancer Care™, JNCCN360.org is the latest resource from the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (JNCCN). Currently available for breast...
As thyroid cancer rates rise, more patients are having surgery to remove all or part of their thyroid. A new study by Papaleontiou et al in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism suggests complications from these procedures are more common than previously believed. Overall, 6.5% of ...
As reported by Hyman et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a basket study has shown activity of an investigational ATP-competitive pan-AKT kinase inhibitor (AZD5363) in solid tumors with AKT1 E17K mutation. Study Details In the study, 52 patients with advanced estrogen...
The ASCO Answers chemobrain fact sheet helps patients understand and manage the cognitive side effects of chemotherapy. Patients will learn about the causes, symptoms, management, and treatment of “chemobrain.” The ASCO Answers diarrhea fact sheet helps patients understand the causes and risks of...
Johns Hopkins University faculty members Stephen B. Baylin, MD, and Robert F. Siliciano, MD, PhD, have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.” They are among 84 new members and 21 foreign associates ...
Join the discussion: Use #ASCO17 on Twitter to follow and participate in the Annual Meeting conversation in real time. During this past year’s Annual Meeting, more than 16,000 health-care professionals, researchers, news outlets, patients, advocates, and other participants sent nearly 70,000...
ASCO has issued recommendations addressing the needs of sexual and gender minority populations as they relate to cancer. The recommendations, published in a policy statement in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 are designed to focus attention on the challenges facing the sexual and gender...
In a separate interview with The ASCO Post, David L. Porter, MD, Director of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and the Jodi Fisher Horowitz Professor in Leukemia Care Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, said: “It is encouraging that many patients with acute lymphoblastic...
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) awarded the 2017 Heine H. Hansen Award to Rafal Dziadziuszko, MD, PhD, at the European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) 2017, which was held May 5–8 in Geneva, Switzerland. The...
Marie Bleakley, MD, PhD, a pediatric oncology physician-scientist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Fred Hutch), has received a 2017 Innovative Research Grant in immuno-oncology from Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C). Dr. Bleakley will use the 3-year, $750,000 award to develop T-cell therapies...
LUNGevity Foundation has announced that Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD, joined its Scientific Advisory Board, a group of 20 world-renowned scientists and researchers who guide LUNGevity’s research program. The Scientific Advisory Board is integral to the Foundation, overseeing the scientific strategy and...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) Oncology Research Program (ORP) has funded three studies in its first multi-industry collaborative research project, in which Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly and Company are collaborating with NCCN to study combination...
A leading pediatric oncologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Stephan Grupp, MD, PhD, was named Chief of the Section of Cellular Therapy and Transplant in the Hospital’s Division of Oncology. Dr. Grupp, who has researched and led groundbreaking clinical trials of an innovative...