FEBRUARY 25th International Congress on Anti-Cancer TreatmentFebruary 4-6 • Paris, FranceFor more information: www.icact.fr APOS 11th Annual ConferenceFebruary 13-15 • Tampa, FloridaFor more information:www.apos-society.org/apos2014/ European Society for Medical Oncology Sarcoma and GIST...
Champions Oncology, a company engaged in the development of advanced technology solutions and services to personalize the development and use of oncology drugs, has announced the appointment of Angela Davies, MD, as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Davies has demonstrated experience in both academic...
The Department of Pediatric Radiology at Texas Children’s Hospital recently announced that Kamlesh U. Kukreja, MD, has been named the new Chief of Interventional Radiology. Dr. Kukreja has also been appointed as Assistant Professor of Radiology at Baylor College of Medicine. “For more than a...
People with weakened immune systems due to diseases like cancer are at increased risk of severe complications from the flu virus and should get flu shots annually. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strongly encourages this practice, and most oncologists would recommend that for...
Widespread influenza activity continues to be reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with a recent increase in flu-related hospitalizations.1,2 Patients with cancer are at increased risk from flu complications and should receive the flu shot, but not the flu nasal spray...
The Radiation Oncology Institute has selected Malolan S. Rajagopalan, MD, a radiation oncology resident at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, to receive a $20,000 grant for a project to compile best practices regarding the management of radiation therapy toxicity. Dr. Rajagopalan’s...
As published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Batchelor and colleagues1 and reviewed in a recent issue of The ASCO Post (November 15, 2013, page 106), the REGAL trial was a randomized, phase III, placebo-controlled, partially blinded trial evaluating the efficacy of cediranib, an...
To help tell the story of progress against cancer, ASCO launched CancerProgress.Net in 2011. The site is intended as a resource for media, policymakers, oncologists, advocates, and the public. One central feature of the site is an interactive timeline of major milestones in cancer treatment,...
The Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR) has named Gary Lyman, MD, MPH, the Institute’s Co-Director with Scott Ramsey, MD, PhD, an internist and health-care economist, and a member of the Cancer Prevention Program in the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer ...
Eight individuals were awarded travel scholarships allowing them to attend the IPOS/AORTIC Program (International Psycho-Oncology Society/African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer) and share their experiences and efforts toward improving the psychosocial care of patients with cancer...
According to a new Surgeon General’s report issued last month, more than 20 million Americans have died from smoking over the past 50 years. The new report concludes that cigarette smoking kills nearly half a million Americans a year, with an additional 16 million suffering from smoking-related...
“When the first Surgeon General’s Report was released in 1964, more than half of American men and over a third of women smoked and lung cancer had gone from an obscure disease to a leading cause of death. In issuing this pioneering report summarizing the known health risks of smoking, our nation’s...
A new set of guides and interactive tools to help health-care providers more safely use electronic health information technology products, such as electronic health records (EHRs), are now available at www.HealthIT.gov. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved trametinib (Mekinist) for use in combination with dabrafenib (Tafinlar) for the treatment of patients with unresectable melanoma or metastatic melanoma with BRAF V600E or V600K mutations. These mutations must be detected by an FDA-approved...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for dabrafenib (Tafinlar) for the treatment of patients with metastatic BRAF V600E mutation–positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have received at least one prior line of platinum-containing...
In October, ASCO will cosponsor the inaugural Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium with the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC). The Symposium is...
Ian F. Tannock, MD, PhD, DSc, FASCO, Professor of Medical Oncology at Princess Margaret Hospital and University of Toronto, has long been an advocate for ASCO as a truly global society and a leader in cancer care worldwide. It’s something he encouraged during his time on ASCO’s Board of Directors,...
More than 1,000 scientists from 66 countries, including 32 of the 52 African countries, attended the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) 9th International Conference on Cancer in Africa, held this past November in Durban, South Africa. The theme of the 2013 meeting was ...
Matthew Ellis, MB, PhD, Professor of Medicine and the Anheuser-Busch Chair in Medical Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, commented for The ASCO Post on the emerging field of research on drugging PI3K mutations. Critical Mechanisms “Multiple somatic lesions in breast...
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has posted a supplemental fact sheet for clinicians on its final recommendation statement on screening for lung cancer.1 This resource is meant to help health-care professionals talk about lung cancer screening with their patients and determine if screening...
Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, Chair of the Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Guideline Panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and former Chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, commented on the study by Yamshon et al for The ASCO Post. He said the...
The achievement of a pathologic complete response in patients with triple-negative breast cancer was boosted by the addition of carboplatin to a standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen, and by the addition of veliparib, an investigational oral PARP inhibitor, plus carboplatin to a standard...
In the January 15, 2014, issue of The ASCO Post, three errors occurred. These errors have since been corrected and revised versions of the articles may be viewed online at ASCOPost.com or via the QR code here. The errors were as follows below. Trastuzumab Dosing In the article “HER2-Positive...
Like all early detection strategies, screening mammography involves trade-offs,” H. Gilbert Welch, MD, MPH, and Honor J. Passow, PhD, of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, Hanover, New Hampshire, wrote in a Special Communication in JAMA Internal Medicine.1 They...
“If women are to truly participate in the decision of whether or not to be screened [for breast cancer using mammography], they need some quantification of its benefits and harms,” asserted H. Gilbert Welch, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, and Honor J. Passow, PhD, Instructor, at The Dartmouth...
A new global cancer report1 compiled by the United Nations’ International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) shows, as a single entity cancer is the biggest cause of mortality worldwide, and there were an estimated 8.2 million deaths from cancer in 2012. The report also noted that global cancer...
FEBRUARY European Society for Medical Oncology Sarcoma and GIST 2014February 18-19 • Milan, ItalyFor more information: www.esmo.org 2014 BMT Tandem MeetingAmerican Society for Blood and Marrow TransplantationFebruary 19 - 23 • Orlando, FloridaFor more information: www.asbmt.org Multidisciplinary...
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, has appointed Hannah Valantine, MD, to Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity. Dr. Valantine will lead NIH’s effort to diversify the biomedical research workforce by developing a vision and comprehensive strategy...
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare (NMHC) has announced that it has named Richard J. Gannotta, DHA, FACHE, President, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Senior Vice President, NMHC effective this month. Dr. Gannotta was President of Duke Raleigh Hospital of the Duke University Health System. “Rick is ...
Looking over an illustrious career in medical oncology that spans 5 decades, Franco M. Muggia, MD, told The ASCO Post that he is excited about the future and hopes to continue making contributions to the field of oncology in years to come. At the forefront of the early clinical development of...
Founded nearly 3 decades ago in response to unfavorable changes in Medicare reimbursement regulations and growing coverage issues with Michigan’s private payers that threatened oncologists’ ability to provide quality cancer care to patients, the Michigan Society of Hematology and Oncology (MSHO)...
To help tell the story of progress against cancer, ASCO launched CancerProgress.Net in 2011. The site is intended as a resource for media, policymakers, oncologists, advocates, and the public. One central feature of the site is an interactive timeline of major milestones in cancer treatment,...
The Radiation Oncology Institute (ROI) has named Christopher G. Slatore, MD, recipient of a $200,000 award, distributed over 2 years, for a project to examine the comparative value of radiation therapy and patient outcomes among patients with lung cancer. Dr. Slatore is Assistant Professor in the...
A $10 million gift from Internet publishing entrepreneurs and philanthropists Emmet and Toni Stephenson and their daughter Tessa Stephenson Brand will fund the creation of the Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center at City of Hope, Duarte, California, the cornerstone of the institution’s new Hematologic...
A campaign “Palliative Care: Conversations Matter” recently launched by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) aims to increase the use of palliative care for children with serious illness. Palliative care can reduce a child’s pain, help manage other distressing symptoms, and provide...
The Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer recently announced a $15 million pledge to support breast cancer research at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center. This new pledge adds to the previous $20 million in commitments completed in November 2013 and will continue to fund ...
Ornish et al at the University of California in San Francisco and the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, performed a 5-year study1 including 35 men on active surveillance (10 in a lifestyle-intervention group and 25 in a control group) with low-risk prostate cancer....
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a 5-year grant of more than $1.5 million to Herbert J. Zeh III, MD, and Michael T. Lotze, MD, at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), partner with UPMC CancerCenter, to study a novel treatment for pancreatic ductal ...
Late last year, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and College of American Pathologists published a comprehensive update of guidelines for HER2 testing,1 the first such update since their initial landmark publication in 2007.2 This new report, summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post,...
When what is now called breast implant–associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma was first recognized and initially described, a number of uncertainties prevailed—mainly, was the association with breast implants real, and was this a true lymphoma? Through the significant efforts of those who...
Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, Chair of the Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Guideline Panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and former Chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, put the latest maintenance trials into perspective for The ASCO Post....
For postmastectomy neuropathic pain, perineural infiltration with a combination of bupivacaine and dexamethasone is a “simple, effective, practice-changing treatment that any surgeon can do,” according to Laura J. Esserman, MD, MBA, Professor of Surgery and Radiology at the University of...
The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium brings together specialists from all over the world who focus on management of breast cancer. We have covered many of the important presentations in the pages of The ASCO Post and in our online Evening News. Below are summaries of additional noteworthy...
The Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology (APSHO) announced its launch as a new organization focused on meeting the unique educational and professional needs of the advanced practitioner in hematology and oncology. The formation of the Society was made public on January 26,...
JNCCN – Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), has named Margaret A. Tempero, MD, as Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Tempero assumed the position of Editor-in-Chief on February 3, 2014, succeeding Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, who...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Miltenyi Biotec’s CliniMACS CD34 Reagent System as a Humanitarian Use Device for the prevention of graft-vs-host disease in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in first complete remission undergoing allogeneic stem cell...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the New Drug Application (NDA) for idelalisib, a targeted, oral inhibitor of PI3K-delta, for the treatment of refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The FDA has granted a standard review for the NDA, with a target review date of...
Dr. Von Roenn’s history with ASCO spans nearly 3 decades. She has served on ASCO’s Board of Directors, the ASCO Palliative Care Task Force, the Scientific Program, Cancer Education, and Cancer Communications Committees, among others. In 2011, Dr. Von Roenn received the ASCO-ACS Award at the Annual...
Last September, Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD, left her position as Professor of Medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago to join ASCO as its Senior Director of Education, Science and Professional Development. In her new position, Dr. Von Roenn will provide strategic...
The tobacco industry has always been a major player in congressional races, especially in Southern tobacco-growing states. Moreover, the industry is notoriously bipartisan in their political donations, and members of both parties have returned the favor by voting for tobacco interests. “The 2014...