In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Dennis J. Slamon, MD, PhD, one of the principals in the discovery and development of trastuzumab—the first monoclonal antibody used against an oncogene that altered our entire approach...
On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-to-3 decision, essentially overturned affirmative action in college admissions, which had allowed, since 1978, for colleges and universities to consider race as a factor in student admissions.1 The ruling will impact enrollment decisions at public...
On November 7, the Senate overwhelmingly confirmed Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, FASCO, by a vote of 62 to 36, as the 17th Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Bertagnolli is currently Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). She served as ASCO President from 2018 to ...
Gender diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in medicine has long been acknowledged as more than “the right thing to do,” with clear evidence of benefits in innovation, collaboration, and workplace culture.1 Yet the data continue to showcase challenges in achieving these goals despite women...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Elisabete Weiderpass, MD, MSc, PhD, a Brazilian cancer researcher who is a naturalized Swedish and Finnish citizen. She is an expert in cancer epidemiology and cancer prevention. In...
New research has illustrated the strides being made to apply modern artificial intelligence (AI) computing methods to oncology, according to new findings to be presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023. Background Researchers have long investigated the potential of ...
Researchers have found that patients and oncologists may be supportive of complementary therapies for cancer treatment, according to a new survey conducted on behalf of the Healing Works Foundation. However, the findings also indicated there may be a disconnect between the growing interest in...
The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) recognizes the enduring legacies of exceptional U.S. patent holders on an annual basis. On October 26, 2023, three female inductees will be recognized for their extraordinary contributions to cancer care and clinical research. Biochemist Jennifer...
A majority of older adults may disagree with the idea of using life expectancy as part of cancer screening guidelines, according to a new University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging. Background The response goes against a trend in guidelines aimed at helping health-care providers decide...
Gender inequalities and discrimination may adversely impact women’s rights and opportunities to avoid cancer risk factors and impede their ability to seek and obtain timely diagnoses and quality cancer care, according to The Lancet Commission on Women, Power, and Cancer published by Ginsburg et al...
The management of sarcoma presents several challenges because of its rarity and diverse subtypes, making accurate diagnosis and specialized treatment crucial. A multidisciplinary approach involving various experts from different cancer specialties is the optimal strategy to improve survival and...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Global Oncology series, Guest Editor Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, the Jerald L. & Carolynn J. Varner Professor of Surgical Oncology & Global Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, spoke with Héber Salvador, MD, PhD,...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Gil Morgan, MD, a clinical oncologist formerly at the Division of Medical and Radiation Oncology at Skåne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden and now full-time Director of the OncoAlert...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many medical specialties became familiar with supply chain interruptions resulting in drug, equipment, and personnel scarcity. Intensive care unit beds, staff, and essential medicines were at times in short supply. The federal government, individual states, and...
Cancer—and the quest to accelerate more effective treatments and potential cures for all life-threatening diseases—has perhaps shaped the life of financier Michael Milken more than his legendary career on Wall Street. In the early 1970s, Mr. Milken’s mother-in-law was diagnosed with metastatic...
Bipartisan legislation that may help to eliminate financial barriers to prostate cancer screening was introduced in the U.S. Senate. Sponsored by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and John Boozman (R-AR), the Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening for High-Risk Insured Men (PSA Screening for HIM) Act would...
Researchers have revealed that non–English speakers who seek information from hospitals across the United States may face a concerning lack of access to cancer care services, according to a new study published by Chen et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Background...
“Dr. Hope Kestrel was the only person who knew the patient in Room 132 wasn’t responding to the algorithm-selected treatment. She shuffled forward in the hospital security line, wanting to ger her day started already yet dreading how she’d tell her patient the unexpected and devastating news.” So...
My intuition about my health has served me well over the past 10 years, possibly even saving my life from two serious cancers. In 2013, I was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma. I believe that my awareness of changes in my body led to its early discovery. One evening, after exercising at the gym...
Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI) recently announced that Vivek Subbiah, MD, has joined the organization as Chief, Early-Phase Drug Development. In his role, Dr. Subbiah will oversee SCRI’s nine drug development units and lead the expansion of early-phase capabilities and programs across the...
Patients who adhere to a Mediterranean lifestyle may have a lower risk of all-cause and cancer mortality, according to a recent study published by Maroto-Rodriguez et al in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The new findings also indicated that patients who followed the lifestyle’s emphasis on rest,...
Understanding the complexities of health disparities within cancer care requires an exploration beyond immediate clinical factors. According to Elisa Rodriguez, PhD, MS, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York, geography plays a critical role in defining health outcomes in...
Several recent studies have shown an increasingly disturbing trend: the incidence of early-onset cancers—those diagnosed in individuals younger than age 50—is on the rise, and not just in the United States but globally as well. Worldwide, in 2019, there were a reported 1.19 million new cases of...
Researchers have found a way to use artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose sarcopenia in patients with head and neck cancer. The tool may be used to improve treatment and supportive care for patients, according to a report published by Ye et al in JAMA Network Open. “Sarcopenia is an indicator...
I knew the moment my fingers found a lump in my left breast, in 2018, that it was cancer, and I wondered if I was going to die. My maternal grandmother had been diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 39, the same age I was when I discovered the mass in my breast. She died 5 years later. Divorced ...
Preparing and running a medical conference is usually a complex but rewarding mission. It is a demanding job that is typically done voluntarily by physicians and educators who are dedicated to professional and community service; advancement of research and education; as well as the dissemination of ...
The statistics are chilling. According to estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers in the fields of health care and social services are five times more likely to suffer from a workplace violence injury than workers overall.1 The Bureau statistics show that the rate of injuries...
My patient threatened to kill me. I was in the middle of a busy medical oncology clinic. I was seeing her to discuss test results 1 week after I told her I was concerned that her cancer had returned. As I suspected, the test confirmed recurrent cancer, and this time, it was incurable. I walked into ...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with neurosurgeon Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, MD, FAANS, FACS, the James C. and Sarah K. Kennedy Dean of Research, Monica Flynn Jacoby Chair of Neurologic Surgery, and William J. and Charles...
When I felt a large mass in my left breast as I was drying off from a shower on Thanksgiving Day, in 2007, I instinctively knew it was cancer. My mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 38, just 7 years older than I was at the time, and died 4 years later. I was 6 when she was...
After a 4-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, ASCO’s Breakthrough meeting is returning to Asia from August 3–5, 2023, in Yokohama, Japan, and will also be livestreamed (https://conferences.asco.org/breakthrough/welcome). Launched in 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand, “Breakthrough is ASCO’s...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Global Oncology series, guest editor Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Isabel T. Rubio, MD, PhD, Head of Breast Surgical Oncology at Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Madrid. Dr. Rubio is active in many societies and is a founding member and...
As a relatively rare subtype, lobular breast cancer is not well understood by many oncologists. At the 2023 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Tari A. King, MD, FASCO, described how it differs from its more common counterpart, ductal breast cancer, in terms of characteristics, prognosis, and optimal...
Commenting at a press briefing, Pamela L. Kunz, MD, Director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers and Chief of GI Medical Oncology at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, said the results of PROSPECT are “practice-changing” and “align incredibly well with the theme at...
The vast majority of cancer survivors may rely on primary care physicians for follow-up treatments, especially in rural areas, according to a new study published by Becevic et al in the Journal of Cancer Education. Background Patients often depend on their primary care physicians to help them...
Investigators have found that federal cancer research funding tends to be allocated more heavily toward cancers that occur more often in non-Hispanic White patients than those that occur more frequently in other racial and ethnic groups, according to a new study published by Haghighat et al in the...
Investigators have found that patients who had depression and/or anxiety prior to their diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) may have had shorter survival times than patients who didn’t have a mental health condition prior to their DLBCL diagnosis, according to a new study published...
Prior authorization of medical procedures, services, and medications has been a standard requirement of health-care providers for decades. Rising health-care costs, specifically the escalating prices of cancer drug therapies, have led to a new focus by payers, providers, and policymakers on prior...
Researchers have found that patients who have breast cancer who undergo treatment with taxanes show a pattern of clinically meaningful, persistent sensory and motor symptoms associated with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, according to new findings presented by Trivedi et al at the 2023...
Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, Deputy Director of The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in a place and time she found exhilarating during her early years. “We didn’t have a lot of money—actually, we were poor. But I had a lot of freedom walking around...
In the era of genomics and precision medicine, the role of pathology in diagnosis and cancer management is rapidly evolving. For the past 50 years, from her office at the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute (NCI), pathologist Elaine S. Jaffe, MD, has been at the forefront of that...
ASCO and Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, will recognize researchers, patient advocates, philanthropists, teachers, and global oncology leaders who have reshaped cancer care with the Society’s highest honors at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. Hear from select award recipients at the...
According to Sunil R. Hingorani, MD, PhD, his parents figured heavily on who he became as a person and on his career choices, which ultimately led to his current position as Director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, Omaha. “My father...
Jonathan W. Friedberg, MD, MMSc, Director of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Institute, grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee. While his school friends were attending camp, he spent his summers working on the family farm. “Perhaps the hardest work I’ve ever done was haying on a hot, humid night in July,...
Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, FASCO, Director of Pelvic Malignancies Program at Lifespan Cancer Institute and Director of Medical Oncology at Rhode Island Hospital was born and reared in Guam. He also is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Surgery at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. “I am...
Manali Patel, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine (Oncology) at Stanford University, grew up in Shelby, a small town in the textile and farming community of Western North Carolina, among mill workers and other blue-collar laborers. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Dr. Patel’s early life was...
ASCO and Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, will recognize researchers, patient advocates, philanthropists, teachers, and global oncology leaders who have reshaped cancer care around the world with the Society’s highest honors at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. Hear from select award...
As discussed in Part I of this special feature on cancer survivorship, there are now more than 18 million cancer survivors in the United States, and that number is expected to grow to 26 million by 2040.1 However, most of those survivors—at least two-thirds—either cured or in remission or living...
The improvement in cancer survival rates since President Richard M. Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law is staggering. The legislation further committed the United States to greater investments in cancer-focused research to drive down the rates of cancer diagnoses, boost patient...
Researchers have found that mailing human papillomavirus (HPV) self-collection kits in addition to offering scheduling assistance to underscreened, underserved patients may increase the rate of cervical cancer screenings compared with scheduling assistance alone, according to a new study published...