The ASCO Nominating Committee has selected 11 distinguished members as candidates for open leadership positions within the Society. Voting members are urged to vote in the election beginning November 2, 2022. Voting will close on December 6, 2022. President-Elect (4-year term) Robin Zon, MD, FACP, ...
“I think the biggest innovations of the 21st century will be at the intersection of biology and technology. A new era is beginning!” —Steve Jobs Relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma remains a treatment challenge. Promising responses have been demonstrated with bispecific antibodies, with a...
Ultraviolet (UV) protection from the sun and avoiding indoor tanning play important roles in reducing a person’s risk for skin cancer, the most common cancer in the United States and one of the most preventable. A recent article published by Yang et al in the Journal of the American Academy of...
As a nonpartisan organization, the American Cancer Society has an overarching goal to improve the lives of patients with cancer and their families. We believe all individuals should have an equitable opportunity to prevent, find, detect, and survive cancer, irrespective of geography. The June 24...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Global Oncology series, Guest Editor Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Ahmad Bashir Barekzai, MD, FACS, Consultant Surgical Oncologist at Ali Abad Teaching Hospital, an affiliated hospital to Kabul University of Medical Science, Kabul,...
Robert Uzzo, MD, MBA, FACS, has been named President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia. In addition, Dr. Uzzo will assume the roles of Executive Vice President, Cancer Services for Temple University Health System, and Senior Associate Dean, Clinical Cancer...
In this installment of Living a Full Life, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Manmeet S. Ahluwalia, MD, MBA, Deputy Director, Chief Scientific Officer, and Chief of Solid Tumor Medical Oncology at Miami Cancer Institute, where his research focuses on the development of new therapies for...
The members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) elected seven new officers to the society’s Board of Directors, including Howard Sandler, MD, FASTRO, as President-Elect; Michael Kuettel, MD, PhD, MBA, FASTRO, as Secretary/Treasurer-Elect; Iris C. Gibbs, MD, FASTRO, and Curtiland...
At the 2022 Summit on Cancer Health Disparities in Seattle, leaders from five of the leading professional societies in cancer discussed their respective organizations’ current initiatives toward improving cancer health disparities.1 Representatives from ASCO, the American Society for Clinical...
The pivotal global phase III FRESCO-2 trial evaluating the investigational use of fruquintinib met its primary endpoint of overall survival in patients with advanced, refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track designation for the...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Global Oncology series, Guest Editor Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Kevin Billingsley, MD, MBA, FACS, Chief Medical Officer of the Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center. Although interracial marriage is common in the United States...
Radiation therapy has long been one of the three pillars of cancer therapy—surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy—only recently joined by what is widely considered a fourth pillar, immunotherapy. In part 1 of this two-part report, we trace the beginnings of radiation oncology in the United...
Gilberto de Lima Lopes, Jr, MD, MBA, of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami, and Oladimeji Akinboro, MD, MPH, of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), discuss a data analysis, which suggests that most subgroups of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer ...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Global Oncology series, Guest Editor Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with surgical oncologist Héctor Martínez-Said, MD, of the Melanoma Clinic at NCI Mexico. Dr. Martínez-Said’s maternal grandfather was part of a Lebanese immigration movement...
Gilberto de Lima Lopes, Jr, MD, MBA, of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami, and Matthew Krebs, PhD, of The University of Manchester and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, discuss results from the CHRYSALIS study. The trial showed that the bispecific antibody...
Gilberto de Lima Lopes, Jr, MD, MBA, of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami, and Karen L. Reckamp, MD, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, discuss phase II findings from substudy S1800A of the Lung-MAP protocol. The data showed that ramucirumab and pembrolizumab...
Clifford A. Hudis, MD, of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and Karen E. Knudsen, PhD, MBA, of the American Cancer Society, discuss their collaboration, pooling their research and education resources to help empower patients with cancer and their families. Within 48 hours, Drs. Hudis and...
On June 4, 2022, 17 individuals received the distinction of FASCO, “Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology” during the ASCO Annual Meeting. The FASCO distinction recognizes ASCO members for their extraordinary volunteer service, dedication, and commitment to ASCO. The following members ...
The Albert Einstein Cancer Center (AECC) in Bronx, New York, has announced the appointment of three faculty members to key leadership positions, reflecting the center’s commitment to basic science, translational, and clinical research and its core principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. New ...
Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, Executive Vice President of Policy and Strategic Initiatives for Texas Oncology, was reared in Plano, Texas, a city in the sprawling Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. “My father was an electrical engineer with a PhD, and all throughout my childhood, I was exposed to the wonders ...
A large study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society showed that Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was associated with an increase in 2-year overall survival rates among patients newly diagnosed with cancer, especially among non-Hispanic Black people and people...
Although community oncology practice may have been changing before the COVID-19 pandemic, it amplified industry trends. At the 2022 Community Oncology Alliance’s Community Oncology Conference, a panel of experts discussed issues related to the future of community cancer care, including...
The first bladder cancer drug targeting a cancer-driving gene mutation has been used relatively little despite its clear efficacy in a clinical trial, suggests a report published as a research letter by Nimgaonkar et al in JAMA Oncology. Researchers analyzed a large, nationwide database of cancer...
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 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. Hear from select award...
When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1996, I was given 3 years to live. At the time, there was little understanding of this disease, which was termed incurable. There were no new treatments, few drugs in the pipeline, hardly any clinical trials, and no multiple myeloma community or...
New findings from a large national study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) show cancer survivors in the United States who reported medical financial hardship had a higher mortality risk than cancer survivors without financial hardship. Medical financial hardship was measured...
“Refugees and displaced people may see their cancer treatment interrupted, or they may develop a new cancer while they are in host countries. They often present with advanced disease and suffer more complications. These patients have poor outcomes because of poor hygiene and living conditions, as...
The American Cancer Society has awarded more than $16 million in grants to establish Cancer Health Equity Research Centers (CHERC) at minority-serving institutions. The inaugural cohort of institutions includes the Arizona Board of Regents–University of Arizona, the University of Illinois at...
Patients with advanced, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma may be gaining another first-line treatment option. In the global phase III HIMALAYA trial, a single priming dose of tremelimumab plus regular-interval durvalumab significantly improved overall survival, according to Ghassan K....
With the investigational checkpoint inhibitor tislelizumab, durable responses were achieved by some patients with previously treated advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, regardless of the number of prior lines of therapy, in the phase II RATIONALE 208 trial. These findings were presented during the...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Ronan J. Kelly, MB BCh, MBA, of The Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center at Baylor University Medical Center, and colleagues, an interim analysis of the phase III CheckMate 577 trial has shown a significant improvement in disease-free survival with ...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has named Arif Kamal, MD, MBA, MHS, FACP, FAAHPM, FASCO, as its first Chief Patient Officer to lead its patient support vision and strategic plans to improve the lives of patients with cancer and their families. Based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Dr. Kamal will ...
Robert Otto Valdez, PhD, MHSA, was appointed Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in February 2022. He was previously the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Professor Emeritus of Family & Community Medicine and Economics at the University of New Mexico (UNM). In...
David R. Penberthy, MD, MBA, was recently named President of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) at the organization’s 48th Annual Meeting and Cancer Center Business Summit. Oncology professionals from around the nation gathered at the conference to discuss the convergence of...
Karen E. Knudsen, PhD, MBA, Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society, discusses ways to address the inequities in genitourinary screening, treatment, and outcomes. Her suggestions focus on increasing awareness of screening, identifying risk factors, the dramatic rise in incidence...
Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS, formally assumed the role of Executive Director of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) on January 1, 2022, ushering in a new era of leadership for the educational and professional society for surgeons. Dr. Turner succeeds David B. Hoyt, MD, FACS, MAMSE, who led ...
ASCO and the American Cancer Society (ACS) initiated a collaboration to ensure that people can easily find the trusted, expert-approved cancer content they need when turning to either organization for information. As an initial step, the organizations are cross-sharing select cancer prevention,...
In a major shift, breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer death among Black women as of 2019. This news is one of the key findings in a new report from the American Cancer Society, Cancer Statistics for African American/Black People 2022, published by Giaquinto et al...
The Russian Federation is the largest country in the world, extending from Eastern Europe to Northern Asia and the Pacific Ocean. The population of more than 140 million people is unevenly distributed across the country.1 As a result, Russia has high spatial inequality in terms of accessibility of...
Patients with advanced, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma may be gaining another first-line treatment option. In the global phase III HIMALAYA trial, a single priming dose of tremelimumab plus regular-interval durvalumab significantly improved overall survival, according to Ghassan K....
ASCO and the American Cancer Society (ACS) today initiated a collaboration to ensure that people can easily find the trusted, expert-approved cancer content they need when turning to either organization for information. As an initial step, the organizations are cross-sharing select cancer...
Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, MBA, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Medical College at Cornell University, discusses phase III results of the HIMALAYA trial, which showed the combination of a single priming dose of tremelimumab added to durvalumab is superior to sorafenib for...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Burundi. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
Geraldine Jacobson, MD, MPH, MBA, FACR, FASTRO, founding Chair of the West Virginia University (WVU) Department of Radiation Oncology, was born in Fort Dix, New Jersey. Her father was a military officer, and his various duty posts offered an adventurous childhood for Dr. Jacobson. “One of my...
Tennessee Oncology, one of the largest providers of oncology care in the country, announced that Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, has been appointed Chief Medical Officer (CMO) effective January 1, 2022. Natalie Dickson, MD, President and CMO, will remain in her role as President of the company while...
Ian E. Krop, MD, PhD, has been appointed Chief Clinical Research Officer, Associate Cancer Center Director for Clinical Research, and Director of the Yale Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office. Dr. Krop will assume his new position on March 2, 2022. “I’m pleased to announce Dr. Krop will work with ...
Results from the randomized international phase III HIMALAYA trial showed that a combination of the anti–PD-L1 immunotherapy durvalumab plus the anti–CTLA-4 immunotherapy tremelimumab reduced the risk of death by 22% in patients with stage III or IV unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma compared to ...
On February 4, 2022, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) will launch a new 3-year campaign for World Cancer Day that brings together individuals, organizations, and governments around the world in an effort to create awareness and help close the gap in cancer care. The campaign...
Research published by Manjappachar et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network examined the impact of septic shock on people with hematologic malignancies. They found that the mortality rate was 67.8% at 28 days, and only 19.4% of patients remained alive after 90 days. The...
NYU Langone Health’s Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center opened a new state-of-the-art center to treat people with hematologic malignancies, including leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. The new center, led by Samer Al-Homsi, MD, MBA, Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine and...