In a recent issue of The New York Times, Barron Lerner discussed Betty Ford’s breast cancer diagnosis in 1974.1 He described the state of the art of breast cancer treatment at the time and how her diagnosis accelerated the uptake of screening across the country. But her cancer was not...
“Inequities are a major obstacle in delivering safe, timely, respectful, and affordable cancer care globally,” commented moderator John Varallo, MD, MPH, FACOG, of the Global Surgery Foundation, at the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) World Cancer Congress (WCC) 2024 in Geneva.1...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center recently announced the selection of Jennifer Bickel, MD, as the institution’s inaugural Vice President and Chief Wellness Officer (CWO). She will assume this role on January 6, 2025. Working closely with the Shibu Varghese, MA, Senior Vice...
ASCO’s 2022 State of the Oncology Workforce in America report presented a dismal picture of the representation of Hispanic/Latinx oncologists in the field. According to the report, despite initiatives aimed at increasing diversity in the nearly 13,400 oncology workforce, which includes about 36%...
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) announced the election of 90 regular members and 10 international members during its annual meeting. Background Established originally as the Institute of Medicine in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, NAM addresses critical issues in health, science,...
I have many of the risk factors for melanoma. I’m fair-skinned, blue-eyed, and have a family history of melanoma, as well as other skin cancers, so I’ve always been diligent about practicing sun safety and maintaining annual full-body skin exams to catch any suspicious moles or lesions that could...
OCE Insights is an occasional department developed for The ASCO Post by members of the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this installment, the OCE’s Steven Clark Cunningham, MD, MLA, FACS, Clinical Reviewer on the Gastrointestinal Cancers Team, ...
Although significant progress has been made against cancer, especially in the United States, which has seen the overall death rate from cancer fall by 33% over the past 3 decades, translating into averting an estimated 3.8 million deaths from the disease,1 progress worldwide has not been as...
In the October 10, 2024, issue of The ASCO Post, we shared some unique insights from several recipients of the international development and education award (IDEA). As oncologists and cancer researchers from diverse low- and middle-income countries, their experiences at the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting ...
In 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that “no level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health.”1 The warning came decades after the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified alcohol as a Group 1 carcinogen, which is the highest risk group, and also includes...
For women with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer, KEYNOTE-522 changed the treatment paradigm several years ago. Support for neoadjuvant use of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy, followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab, was bolstered by the positive overall survival analysis...
The ASCO Annual Meeting brings together oncologists, researchers, and health-care professionals to share the latest advancements in cancer care. The 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting (ASCO24) was particularly momentous for those of who received the international development and education award (IDEA). As...
Three years ago, it had become clear that I needed to be tested for the BRCA1/2 mutation. I knew my family history of cancer was not good. My paternal grandmother died of breast cancer when she was just 41, and her mother had likely died of cervical cancer when she was in her 50s. More recently,...
Ann Partridge, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, was named the recipient of the 2024 ESMO Award during the opening session of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 in Barcelona. The international award recognizes her work and commitment to the field of breast...
Late-breaking findings from the phase IIIb/IV, open-label DESTINY-Breast12 trial support the use of the antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer and brain metastases who have experienced disease progression on at least...
OCE Insights is an occasional department developed for The ASCO Post by members of the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this installment, the OCE’s Steven Clark Cunningham, MD, MLA, FACS, Clinical Reviewer on the Gastrointestinal Cancers Team, ...
Distinguished Service Awards were presented to Kwun Fong, MBBS, PhD, FRACP; Claudia Henschke, MD, PhD; Erik Thunnissen, MD, PhD; and Julie Brahmer, MD, MSc, FASCO, during the 2024 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) World Conference on Lung Cancer. Adi F. Gazdar IASLC...
Findings of a multi-institutional phase III trial indicated that people with limited-stage small cell lung cancer may benefit from the addition of immunotherapy to chemoradiotherapy, but not if both treatments are given simultaneously, new research finds. The results suggest that the timing of when ...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has always prided itself on its commitment to evidence-based, expert consensus–driven recommendations for cancer care, with a special focus on breaking down the barriers that contribute to disparities in outcomes across all patients with cancer. With ...
The combination of the EGFR-MET bispecific antibody amivantamab-vmjw and the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor lazertinib continues to demonstrate superior efficacy compared with the kinase inhibitor osimertinib alone in the first-line treatment of EGFR-mutant advanced non–small cell lung cancer...
Medical oncology had a turbulent beginning. No other specialty we know of struggled as much. But by 1980, it had become a stable specialty of internal medicine and was off and running—with the major problem of how to marshal available resources to freely test the myriad opportunities presented by ...
The AACR Cancer Progress Report 2024, released on September 18, showcases the extraordinary progress being made against cancer. The report highlights continuing reductions in mortality, which has fallen by 33% between 1991 and 2021, translating into more than 4 million deaths averted from cancer,...
Despite the fact that there is no history of breast cancer in my family, I didn’t take that good fortune for granted and was diligent about getting my regularly scheduled mammograms and clinical breast exams, which never found any hint of disease. So, it was especially frightening when, while on a...
It happened! We received the International Development and Education Award (IDEA) from Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation, and it was a journey of growth, global collaboration, leadership, mentorship, and more. We have much to share after this breakthrough in our careers. The ASCO Annual Meeting...
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is an aggressive malignant head and neck cancer that is highly prevalent in the southern and southwestern provinces of China. Although the incidence of the cancer is less than 1 per 100,000 in Europe, the United States, and the Pacific,1 data from the International Agency...
It was a hot and humid Tuesday in July, and I distinctly remember being grateful for the air conditioning in the pastel-shaded waiting room of the oncology outpatient clinic. My father sat silently beside me. We knew this room well, as we did the doctor we had arrived to see. He had been my...
Endometrial cancer is most frequently diagnosed among women aged 55 to 65, with a median age at diagnosis of 64 years.1 In epidemiologic studies, women diagnosed with endometrial cancer at an older age are more likely to have high-grade disease, aggressive histology, deep myometrial invasion, lower ...
I first met Lyn Denny, MD, PhD, in Ghana, in 2004, when she became the Secretary Treasurer of AORTIC and brought the organization back to life. We’ve been friends ever since. I equate Lyn’s unwavering dedication to bringing health equity to women in Africa to Nelson Mandela’s fight for social...
The global oncology and public health communities are mourning the death of Lynette Ann Denny, MD, PhD, a world-renowned gynecologic oncologist and a leading researcher in the prevention of cervical cancer in low-resource settings. Dr. Denny died on June 9, 2024, in Cape Town, South Africa, of...
This is Part 3 of Next-Generation Therapies for Metastatic Hormone Receptor–Positive Breast Cancer: Where Are We Headed?, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Virginia Kaklamani, William Gradishar, and Komal Jhaveri...
This is Part 1 of Next-Generation Therapies for Metastatic HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Where Are We Headed?, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Virginia Kaklamani, William Gradishar, and Komal Jhaveri discuss the...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, I interviewed Dario Trapani, MD, a medical oncologist at the European Institute of Oncology, Milan and Assistant Professor at the Department of Oncology and Haemato-Oncology of the University of Milan, in Italy. Dr. Trapani is a...
Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, FACP, of Fred Hutch Cancer Center, discusses her presentation on new therapeutic strategies for HER2-positive metastatic disease including brain metastases. Dr. Hurvitz is Senior Vice President and Director, Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, and Professor,...
This is Part 2 of Immunotherapy Strategies for Hepatobiliary Cancers, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Rachna T. Shroff, Nilo Azad, and Anthony B. El-Khoueiry discuss the management of advanced...
When health-care providers, including oncologists, fail to promptly diagnose a medical condition or communicate their diagnosis to their patients, it can have devastating consequences for those patients. In such cases, patients may seek legal recourse through medical malpractice lawsuits, creating...
Kristin Rojas, MD, FACS, of the University of Miami, shares key points from her discussion on improving sexual health during breast cancer treatment. Dr. Rojas is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the DeWitt Daughtry Family Department of Surgery, Division of Surgery, Miller School of Medicine at ...
Advancements in cancer therapies have led to increased survival rates, but this progress has come with a cost: many life-saving treatments may impair fertility, leaving patients and cancer survivors grappling with the potential loss of their reproductive abilities. Oncofertility, a field that...
Those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods have significantly higher activity of stress-related genes, new research suggests, which in turn may contribute to higher rates of aggressive prostate cancer in African American men. These findings were published by Boyle et al in JAMA Network Open....
Heather McArthur, MD, MPH, talks about immunotherapy for high-risk, early-stage breast cancer. Dr. McArthur is Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Director of the Breast Cancer Program at Simmons Cancer Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Houston. She...
The search for biomarkers of response to immunotherapy is high on the list of cancer-related research efforts. A new classifier in triple-negative breast cancer is showing promise and is currently being validated in the I-SPY2.2 trial, according to Laura van ’t Veer, PhD, Professor of Laboratory...
The members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) recently elected five new officers to ASTRO’s Board of Directors: Neha Vapiwala, MD, FACR, FASTRO, FASCO, President-Elect Jean Wright, MD, FASTRO, Clinical Affairs and Quality Council Vice Chair Andrea Ng, MD, MPH, FASTRO,...
On May 30, 2017, 9 days before I turned 19 and soon after I had completed my sophomore year at college, I was diagnosed with aggressive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. But getting to the diagnosis was a tortuous process. I had been feeling fatigued and losing weight for several weeks prior to the...
For patients with cancer and cancer survivors, sexual dysfunction and reproductive health concerns are often the elephant in the exam room—a significant quality-of-life issue that both patients and clinicians struggle to discuss openly and effectively. At the recent NCCN Policy Summit on Sexual and ...
Milana Bergamino Sirvén, MD, PhD, of Spain’s Institute of Cancer Research, discusses her findings on molecular profiling of patients with estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-positive early-stage breast tumors after short-term preoperative endocrine therapy. This study suggests that such profiling may...
For hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer that has progressed on CDK4/6 inhibition plus endocrine therapy, the CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib plus fulvestrant significantly reduced the risk of further disease progression in the phase III postMONARCH study.1 “The postMONARCH ...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) announced that following a nationwide search, Vivek S. Kavadi, MD, MBA, FASTRO, will become Chief Executive Officer of the Society, effective November 1, 2024. Dr. Kavadi will succeed Laura Thevenot, who had already announced her intent to retire...
This is Part 3 of Overcoming Platinum Resistance in Ovarian Cancer: New Strategies and Novel Targets, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Kathleen Moore, Katherine Fuh, and Bhavana Pothuri discuss the treatment of...
This is Part 2 of Overcoming Platinum Resistance in Ovarian Cancer: New Strategies and Novel Targets, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Kathleen Moore, Katherine Fuh, and Bhavana Pothuri discuss the treatment of...
This is Part 1 of Overcoming Platinum Resistance in Ovarian Cancer: New Strategies and Novel Targets, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Kathleen Moore, Katherine Fuh, and Bhavana Pothuri discuss the treatment of...
Craig Jordan, CMG, OBE, PhD, DSc, FMedSci, a pioneering scientist whose innovative work in breast cancer research has saved countless lives and will continue to impact the field for generations to come, died on June 9, according to a news release from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer...