Stephen K. Carter, MD, a renowned oncologist who held a variety of executive positions in the pharmaceutical industry and played a major role in the research and development of many widely used cancer and AIDS drugs, died on November 14, 2016, after a long battle against multiple systems atrophy....
My breast cancer diagnosis in 1993, at age 34, came at the happiest moment in my life. I had gotten married just 10 months earlier and was looking forward to the future and children. But instead of celebrating my first wedding anniversary with my husband over a romantic dinner, we were at a cancer ...
Stephen Gottschalk, MD, has been named Chair of the Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. In his new position, Dr. Gottschalk will be responsible for management of the Department’s clinical, research, and educational...
Harold H. Tara, Jr, MD, has been appointed Medical Director of the Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Centers in Trumbull and Fairfield, Connecticut. Dr. Tara’s leadership will ensure that the centers continue to offer patients the best care available, along with the latest treatment options through...
Three outstanding individuals have been honored with the American Cancer Society Medal of Honor Award. The Medal of Honor is awarded to those who have made the most valuable contributions and impact in saving more lives from cancer through basic research, clinical research, and cancer control....
The Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) is excited to partner with David M. Waterhouse, MD, MPH, of Oncology Hematology Care in Cincinnati, Ohio, to increase awareness for the Foundation’s Campaign to Conquer Cancer. The Conquer Cancer Foundation was proud to support Dr. Waterhouse with a Young...
There’s no getting around it: the practice of oncology can be inherently stressful. First, there’s the workload: compared to other medical specialists, oncologists see a larger number of patients and spend more time with them in face-to-face interactions. It’s not unusual for oncologists to work 60 ...
Jose Leis, MD, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, commented on the promise of checkpoint inhibitors in Richter transformation. “At Mayo, we have treated more than 30 patients with programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade. We do see that chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has low expression ...
Despite advances in treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the 5% to 10% of patients who develop Richter transformation continue to have poor outcomes. For these patients, median progression-free survival is approximately 6 months, and median overall survival is about 8 months. Phase II...
William Breitbart, MD, has been honored with the 2017 American Cancer Society Trish Greene Quality of Life Award, a prestigious national honor that recognizes an outstanding individual who dedicates a significant portion of his or her career to research that improves the quality of life for cancer ...
Women with early-stage breast cancer who had an intermediate risk recurrence score from a 21-gene expression assay had similar outcomes, regardless of whether they received chemotherapy, a new study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer finds. The research, published by Barcenas et al in ...
Guru Sonpavde, MD, of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses his study on circulating tumor DNA alterations in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and the therapeutic direction the data suggest. (Abstract 149)
Charles G. Drake, MD, PhD, of Columbia University Medical Center, summarizes his keynote lecture on immunotherapy as a new frontier in prostate cancer and its synergistic use with traditional treatments.
Although cancer is a leading cause of death among Hispanics, the burden of cancer mortality within Hispanic groups has not been well quantified. Now, a study by Pinheiro et al comparing the differences among Hispanic populations and cancer incidence has found that cancer mortality varies...
Lawrence H. Einhorn, MD, of the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center, summarizes his keynote lecture on the controversies in management of clinical stage I testicular cancer and the long-term consequences of platinum combination chemotherapy.
Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression assessed by immunohistochemistry in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissues is currently the main predictive biomarker for the benefit of anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and anti–PD-L1 agents in patients with non–small cell lung ...
Edward Garon, MD, a member of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and Associate Professor of Hematology and Oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine, has received a 5-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to...
David Norris, MD, Chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has become the new President of the American Skin Association (ASA). Dr. Norris will be taking over for Philip Prioleau, MD, who has held the position since 2014. Prior to Dr. Prioleau’s...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) announced that Justin Taylor, MD, and Roger Belizaire, MD, PhD, have been selected to participate in the American Society of Hematology–Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (ASH-AMFDP). Designed to increase the number of underrepresented...
Vincent J. Picozzi, MD, a pancreatic cancer specialist at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, commented on the findings by Chan et al presented at the 2017 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Dr. Picozzi first acknowledged that there is a strong biologic rationale for evaluating cabozantinib...
Philip B. Paty, MD, a surgical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, commented on the findings for The ASCO Post. Dr. Paty is leading studies of surveillance at his own institution, which is not part of the International Watch & Wait Database. Consistency of Outcomes...
In 1959, my 5-year-old cousin, Kim, was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). As an 8-year-old, I didn’t really understand what was happening to him, except that he had to go to the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, Indiana, for treatment. The haunting vision of his looking...
With 6 additional months of follow-up since the initial presentation of results, in the phase II CheckMate 142 trial, 74% of heavily pretreated patients with metastatic colorectal microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) cancers are alive after single-agent treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo).1...
After an infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the virus persists in the body throughout a person's lifetime, usually without causing any symptoms. About one-third of infected teenagers and young adults nevertheless develop infectious mononucleosis, which usually wears off after a few weeks. ...
Albert H. Owens, Jr, MD, a Johns Hopkins oncologist who played a leadership role in developing oncology as a scientific discipline and clinical specialty—and who also served as President of The Johns Hopkins Hospital—died January 13 at the age of 90. In the 1960s, oncology was not a word that...
Peter Nowell, MD, was a pathologist at the University of Pennsylvania studying leukemia cells under a microscope when he happened to wash his slides with tap water instead of laboratory solution. Viewing the newly cleaned slides under a microscope, he saw that the water had caused the cell’s...
The ability to artificially alter DNA opens the door to new scientific understanding and treatments for various diseases. Oliver Smithies, PhD, made the crucial discovery that a disease-causing gene could be modified. For that and other groundbreaking work, he, along with two other scientists, was ...
Justin F. Klamerus, MD, MMM, has been appointed President of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Hospital, the clinical operation of Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit. The appointment was effective as of January 2017. Dr. Klamerus will report directly to Gerold Bepler, MD, PhD, President and Chief...
Carolinas HealthCare System has announced a $2 million commitment from the Kerry and Simone Vickar Family Foundation in support of academic and research efforts at the Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina. The funds will be designated to establish an endowed chair in their name: The ...
Richard M. Goldberg, MD, an expert in gastrointestinal cancer, has been named the new Director of the West Virginia University Cancer Institute. Dr. Goldberg will be coming to West Virginia University from The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, where he currently serves as Klotz Family ...
Over the past several years, the introduction of decision-making tools for patients from major cancer organizations, including ASCO and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), has been news, applauded as a step toward more patient-centered care and featured at many meetings. Next steps, ...
“This drug [durvalumab] clearly shows activity in the third-line and beyond setting, and the higher the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, the higher the response rate,” noted Michael Boyer, MBBS, PhD, Chief Clinical Officer and Conjoint Chair of Medical Oncology (Thoracic...
In October 2016, the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO (CCF) hosted its Second Scientific and Career Development Retreat at ASCO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Attendees included Career Development Award (CDA) and Young Investigator Award (YIA) recipients awarded between 2010 and 2016; ASCO ...
Classical Hodgkin lymphoma is one of the malignancies most susceptible to treatment with monoclonal antibodies targeting the programmed cell death protein (PD-1). Nivolumab (Opdivo) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in patients with relapsed/refractory...
Martin J. Edelman, MD, an expert in the research and treatment of lung cancer, has joined Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, as Chair of the Department of Hematology/Oncology. He will also serve as Deputy Cancer Center Director for Clinical Research, leading the effort to integrate discoveries ...
On January 6, Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH), issued the following statement: It is with truly mixed emotions that I announce the departure of Philip E. Bourne, PhD, who will be leaving his post as NIH’s first Associate Director for Data Science to...
Endoscopic examination of the intestinal tract remains a prime diagnostic tool for positive identification of cancers. Endoscopic instruments also aid in the retrieval of tissue for biopsy, providing a more accurate diagnosis and help in the staging of tumors. This is a photograph of the pioneer...
Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, an expert in multiple myeloma, will serve as President of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) for a year-long term through December 2017. Dr. Anderson is Director of the Lebow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics and the Jerome Lipper Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber...
Tuesday morning was the regular time for the departmental meeting—an opportunity to discuss cases, troubleshoot, debrief, and expedite the necessary allied health referrals. As usual, patient cases were being discussed in alphabetical order of the attending oncologist. We were already three...
On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) describing cases of a rare lung infection in five young gay men in Los Angeles. The men had other unusual infections as well, indicating their immune systems were compromised....
Ovarian cancer, the deadliest of gynecologic cancers, is usually diagnosed after the disease has spread. Susan Evans was a secondary English and remedial reading teacher for 32 years in Bradford, Pennsylvania. She was on several advisory boards and was recognized by the Pennsylvania Senate and...
In October 2015, ASCO launched the Health Policy Fellowship program to help the next generation of oncologists with an interest in health policy to develop the skills and experience necessary to achieve their goals and shape cancer care policy in an increasingly complicated and diverse care...
Joan Font-Burgada, PhD, has joined Fox Chase Cancer Center as Assistant Professor in the Cancer Biology Program. A researcher who focuses on liver cancer and regenerative medicine, Dr. Font-Burgada is a current recipient of the prestigious National Cancer Institute Pathway to Independence Award, a ...
Born and reared in Anchorage, a city located in Southcentral Alaska, farther north than St. Petersburg, Russia, Jennifer Lycette, MD, grew up during the 1970s and 1980s. “We were fairly isolated from the lower 48. We didn’t have cable TV in Anchorage, and I remember my father would turn off the TV ...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is pleased to announce that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded the organization a 5-year, $1.125 million grant to continue providing clinical fellow and junior faculty clinical researchers the opportunity to learn the essentials of...
“As a medical student, I often felt marginalized from my medical community. I have been told that my name is ‘not American,’ fallen prey to being confused for support staff such as a janitor (even while wearing my white coat) and been asked questions like, ‘Where are you really from?’ or ‘How old...
ASCO has launched a new journal dedicated to precision oncology, JCO Precision Oncology (JCO PO). JCO PO features original clinical research, scientific reviews, and editorials on genomics. James M. Ford, MD, the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, said JCO PO offers precision oncologists a place to...
Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, a long-time member and volunteer, has been elected to serve as President of ASCO for the term beginning in June 2018. She will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago in June 2017. Additionally, three new members were elected to the ASCO...
Each year on February 4, people around the world come together to celebrate World Cancer Day. Founded in 2008 by the Union for International Cancer Control, World Cancer Day strives to raise awareness of and education about cancer as well as to encourage governments and individuals to take action....
What if more patients with lung cancer could benefit from immunotherapy? Although progress in this area of research is exciting, unfortunately, a vast majority of patients with thoracic malignancies do not respond to this pioneering form of treatment. Vamsidhar Velcheti, MD, Assistant Professor of ...