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 ...
Global health crusader Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, had a wildly unconventional childhood, which helped inform his adult life as a medical humanitarian. Dr. Farmer was born in West Adams, a town that lies along the verdant valley surrounding the Hoosic River in northern Massachusetts. He was the second of ...
City of Hope’s Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine has received a $4.9 million grant to train the next generation of scientific leaders in basic stem cell research and its translation into novel, life-saving treatments. The award from the California Institute for Regenerative ...
On April 12, 2022, ASCO announced the establishment of the ASCO Center for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, which will advance the Society’s equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) goals across the organization and throughout the wider oncology community. ASCO Chief Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion ...
Beginning in 2012, The ASCO Post introduced Narratives in Oncology, a special commemorative issue profiling several of the many leaders in the oncology community. Over the past years, many in the oncology community have been profiled in this commemorative issue. Here is a complete list of...
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 ...
Yuman Fong, MD, Chair of City of Hope’s Department of Surgery and Director of its Center for Surgical Innovation, has been named a recipient of the 2022 Flance-Karl Award by the American Surgical Association (ASA). The award is given annually to one surgeon in the United States who has made...
Alex Choi, MD, recently joined the faculty of the Palliative Care Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital as Instructor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine). Dr. Choi received his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria and completed a combined internal medicine...
Individuals elected to ASCO leadership for the 2022–2023 term were announced earlier in the year. ASCO elected Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, FASCO, a long-time member and volunteer, to serve as its President beginning in June 2023. Dr. Schuchter will take office as President-Elect immediately after the...
Leslie Bernstein, PhD, Director of City of Hope’s Division of Biomarkers of Early Detection and Prevention, received the Margaret L. Kripke Legend Award for Promotion of Women in Cancer Medicine and Cancer Science. Dr. Bernstein has made a substantial mark on both science and society by...
In support of President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot goal of fostering data sharing in cancer research, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, has launched the Molecular Characterization Initiative for pediatric tumors. This program offers tumor...
Individuals elected to ASCO leadership for the 2022–2023 term were announced earlier in the year. Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, FASCO, was elected to serve as the Society’s President beginning in June 2023. Dr. Schuchter will take office as President-Elect immediately after the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting in ...
Community practices have long been a keystone of our nation’s oncology care delivery system by allowing patients with cancer to receive specialized treatment near their homes and places of business. Innovative clinicians in the community setting are also leading efforts to create a more efficient...
The Tisch Cancer Institute (TCI) at Mount Sinai and the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation (SWCRF) are launching a unique research program that will fund collaborations between TCI physician-scientists and colleagues from other established cancer research institutions to address the worldwide ...
The underrepresentation of older patients (≥ 65 years) in clinical trials has been well documented for more than 20 years. This has been an issue at all phases of drug development, including pivotal trials for drug approvals,1 despite the fact that many of these new therapeutics will primarily be...
Recently, the American Urological Association (AUA), in partnership with the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), released the 2022 clinical practice guideline for the management of clinically localized prostate cancer. The guideline has been endorsed by the Society of Urologic Oncology ...
Internationally recognized stem cell transplant pioneer Richard E. Champlin, MD, was born in Milwaukee and moved to Homewood, a suburb on the southern lip of Chicago, with his parents when he was 3 years old. Following high school, Dr. Champlin entered Purdue University in Indiana to pursue a...
This year, Eric P. Winer, MD, FASCO, takes on two new leadership roles in his illustrious medical career. In February, Dr. Winer left his positions as Chief Clinical Development Officer and Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Leader of the...
On May 27, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the following for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: Nivolumab (Opdivo) in combination with fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-based chemotherapy Nivolumab in...
On May 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma after two or more lines of systemic therapy....
On a warm summer afternoon, I stood in front of tables at the local farmers market loaded with my favorite fruits and vegetables: peaches, tomatoes, corn, peppers, melons, kale. I practically drooled thinking about what I could make that week: corn and tomato salad, kale and mushroom quesadillas,...
Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma were six times more likely to have had gallstone disease within the year prior to diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma than patients without cancer, according to research presented by Papageorge et al at Digestive Disease Week 2022 (Abstract...
Adults aged 45 to 64 years experienced a nearly doubled rate of esophageal cancer and a 50% increase in the precancerous condition Barrett’s esophagus between 2012 and 2019, according to a database analysis of roughly 5 million patients presented by Qumseya et al at Digestive Disease Week 2022...
The 5-year survival for younger adults with colorectal cancer improved for White patients alone between 1992 and 2013, according to a new analysis presented by Zaki et al at Digestive Disease Week 2022 (Abstract 895). However, no survival gains were found for Black, Hispanic, or Asian patients with ...
A survey of patients with metastatic breast cancer found that 83% of Black respondents were somewhat or very likely to consider clinical trial participation; however, 40% of those respondents reported that they had not been informed by their care team about the opportunity to enroll in a trial. The ...
With the rapid acceleration of the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the United States in March 2020, telemedicine visits became more common for cancer care. However, in an evaluation of telemedicine inequities among patients with 21 common cancers, there were distinctly lower levels of telemedicine...
On May 25, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ivosidenib (Tibsovo) in combination with azacitidine for patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a susceptible IDH1 mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test in adults aged 75 or older, or who have...
A retrospective analysis of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) by Pinsky et al, summarized in the April 25, 2022, issue of The ASCO Post, found high rates of incidental respiratory abnormalities on low-dose computed tomography (CT) examinations.1 Specifically, the findings of emphysema and...
New England Cancer Specialists has recently become an Affiliate Member of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Affiliate Membership reflects a demonstrated commitment to excellence by meeting a wide array of standards and best practices in oncology care. Although New England Cancer Specialists is the...
As every patient diagnosed with cancer knows, the disease affects not just your physical well-being, but your emotional well-being, too. I was just 35 years old when I was diagnosed with early-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma this past summer, and the news came at a time when I was feeling in top...
The North Star of an organization is its mission statement. At ASCO, no initiative gets the green light unless it can fulfill the Society’s mission. ASCO updated its mission statement in 2020 specifically to reinforce our goal of reducing disparities, changing it to read: “Conquering cancer through ...
According to research in the literature, adults with cancer generate high rates of emergency department visits, leading to hospitalization roughly 60% of the time—nearly four times the rate of the general population. Although many of these visits could be prevented, this phenomenon offers numerable ...
Since the publication of the first draft of the human genome, genotyping and genomics have been integrated into standard clinical care for select cancers. But as precision medicine in oncology develops to comprise big data, proteomics, transcriptomics, molecular imaging, and more, there are...
Lung cancer mortality rates have declined by more than 50% in men since 1990 and more than 30% in women since 2002. These declines in mortality are largely due to increases in smoking cessation. However, in recent years, clinical treatment advances, such as targeted therapies and immunotherapy,...
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) announced it has received a significant gift from Susan and Steve Kelly, local philanthropists and long-time supporters of CHOP, to establish the Susan S. and Stephen P. Kelly Center for Cancer Immunotherapy. The new Center, led by Stephan Grupp, MD, PhD,...
Esophageal cancer is associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide, with more than 600,000 new cases and 540,000 deaths in 2020. The squamous cell histology comprises nearly 90% of cases globally, despite its steady decline in the United States over the past 40 years. Historically,...
Despite studies showing the benefits of early palliative care in improving the quality of life of patients with advanced cancer (including reducing symptoms of depression),1 a recent survey of oncologists found there is broad variation in the appropriate utilization of this care.2 Conducted by...
Although most oncology program directors and associate or assistant program directors consider themselves clinician-educators, they receive little to no formal medical education training to nurture trainees into clinician-educator careers and do not have a clinician-educator track for their...
Just days after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, ASCO, together with its partners the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center–Jefferson Health, began assembling resources to establish a network of oncology professionals to help Ukrainian patients with cancer find...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) announced that John E. Dick, PhD, FAACR, Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology, Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, and Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of...
Faith E. Davies, MD, a nationally renowned hematology expert, has been appointed the inaugural Director of the Center for Blood Cancers at NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center. Dr. Davies currently serves as Professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and...
At the recent American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2022, Elaine S. Jaffe, MD, received the inaugural AACR James S. Ewing–Thelma B. Dunn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pathology in Cancer Research. The AACR established this new award to honor pathologists who continue ...
The Pezcoller Foundation–American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research was presented to Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD, at the Association’s 2022 Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans. Dr. Rosenberg was honored for his discovery and ...
To address cancer health disparities in the region, the University of California (UC) Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center is launching the Center for Advancing Cancer Health Equity, which will conduct community-engaged research and interventions using multilevel approaches. The new center will build...
Millions of elective surgeries and medical procedures were canceled or postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, research shows that COVID-19 restrictions were also associated with significant delays in breast cancer care.1 Findings of a cohort study, which compared breast cancer care before and...
The toll of cancer on children, especially those living in low-resource countries, is staggering. Each year, an estimated 400,000 children and adolescents worldwide develop cancer,1 and despite improved survival rates, the global 5-year net childhood cancer survival rate is only 37.4%,2 making...
More extensive surgery does not improve survival over less aggressive surgery in younger women with breast cancer, according to data presented at the 2022 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting.1 The results of a retrospective study of nearly 600 patients showed that treatment with...
The Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation (BMSF), together with its partners National Medical Fellowships and the American Association for Cancer Research, has announced a new name for the $100 million, 5-year initiative launched in 2020 to increase diversity in clinical trials: The Robert A. Winn...
Radiation segmentectomy may be an effective treatment for very early– to early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that cannot be treated surgically or thermally. The findings from a multidisciplinary study by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai were published by Kim et al...
In a population-based study conducted in nine European countries for which data on mode of detection were available (Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain), the proportion of colorectal cancer cases detected by screening varied widely between...