The American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) has announced that Loretta L. Doan, PhD, has assumed the position of Vice President of Policy and Global Affairs. Prior to joining AACC, Dr. Doan served as Director of Science Policy at the Endocrine Society, an organization representing more...
Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, a pioneer in the field of vaccine therapy for pancreatic cancer and leader in immunology research, has been appointed Deputy Director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Dr. Jaffee, the Dana and Albert “Cubby” Broccoli Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins...
The Melanoma Research Alliance has reported that Suzanne Topalian, MD, Chair of the group’s Scientific Advisory Panel, and former Chief Scientific Officer, has been named one of 10 people in science who mattered in 2014 by the Nature International Weekly Journal of Science. Dr. Topalian was cited...
Frank M. Muller, Jr, the newest member of the Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) Cornerstone Planned Giving Society, has a 40-year history of successfully leading investment and high-tech corporations. He served 8 years on active duty in tours to Vietnam. It is rare for him to experience a challenge...
It is not enough for Mary-Claire King, PhD, to have identified the germline BRCA1 mutation associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. Her clinically applicable discovery is one of the world’s greatest in genetics and one for which she has been highly lauded. But not one to rest on her...
At the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, The ASCO Post sat down with geneticist Mary-Claire King, PhD, for some personal musings about her career and how she might guide young researchers who want to follow in her footsteps. Dr. King is known for a variety of accomplishments in genetics,...
A special report in The New England Journal of Medicine concluded that atypical hyperplasia of the breast “confers an absolute risk of later breast cancer of 30% at 25 years of follow-up.1” This is higher than previously recognized, and the report’s authors urged “more intensive screening and...
Atypical hyperplasia of the breast has “special importance as a predictor of future breast cancer,” according to a special report in The New England Journal of Medicine.1 That special importance is based on the high incidence of atypical hyperplasia—found in around 10% of the 1 million breast...
The Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) Board of Directors has named Candace S. Johnson, PhD, as the Institute’s 15th President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Dr. Johnson will be the first female leader for this 117-year-old comprehensive cancer center. “Over the past few months, we have met...
Susan M. O’Brien, MD has joined UC Irvine Health as Associate Director for Clinical Science for the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Medical Director of the Sue and Ralph Stern Center for Cancer Clinical Trials and Research. A renowned researcher and clinician, Dr. O’Brien’s leadership...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology’s (ASTRO) Board of Directors has announced three additions to the Society’s management team: Emily Wilson has been named Executive Vice President; Dave Adler has been promoted to Vice President of Advocacy; and Anne Hubbard has been promoted to Director...
Scientific name: 8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide Brand names: Zostrix cream 0.025% or 0.075%, Salonpas Gel-Patch Hot, Sinus Buster (homeopathic intranasal spray). The use of dietary supplements by patients with cancer has increased significantly over the past 20 years despite insufficient evidence ...
Case 1: Prerequisites for classification of myeloid neoplasm Question 1: Which statement is the one best explanation for the discrepancy observed between the blast percentage by bone marrow aspirate visual inspection and the flow-cytometry study? Correct Answer: C. Flow-cytometry study may not be...
Six of the studies featured in the recently released Clinical Cancer Advances 2015: ASCO’s Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer were led by researchers that whom Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) funded early in their careers through its signature Young Investigator Award (YIA) and Career...
In a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 and as reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, an ASCO expert endorsement panel reviewed and endorsed, with minor qualifications, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) clinical practice guidelines for management of familial/genetic ...
The ASCO Post announces a new department on geriatric oncology to be published on an occasional basis. Geriatrics for the Oncologist is guest edited by Stuart Lichtman, MD, and developed in collaboration with the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). Visit SIOG.org for more on...
The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) announced substantial changes to its Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program and indicated a desire to work more closely with the internal medicine community. ABIM President and CEO Richard J. Baron, MD, MACP, reached out to diplomates via e-mail to ...
Dianne Knight, MD, Physician in the Supportive Care Medicine Department at Moffitt Cancer Center, has been honored with the designation of Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. The Academy is the professional organization for physicians and other health care...
The John A. Hartford Foundation announced that Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, University Distinguished Professor and Dean of the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University, will become its new President. Dr. Fulmer, who is also Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs in the...
ASCO expresses deep gratitude to Margaret Hamburg, MD, for her 6 years of vision and progress as Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Hamburg, one of the longest-serving FDA commissioners, leaves a legacy of important advances in regulatory science and medicine. The...
Acclaimed documentarian Ken Burns (The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The Central Park Five, and The Roosevelts: An Intimate History) has been making films for more than 35 years. His most recently completed project, scheduled to air on PBS this spring, is Ken Burns Presents Cancer: The Emperor of All...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO has announced the appointment of Claire Huang to its Board of Directors. Ms. Huang, an established leader in the fields of marketing, communications, and brand management, will serve a 3-year term. “It is a privilege to welcome Claire Huang to the Conquer...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has announced 11 new fellows of the AACR Academy. The AACR Academy is an entity that recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to cancer research and/or cancer-related biomedical science. Only individuals whose work has had a...
Catherine H. Van Poznak, MD, Associate Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Michigan, uses the skills she learned as a 2010–2011 participant in ASCO’s Leadership Development Program (LDP) to further the Society’s educational efforts through her service on the Professional Development...
Jennifer Adair, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has been named a 2015 Outstanding New Investigator by the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT). The award recognizes Dr. Adair’s independent research efforts to understand and improve blood stem cell–based gene...
The somatostatin analog lanreotide (Somatuline) depot extended the time to disease progression in patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, in a planned subgroup analysis of the CLARINET trial, Alexandria T. Phan, MD, of The Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, reported at the 2015...
The MET pathway appears to be important in gastroesophageal cancers, but response to a targeted agent may depend on the class of drugs. A robust response to the novel small-molecule MET inhibitor AMG 337 was observed, but a monoclonal antibody targeting MET fell flat, in studies reported at the...
I had every classic brain tumor symptom in the book—severe headaches, dizziness, morning nausea—which plagued me for 16 years, starting when I was 8. In college, if I allowed myself to sleep more than 4 hours a night, the morning headaches, which were centered on the top of my head, were so severe, ...
The following essay by Eric M. Genden, MD, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org. There’s...
Bookmark Title: Then Came Life: Living With Courage, Spirit, and Gratitude After Breast CancerAuthor: Geralyn LucasPublisher: Gotham BooksPublication date: October 2, 2014Price: $19.89; hardcover, 240 pages Over the past decade or so, the oncology community has increased its understanding and...
Silvia C. Formenti, MD, has been appointed Chair of the newly established Department of Radiation Oncology at Weill Cornell Medical College and Radiation Oncologist-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, effective April 15. Dr. Formenti, currently the Chair of Radiation...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced the appointment of Geoffrey Kim, MD, as Director of the Division of Oncology Products 1 (DOP1) in the Office of Hematology Oncology Products. Dr. Kim assumed this position effective March 22, 2015. Dr. Kim previously served as the...
In 2015, no cancer patients should be cured of their malignancy only to die of reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV),” according to Anna S. Lok, MD, the Alice Lohrman Andrews Research Professor in Hepatology and Director of Clinical Hepatology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. “I...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has announced the election of Nancy E. Davidson, MD, Director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UPMC CancerCenter in Pittsburgh, as its President-Elect for 2015–2016. Dr. Davidson will officially become President-Elect at the...
Managing older-aged cancer patients represents one of the major challenges to our health-care system. Caring for older cancer patients, with their frequent multiple morbidities and a variable health status, requires special integration of an oncologic and geriatric approach. Moreover, our aging...
What initially drew me to read the eloquent essay by Paul Kalanithi, MD, in The New York Times—“How Long Have I Got Left?”—was its provocative title.1 What kept me there was the moving description of his quick transition from healthy physician with a brilliant career in neurosurgery to terminally...
Editor’s note: We regret to announce that Paul Kalanithi, MD, passed away on March 9, 2015. Dr. Kalanithi was Chief Resident in Neurological Surgery at Stanford University when he shared his story, reprinted here, with The ASCO Post just over 1 year ago, in March 2014. We extend our deepest...
In the winter of 2013, my son, Dmitriy, now 26, had a cough that wouldn’t go away. After several rounds of antibiotics failed to halt the persistent problem, a pulmonologist we consulted ordered a chest x-ray, which showed a large tumor lodged between Dmitriy’s lungs. Although the doctor said the...
BookmarkTitle: The Cost of Cutting: A Surgeon Reveals the Truth Behind a Multibillion-Dollar IndustryAuthor: Paul A. Ruggieri, MDPublisher: Berkley BooksPublication date: September 2014Price: $16.00; paperback, 320 pages The woman seated on the exam table was lean and fit and seemed perfectly at...
Bookmark Title: Pandora’s DNA: Tracing the Breast Cancer Genes Through History, Science, and One Family TreeAuthor: Lizzie StarkPublisher: Chicago Review PressPublication date: October 2014Price: $26.95; hardcover, 336 pages If we wish to learn more about cancer, we must concentrate on the cellular ...
Deborah K. Mayer, PhD, RN, Director of Cancer Survivorship at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has been named the recipient of the 2015 Oncology Nursing Society Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognizes her contributions as an oncology nurse researcher, mentor, and educator, as ...
In January, ASCO released its report, Clinical Cancer Advances 2015: An Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer,1 which details research advances over the past decade that have led to longer survival and better quality of life for the more than half-a-million people diagnosed with cancer each...
Clinical trials have become increasingly complex over the past several years, and unfortunately, this has resulted in the typical scenario described below. We are fortunate that there are so many promising agents available for patients, and we want to encourage their participation in clinical...
For patients who have confronted a diagnosis of cancer, then endured weeks of chemotherapy, it would seem that losing their hair would not be a big concern. But for many patients, it can be. “You have to spend a year either putting on wigs or announcing to the world that you’ve had chemotherapy,”...
Hair loss remains one of the most dreaded side effects of chemotherapy, particularly for women. Scalp cooling caps worn by patients during chemotherapy infusion and for brief periods of time before and after offer these patients an option to preserve 50% or more of the hair on their heads. Although ...
The Gairdner Foundation named the winners of the 2015 Canada Gairdner Awards, recognizing some of the most significant medical discoveries around the world. The awards provide a $100,000 (CAD) prize to each scientist for his or her work. The aim of the Gairdner Awards is to promote a culture of...
The first inkling I had that something could be seriously wrong occurred just over a year ago, when I was suddenly inflicted with such severe heartburn it kept me awake at night. Prescriptions from my doctor for ranitidine (Zantac) and meloxicam (Mobic) not only failed to tamp down the fiery pain,...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) recognized six oncologists making valuable contributions to their fields with awards at the Association’s Annual Meeting 2015, held in Philadelphia from April 18–22. William C. Hahn, MD, PhD, was awarded with the 39th Annual AACR–Richard and Hinda ...
Work-related issues such as coping skills, stress management, burnout, and compassion fatigue are among the challenges faced by clinical and other staff in cancer treatment centers. Given the emotional consequences of professional caregiving, staff support group meetings are valuable resources for...
Ann Partridge, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Founding Director of the Program for Young Women With Breast Cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, received a 2010 Improving Cancer Care Grant (ICCG) for her project “Improving the Care of Young Women with...