As part of its ongoing commitment to addressing inequities in cancer care and research, ASCO has launched a new educational series focused on the role of social determinants of health in cancer care and cancer outcomes. The free series, which began October 21, is aimed at educating oncology...
Colombia is located in the northwestern corner of South America, geographically privileged with coasts on both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Andean region, and the Amazon rainforest. Based on its population of nearly 50 million (see Table 1), Colombia is the second largest country in South...
In a study of data from a Medicare fee-for-service population reported in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, and colleagues found that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a “substantial decrease in cancer screenings, visits, therapy, and surgeries among older patients with ...
As part of its ongoing commitment to addressing inequities in cancer care and research, ASCO has launched an educational series focused on the role of social determinants of health in cancer care and outcomes. The free series, which kicked off in October, will help educate oncology trainees and...
In states that have expanded Medicaid availability as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), mortality rates for three major types of cancer are significantly lower than in states that have not expanded Medicaid availability, according to a recent study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer...
Post-hysterectomy image-guided intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) was superior to three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) in reducing the side effects of pelvic radiation while achieving similar tumor control in women with high-risk cervical cancer, according to the final...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Schad et al found that modifying the prostate cancer clinical pathway in an integrated oncology network to designate moderately hypofractionated external-beam radiotherapy (mHF-EBRT) as the recommended curative EBRT monotherapy in low- and...
A study by Quyen D. Chu, MD, MBA, FACS, and colleagues published in the journal Cancer investigated how expansion of the Medicaid provision in the the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) affected breast cancer care in Louisiana. The state is the third poorest in the country and has one ...
In states that have expanded Medicaid availability as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), mortality rates for three major types of cancer are significantly lower than in states that have not expanded their Medicaid, according to findings from a new study published by Miranda B. Lam, MD, MBA, and ...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) announced the appointment of Beth Gaffney, MBA, as the new Vice President of U.S. and Global Business Development. In this role, Ms. Gaffney will oversee both U.S. and global business activities and the development of the NCCN brand worldwide. Ms....
Karen E. Knudsen, MBA, PhD, is the new President of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI). She began her 2-year term at the close of the virtual 2020 AACI/Cancer Center Administrators Forum (CCAF) Annual Meeting. A member of AACI’s Board of Directors since 2016, Dr. Knudsen chaired ...
Chile has a population of approximately 19 million living predominantly in urban areas (87.7%), with a population density of 66 inhabitants per square mile.1 For the year 2020, approximately 12% of its population was older than 65 years.1 Socioeconomic Trends and Cancer The country has experienced ...
Jeff M. Michalski, MD, MBA, of the Washington University School of Medicine, discusses a Children’s Oncology Group study that confirmed data previously reported: Involved-field radiotherapy is noninferior to posterior fossa radiotherapy in patients with average risk-medulloblastoma. However,...
The number of radiation therapy facilities in the United States has grown by 17% over the past 15 years, according to a new study presented by Maroongroge et al at the 2020 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting (Abstract 203). However, this growth has disproportionately...
Cleveland Clinic recently announced the following additions to its oncology staff: Ruth Keri, PhD, has joined Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute Department of Cancer Biology. She will study breast cancer, focusing on identifying the molecular processes that control the formation of breast...
“Imagine that it’s 5 years from now, and we are in a situation where the cost of cancer care has flattened, and costs are even going down,” said Clifford Goodman, PhD, a Senior Vice President at the Lewin Group, turning to a panel of oncology and policy experts at his side. “What policies got us...
Susan G. Komen is recognizing two widely respected and innovative breast cancer researchers—Donald McDonnell, PhD, and Laura Esserman, MD, MBA—as this year’s recipients of their highest scientific honor, the Brinker Awards. Established by Komen in 1992, the awards recognize advances in the...
Lesley Solomon, MBA, Senior Vice President for Innovation and Chief Innovation Officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has received the 2020 Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare Award from The Commonwealth Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to advancing women in leadership positions....
As the cancer community marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) is starting a new 5-year program aimed at accelerating progress in breast cancer control. “While the incidence of breast cancer is generally higher in more developed regions, ...
Cleveland Clinic has appointed Patrick J. Byrne, MD, MBA, as Chair of the Head & Neck Institute. Dr. Byrne joins Cleveland Clinic from The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he served as Director of the Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology/Head...
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 Botswana. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
Combined use of aspirin, metformin, and statins may be associated with decreased lung cancer incidence and mortality, according to a study published by Kang et al in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. Study Methods The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of the three agents with...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has selected 19 distinguished members to receive the ASTRO Fellow (FASTRO) designation. The 2020 class of Fellows will be recognized at a virtual awards ceremony on October 27 during ASTRO’s 62nd Annual Meeting. The ASTRO Fellows program...
Messino Cancer Centers, a partner practice of American Oncology Network, announced that medical oncologist Michael Messino, MD, has received the highest award granted by North Carolina’s Office of the Governor. The Order of the Long Leaf Pine is presented to individuals who have shown extraordinary ...
Three years ago, former Chief Executive Officer of ASCO, Allen S. Lichter, MD, Laurence H. Baker, DO, Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor; Leonard Saltz, MD, a gastrointestinal oncologist at Memorial Sloan...
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) lauded the adoption of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global strategy toward eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem. WHO Member States adopted the strategy alongside other health resolutions as part of the silence procedure...
Florida Cancer Specialists and Research Institute (FCS) announced its Chief Financial Officer, Nathan H. Walcker, MBA, has been named Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Mr. Walcker succeeds the current CEO, Brad Prechtl, MBA, who is retiring but will continue to serve as a consultant. Mr. Prechtl has...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center–Jefferson Health (SKCC) a supplemental grant (P30) to study the role of telehealth in delivering cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will evaluate the impact of telehealth on health outcomes, patient...
It was February 1996, and the first annual meeting of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) was drawing to a close, when Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bruce R. Ross, MD, invited comments from the floor. An oncologist who had attended at the urging of a friend—somewhat reluctantly—stood ...
The members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) have elected four new officers to ASTRO’s Board of Directors. Geraldine Jacobson, MD, MPH, MBA, FASTRO, will begin her term as President-Elect in October during ASTRO’s 62nd Annual Meeting, alongside Gopal K. Bajaj, MD, MBA,...
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center announced the addition of two new members to its Board of Trustees, along with a new Chair and Vice Chair. Kathy Surace-Smith, JD, will take over the Board Chair position from Matt McIlwain, MBA, who now becomes immediate Past Chair. Ms. Surace-Smith, who is...
In a 3-year follow-up analysis of the phase II I-SPY 2 trial reported in JAMA Oncology, researchers in the I-SPY 2 Trial Consortium found that pathologic complete response was associated with improved event-free and distant recurrence–free survival—irrespective of molecular subtype or neoadjuvant...
Karen E. Knudsen, MBA, PhD, of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health, summarizes a panel she moderated on telehealth, which included discussion of usage in urban vs rural populations, preventing the technology from becoming a new source of disparities in cancer care, and uncertainties ...
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhumane because it often results in physical death. I see no alternative to direct action and creative nonviolence to raise the conscience of the nation.” —Martin Luther King, Jr, speaking before the Medical...
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, oncology providers from around the world had to forgo their annual trip to McCormick Place—but the show did go on. We all realized important research can still be presented, clinicians and fellow researchers will still listen, and ASCO presentations will still...
A recently opened center at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC–James) gives patients direct, expedited access to diagnostic testing for cancer. The goal, said Chief Medical Officer David Cohn, MD,...
As the 21st Century Cures Act approaches its 4th anniversary, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) convened a working group made up of multidisciplinary experts from across the country to analyze current issues related to the 21st Century Cures Act and to develop recommendations for ...
An international panel of experts led by researchers and thought leaders at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center–Jefferson Health (SKCC) and the Department of Urology at Jefferson have published the first multidisciplinary, consensus-driven, prostate cancer genetic implementation framework for the...
It was ambitious and it was controversial, but the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act (Cures) made it through both houses of Congress and was signed into law in December 2016. Sponsored by Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Fred Upton (R-MI), the landmark legislation funded new medical...
ASCO is pleased to welcome the 2020–2021 Board of Directors and introduce the newly installed leaders who began their terms at the conclusion of the Annual Business Meeting on June 1, 2020. ASCO and the Board of Directors extend their sincere gratitude to the outgoing Board members whose terms...
The ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program was different in many ways, not only because of the virtual modality forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because of the resilience of the scientific society and my colleagues around the world. I’m in the plenary session of the ASCO 2025 Annual Meeting....
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays, historical...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) and the NCCN Foundation announced five new recipients for the 10th annual NCCN Foundation Young Investigator Awards Program. The honorees will receive up to $150,000 in funding to study ways to improve care and help find cures for people with...
David C. Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, of the University of Pennsylvania, who trained as an oncologist, summarizes his opening lecture, a dramatic story of his battle against Castleman, a disease of the lymph nodes, his multiple near-death experiences, and the path that led him to develop a cooperative...
As the worldwide cases of the coronavirus started to mount in February and March, medical societies and organizations monitoring the escalating COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international and domestic travel made the difficult decision to postpone or cancel their scientific conferences. On...
Low-intensity cystoscopic surveillance may be a viable option for patients with high-risk, non–muscle invasive bladder cancer, according to data from a paper presented to the media during a special session moderated by the American Urological Association (AUA) on May 15. The research was also...
Although the live 2020 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Conference was canceled, more than 100 posters scheduled for presentation are now available online, as part of the NCCN 2020 Virtual Annual Conference. The ASCO Post has summarized some of the clinical trial updates we found ...
As a result of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19) global pandemic, medicine—including oncology practice—will never be the same. We find ourselves in a time of emergency medicine for all specialties, technologic innovation (eg, more prevalent use of...
Kristin L. Brill, MD, has joined the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center–Jefferson Health (SKCC) in Philadelphia as Enterprise Director of Breast Oncology. Dr. Brill brings expertise in a comprehensive range of services for patients with malignant and benign diseases, including breast-conserving surgery,...
The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has challenged us, as a society, to evaluate our core values and philosophy. Ventilators, a precious and limited commodity, are now in short supply. Humanity is at a precipice, and we physicians are facing an ethical dilemma, how best to allocate ventilators, and, ...