Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Igor Puzanov, MD, MSCI, FACP, Andrew Hyland, PhD, and Maciej Goniewicz, PhD, PharmD, have all recently been recognized as global scientific pioneers on Clarivate Plc’s Highly Cited Researchers list for 2020. The list recognizes researchers who have...
The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) honored Susan E. Hankinson, ScD, MPH, for her significant contributions to breast cancer research. Dr. Hankinson received the 2020 AACR Distinguished Lectureship in Breast Cancer Research award...
Northwell Health recently announced that it will open a $6.2 million, 11,300-square-foot comprehensive cancer center in Riverhead, New York, by the end of this year. The new facility will provide residents of the East End of Long Island access to integrated cancer services in a conveniently located ...
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has appointed John Ryan, JD, as its Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief Governance Officer. Mr. Ryan has extensive expertise representing health-care and life sciences organizations in public company and nonprofit settings. He has managed a wide range of...
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have jointly announced a pioneering research collaboration in smoldering myeloma, a precursor disease to multiple myeloma. Combining the strengths of the MMRF, a leader in multiple myeloma data generation, and...
On December 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved osimertinib (Tagrisso) for adjuvant therapy after tumor resection in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19 deletions or exon 21 L858R mutations, as...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) announced the appointment of Sue S. Yom, MD, PhD, FASTRO, as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics (Red Journal), ASTRO’s flagship scientific journal. Dr. Yom, who is Vice Chair and Distinguished...
Lorna Rodriguez-Rodriguez, MD, PhD, Vice Chair of Faculty Development at City of Hope, is among 21 women leaders in the nation who were invited to join the Carol Emmott Fellowship Class of 2021, a 14-month program for “exceptional, innovative women leaders who are making lasting change in their...
The Basser Center for BRCA at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania recently announced Bella Kaufman, MD, of the Sheba Medical Center in Tel-Hashomer, Israel, as the recipient of the eighth annual Basser Global Prize. Dr. Kaufman is Director of the Breast Oncology Institute,...
Anita Kinney, PhD, MSN, Professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and Associate Director for Population Science and Community Outreach at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, is among 10 recipients across the nation of an American Cancer Society and Pfizer community grant of $399,892 to...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized three Choosing Wisely Champions, practitioners working to tackle overuse of hematology tests and treatments, at the all-virtual 2020 ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition. Choosing Wisely, a program of the ABIM Foundation and Consumer Reports, aims...
It has become a familiar theme of late: Inequities exist in all aspects of cancer care. Although study after study documents problems with access to care and poorer cancer outcomes among underrepresented groups, less is heard about organized efforts to address these issues. This critical topic was...
Harikrishna Nakshatri, PhD, who is identifying the unique biology that may make Black women more susceptible to aggressive breast cancer, received a $1.3 million grant from the Department of Defense–Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program’s breast cancer research program. Dr. -Nakshatri...
Edith P. Mitchell, MD, FACP, FCPP, FRCP, Associate Director for Diversity Affairs at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center–Jefferson Health, has been recognized as a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London (RCP). The RCP was founded in 1518 by a Royal Charter from King Henry VIII. RCP...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has named Welela Tereffe, MD, MPH, as Chief Medical Executive. Recognized as a patient-centered and institutionally minded leader, Dr. Tereffe will assume this new position and join the institution’s executive leadership team on January 1, 2021....
The ASH Research Collaborative COVID-19 Registry for Hematology provides up-to-date information on outcomes and the course of illness for a group of patients with hematologic malignancies and COVID-19.1 In general, registry data showed that hematologic malignancies increase the risk of severity of...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recently announced the donation of next-generation sequencing equipment to six reference laboratories in five countries in Latin America. These countries constitute the International Consortium on Acute Leukemia (ICAL), a clinical network supported by the...
Six months before my diagnosis of metastatic colorectal cancer, in 2016, at age 38, I told my mom, “I feel like I’m dying.” Even though more than 10 specialists I had seen over the previous 8 years for unexplained bouts of abdominal pain and bloating, fatigue, and constipation kept assuring me that ...
Blowing air from a fan into the face of patients with advanced cancer experiencing breathlessness—and other nonpharmacologic interventions—may offer symptomatic relief, according to new research directed by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center investigators and published in JAMA Oncology.1 In...
Although the field of psychosocial oncology had its roots in the 1970s, it wasn’t until 2007 that the Institute of Medicine acted on the growing data describing the impact of emotional well-being and physical recovery on quality of life, establishing guideline standards requiring that the...
In 2006, President of Uruguay Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, a radiation oncologist by profession, enacted comprehensive antismoking legislation, eventually leading Uruguay to become the first country in Latin America to prohibit smoking in enclosed public spaces. His bold action drew the ire of international ...
Here we discuss a complex and often emotionally wrenching challenge related to informed consent in the provision of pediatric cancer care. For example, what legal and ethical claims do young patients have to information about their cancer diagnosis and treatment recommendations? What are the...
Following an extensive national search, Stephanie Halene, MD, PhD, has been appointed Chief of Hematology at Yale Cancer Center, Smilow Cancer Hospital, and the Yale School of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine. “Dr. Halene has served with distinction as Interim Chief, leading the section...
Over the past year (January to December 2020), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to several novel drugs and new indications for older therapeutic agents used in oncology and hematology. A brief review of new approvals appears here. For complete prescribing information for ...
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) has announced the recipient of the ACCC 2020 Clinical Research Award: Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, Ensign Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pharmacology, Chief of Medical Oncology, and Associate Director for Translational Research at the Yale Cancer...
On December 18, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved selinexor (Xpovio) in combination with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy. The FDA granted selinexor accelerated...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved relugolix (Orgovyx) for the treatment of adult patients with advanced prostate cancer. “Today’s approval marks the first oral drug in this class and it may eliminate some patients’ need to visit the clinic for treatments that require...
On December 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved rituximab-arrx (Riabni), a biosimilar to rituximab (Rituxan), for the treatment of adult patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's granulomatosis), and...
Sibylle Loibl, MD, of the German Breast Group, discusses the first phase III results from the PENELOPE-B study of palbociclib combined with endocrine therapy in patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative primary breast cancer who are at high risk for relapse after neoadjuvant...
Joyce V. Lee, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, discusses data that suggest the MYC oncogene may indicate whether a patient with triple-negative breast cancer will respond to immunotherapy. Dr. Lee’s study is the first to describe MYC downregulation of MHC-I and to demonstrate...
In 2017, a workgroup task force, made up of medical students and faculty at George Washington University, Texas Christian University, and the University of North Texas Health Science Center, conducted a literature review to identify best practices for teaching and learning about race and culture in ...
Findings from a propensity-matched survival analysis presented by van Breeschoten et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Immuno-Oncology Virtual Congress 2020 (Abstract 37P) suggest that patients with advanced melanoma and a BRAF V600 mutation derive an enhanced survival benefit...
Roisin M. Connolly, MD, of University College Cork, discusses phase III results from the E2112 trial, which showed exemestane plus entinostat did not improve survival in aromatase inhibitor–resistant advanced HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer (Abstract GS4-02).
A prospective cohort study found sentinel lymph node biopsy had a 96% sensitivity rate and a 99% negative predictive value for detecting nodal metastasis among patients with clinical stage I low-grade and high-grade endometrial cancer.1 “Our study suggests that [sentinel lymph node biopsy] has...
Sentinel lymph node biopsy “had similar diagnostic accuracy and prognostic ability as lymphadenectomy in patients with high-grade endometrial cancer at greatest risk for nodal metastases,” according to the SENTOR trial, a prospective cohort study of 156 patients with clinical stage I disease. Using ...
Sintilimab provided superior clinical benefit compared to docetaxel in patients with previously treated, advanced and/or metastatic squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to phase III study findings presented by Shi et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)...
On December 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved margetuximab-cmkb (Margenza) in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have received two or more prior anti-HER2 regimens, at least one of which was for...
Nitin Jain, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, reviews six important abstracts on CAR T-cell treatments for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL): successful 24-hour manufacture of CAR T-cell therapy; ALLCAR19, a novel fast-off rate therapy; donor-derived CD19-targeted...
Lee S. Schwartzberg, MD, of the West Cancer Center, discusses phase III results from the CONTESSA study, which showed that an all-oral regimen of tesetaxel plus a reduced dose of capecitabine significantly improved progression-free survival compared with capecitabine alone in patients with...
Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, discusses phase III data from the ASCENT study of the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan vs chemotherapy in patients with previously treated metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (Abstract GS3-06).
Patricia A. Ganz, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, discusses study findings that showed mindfulness meditation and survivorship education may effectively reduce depression and related symptoms such as fatigue and sleep disturbance, which pose serious threats to younger women’s...
Joseph A. Sparano, MD, of the Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses the development and validation of a tool that integrates the 21-gene recurrence score and clinicopathologic features to individualize prognosis for distant recurrence and predict chemotherapy...
Although the exact incidence of treatment-related lymphedema among cancer survivors is unknown—most likely due to its prolonged latency period—it can be a lifelong chronic side effect that negatively impacts survivors’ quality of life. Although the condition is often linked to treatment for breast...
Tebentafusp is a novel bispecific molecule consisting of an affinity-enhanced T-cell receptor fused to an anti-CD3 effector that can redirect T cells to target gp100-positive cells. The agent showed clinical benefit, including target lesion reduction, in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma,...
Nadia Harbeck, MD, of the University of Munich, discusses the first outcome data from the phase III ADAPT HR+/HER– trial, which combined both static and dynamic biomarkers to optimize the adjuvant therapy approach in patients with intermediate- or high-risk luminal early breast cancer (Abstract...
Farhad Ravandi, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, offers his expert perspective on key treatment studies in acute myeloid leukemia on the use of gilteritinib, consolidation chemotherapy, venetoclax, cladribine, azacitidine, quizartinib, decitabine, and CPX-351 (Session 616...
Jorge E. Cortes, MD, of the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University, reviews four important studies of treatment advances in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML): nilotinib vs dasatinib in newly diagnosed disease; final 5-year results from the BFORE trial on bosutinib vs imatinib for chronic phase...
Hassan Awada, MD, of the Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, discusses the use of newer machine-learning techniques to help decipher a set of prognostic subgroups that could predict survival, thus potentially improving on traditional methods and moving acute myeloid leukemia into ...
Patients with muscle-invasive urothelial cancer and postsurgical circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) positivity have high risk of disease recurrence following cystectomy and experienced improved clinical outcomes with adjuvant atezolizumab as compared to patients undergoing observation. These...
On December 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first over-the-counter, fully at-home diagnostic test for COVID-19. The Ellume COVID-19 Home Test is a rapid, lateral-flow antigen test, a type of test that runs a liquid sample along a...