Michael O’Malley, PhD, MPH, former Associate Director of the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and former Adjunct Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, has passed away...
Brian E. Henderson, MD, began his medical path as a researcher in virology, and as a young scientist, he ventured to Africa as part of a Centers for Disease Control team to study yellow fever. The better part of his esteemed medical career, however, was as one of the world’s most respected...
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) is a fully human monoclonal antibody that blocks the negative T-cell regulator cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and has improved overall survival for patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma in two phase III studies.1,2 Based upon these results, ipilimumab was...
In the phase III European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 18071 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Alexander M.M. Eggermont, MD, PhD, Director General of the Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in Villejuif, France, and colleagues found that adjuvant therapy with the immune...
Geriatrics for the Oncologist is guest edited by Stuart Lichtman, MD, FACP, FASCO, and developed in collaboration with the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). Visit SIOG.org for more on geriatric oncology. The elderly population in the United States is growing, and by the year...
For the past few decades, ASCO has led efforts to integrate palliative care into all phases of cancer treatment. Through numerous educational programs, advocacy efforts, and most recently, the first annual Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium, ASCO has championed the idea that palliative care,...
Two early-phase studies have shown that the novel epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors rociletinib and AZD9291 exhibit high activity in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with the EGFR T790M mutation who had progressed on prior EGFR inhibitor therapy.1,2 The T790M mutation...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has named Charles W.M. Roberts, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President and Director of the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center in Memphis, the first and only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. Dr....
When Emil J Freireich, MD, retires from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on September 1, he will have spent 50 years at the institution and a total of 60 years in the pursuit of curing childhood leukemia as well as other cancers and in the educational development of young...
Stephen S. Grubbs, MD, a community oncologist and managing partner at Medical Oncology Hematology Consultants, PA, in Newark, Delaware, has been named the Senior Director of ASCO’s new Clinical Affairs department. Dr. Grubbs is a longtime ASCO member and volunteer and the Principal Investigator of...
Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, began her term as the 2015–2016 President of ASCO at the 2015 Annual Meeting on June 1, 2015. Dr. Vose, a leading expert in the treatment of patients with lymphoma, is the current Neumann M. and Mildred E. Harris Professorial Chair and Chief of the Oncology/Hematology ...
Eribulin (Halaven) currently is indicated in the United States for treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer who previously received at least two chemotherapy regimens for metastatic disease and an anthracycline and a taxane in either the adjuvant or metastatic setting. Its approval was...
In a study reported in JAMA, M. Minhaj Siddiqui, MD, currently of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and colleagues found that targeted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/ultrasound fusion–guided prostate biopsy increased diagnosis of high-risk prostate cancer and reduced detection of...
The American University of Beirut (AUB) recently announced Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, as the 16th President of the University. Dr. Khuri is presently Professor and Chairman of the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine, and holds the Roberto C. Goizueta...
James Metz, MD, has been named the Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The Morton M. Kligerman Professor of Radiation Oncology, Dr. Metz has been serving as Interim Chair since November 2014, and held a series of...
Earlier this summer, Lidia Schapira, MD, FASCO, a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, was named Editor-in-Chief of Cancer.Net, ASCO’s patient information website. Prior to taking on this role, Dr....
Among the Conquer Cancer Foundation’s newest supporters, Ludwig Cancer Research is an international community of distinguished scientists dedicated to preventing and controlling cancer. Its emphasis on collaboration and long-term support has fostered its role as a leader in immunotherapy and other...
With two-thirds of Americans now living at least 5 years after a cancer diagnosis, there are currently 14.5 million cancer survivors living in the United States. By 2024, that number is expected to increase by nearly 25%.1 Although the growing number of survivors is a welcome sign of progress, this ...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On July 24, 2015, sonidegib (Odomzo) was approved for treatment...
The Basser Center for BRCA at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center has announced the recipient of its third annual Basser Global Prize: molecular cancer expert David Livingston, MD, Emil Frei Professor of Genetics and Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Deputy Director of the Dana-Farber/Harvard...
In the phase III BOLERO-1 trial, reported in The Lancet Oncology, Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues found that the addition of the mTOR inhibitor everolimus (Afinitor) to trastuzumab (Herceptin)/paclitaxel did not significantly increase...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On July 24, 2015, carfilzomib (Kyprolis) was approved for use in...
In patients with advanced colorectal cancer who have been heavily treated with a sequence of chemotherapy regimens and/or targeted therapies, the goals of treatment on or off a clinical trial are readily definable. These patients and their managing teams are striving to extend the length of lives,...
In a phase III trial (CONCUR) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Jin Li, MD, and colleagues found that the multikinase inhibitor regorafenib (Stivarga) improved overall survival vs placebo in Asian patients with previously treated metastatic colorectal cancer.1 Regorafenib is approved in the United...
Osteonecrosis of the jaw associated with cancer treatment is frequently misunderstood, according to Cesar Augusto Migliorati, DDS, MS, PhD, who delivered an update on its proper recognition and management at the 2015 Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer/International Society of...
Early data on immunotherapy for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) have been encouraging. SCLC may catch up to non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), where immunotherapy is now standard of care, if these early data are borne out in phase III trials. Phase Ib and II studies of immunotherapy in SCLC were...
The newer targeted therapies and immunotherapies have proven to be a boon to the treatment of lung and other cancers, but how best to deploy those therapies remains a burning question. Another important focus of current research is the identification and validation of biomarkers for these...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has appointed former United States Public Health Service four-star Admiral Joxel Garcia, MD, as the inaugural Executive Director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Platform, part of MD Anderson’s Moon Shots Program. He joined MD Anderson on August ...
After presenting results of a study showing that injecting a standard analgesic combination into trigger points of pain along the inframammary fold relieved postmastectomy pain, Laura J. Esserman, MD, MBA, Director of the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center and Co-Leader of the Breast Oncology...
Mayo Clinic has received a 5-year, $11 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study survivorship in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The Lymphoma Epidemiology of Outcomes Cohort Study will enroll 12,000 patients with NHL. The study will follow these patients for...
Bookmark Title: Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic Author: Sam Quinones Publisher: Bloomsbury Press Publication date: April 21, 2015 Price: $28.00; hardcover, 384 pages Despite growing awareness within the oncology community and the emergence of the palliative care...
The following essay by Grace Wang, 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. D.K. came to me ...
W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, Alexander Professor for Translational Science and Associate Director for Training and Education at the University of North Carolina’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been named Director of Vanderbilt’s Division of Hematology and Oncology. She began her new...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation’s Young Investigator Award (YIA) provides research funding to promising physicians to support the transition from final years of training to faculty appointment and to encourage and promote quality research in clinical oncology. The online application for 2016 YIAs is...
For breast cancer patients with robust family histories, medical oncologists should be testing not only for BRCA1/2 mutations, but also for large duplications and deletions as well as for PALB2 mutations. “These [findings] have proven utility in testing breast cancer patients,” said Louise E....
In the phase III COMPLEMENT 1 trial reported in The Lancet, Peter Hillmen, MB, ChB, of St. James’s University Hospital, Leeds, and colleagues found that the addition of the anti-CD20 antibody ofatumumab (Arzerra) to chlorambucil (Leukeran) increased progression-free survival among patients with...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On August 17, 2015, brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) was approved...
Two separate retrospective studies have further refined our understanding of the respective contributions of surgery and radiotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer. However, these studies are not definitive, and “gold standard” trials are needed to arrive at definitive recommendations. Both...
With immunotherapy changing the face of lung cancer, is there still a place for targeted therapy? Two experts from Emory University debated this issue at the 2015 Debates and Didactics in Hematology and Oncology Conference held in Sea Island, Georgia. Fadlo Khuri, MD, was recently named President...
What first intrigued Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, FACP, about the prospect of becoming the 16th President of the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon was the chance to give back to an institution and a country that had given him so much. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1963, Dr. Khuri was raised ...
Two studies of third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors among patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had progressive disease following treatment with a first-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor “show encouraging results,” according to...
Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, an expert in immunotherapy and melanoma, will join the senior faculty of NYU Langone Medical Center and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center. Dr. Weber will serve as Deputy Director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center and Codirector of its Melanoma Program and will...
BOOKMARK Title: The Conversation: A Revolutionary Plan for End-of-life CareAuthor: Angelo E. Volandes, MDPublisher: BloomsburyPublication date: January 13, 2015Price: $26.00; hardcover, 240 pages A quick Google search on books about end-of-life care will yield pages of hits on the subject. The...
BOOKMARK Title: 10% Human: How Your Body’s Microbes Hold the Key to Health and HappinessAuthor: Alanna CollenPublisher: Harper CollinsPublication date: April 27, 2015Price: $39.99; hardcover, 400 pages "As I walked back through the forest that night in the summer of 2005, with twenty bats in...
Valerae O. Lewis, MD, has been named Chair of Orthopaedic Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Lewis has been a faculty member at MD Anderson for 15 years, serving in a variety of roles. The unit she will lead, the Department of Orthopaedic Oncology, is a new...
Carl H. June, MD, an internationally recognized leader in the growing field of immunotherapy, was awarded the Watanabe Prize at the 7th Annual Meeting of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) on September 11 on the campus of Indiana University–Purdue University...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has chosen three radiation oncology physicians and researchers to receive the 2015 ASTRO Gold Medal: Carl R. Bogardus, Jr, MD, FASTRO; Carl M. Mansfield, MD, ScD (Hon), FASTRO; and James B. Mitchell, PhD, FASTRO. Drs. Bogardus, Mansfield, and...
St. Barnabas Hospital is located in the heart of Bronx, New York, and as such, it has a culturally diverse, largely poor, patient population. The backbone of successful palliative care services is the doctor-patient communication bonding process. However, many of the patients with late-stage cancer ...
Radiation oncologists dream of a day when, faced with a new patient sitting in their office, they can quickly consult a computer database offering specific treatment recommendations based on accurate, freshly updated data from millions of previously treated patients with cancer. To hasten that day, ...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will present the 2015 William Dameshek Prize to John C. Byrd, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC–James) for his contributions to the development of...