The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) has joined the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium. The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium was created in 2013 to transform the conduct of cancer research through collaborative, hypothesis-driven, highly...
Fox Chase Cancer Center has been recognized under ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) by the QOPI Certification Program LLC as successfully completing a 3-year certification for oncology practices that meet nationally recognized standards for quality and safety in cancer care. “Fox...
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) recently announced an initiative to increase minority representation in cancer clinical trials. All future SU2C-supported research grant proposals will now be required to include and address crucial issues related to recruitment and retention of patients from ethnic groups ...
Nicholas J. Short, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, received the 2019 Joanne Levy, MD, Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement at the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition in Orlando. This annual award (which includes a...
Urology of Virginia has announced the transition of Joshua Langston, MD, to the role of Chief Medical Officer for the organization. He assumed this new position on January 1 and will continue the legacy of patient care, organizational guidance, innovation, and service of his predecessor, Dr. Edwin...
University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) cancer epidemiologist, and Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, Susan Sturgeon, MPH, DrPH, has received a $462,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand her research ...
Fox Chase Cancer Center has announced the hiring of Claudia J. Kasales, MD, MHA, FACR, who will join the Department of Diagnostic Imaging as Professor on the academic clinician track. Dr. Kasales began work at Fox Chase on February 1, 2020. Dr. Kasales comes to Fox Chase from Penn State Health...
Women with early-stage breast cancer who test positive for an inherited genetic variant are not always receiving cancer treatment that follows current treatment guidelines, according to findings from a new study published by Allison W. Kurian, MD, MSc, and colleagues in JAMA Oncology. An inherited ...
Survival outcomes for patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck have made significant gains in recent years, but new research published by Pike et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network has found some groups have not...
Lung cancer expert Karen L. Reckamp, MD, MS, has been selected to be Director of the Division of Medical Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer. Dr. Reckamp also will serve as Medical Oncology Director of the Women’s Guild Lung Institute in Cedars-Sinai’s Department of Medicine and Associate Director for ...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the 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,...
A year-by-year age analysis of colorectal cancer rates among adults in the United States has found a 46% increase in new diagnoses from ages 49 to 50, indicating that many latent cases of the disease are likely going undiagnosed until routine screenings begin at 50, according to a new study by...
A study published by Longacre et al in The Journal of Rural Health found that patients with breast cancer in the rural United States typically travel three times farther than those who live in urban areas for radiation therapy. Researchers examined data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End ...
A study published by Anthony Lucci, MD, and colleagues in Clinical Cancer Research showed that the presence of circulating tumor cells was independently associated with relapse of melanoma, suggesting circulating tumor cell assessment may be a useful tool for identifying patients at risk for...
A simple test using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan may be used to predict how well people with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer will respond to treatment, according to the results of a new study published by Winfield et al in Radiology. In a large clinical trial, scientists have shown a...
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released two coordinated reports in light of World Cancer Day in response to government calls for more research into the scope and potential policies and programs to improve cancer control. WHO Report...
Today’s World Cancer Day, led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), aims to mobilize urgent action from individuals, governments, and the global cancer community to close gaps in cancer risk awareness between higher and lower socioeconomic groups and the subsequent impact on their...
In the first comparative clinical trial of lung cancer screening decision aid vs standard educational information, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that a decision aid delivered through tobacco quitlines effectively reaches a screening-eligible population...
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to a treatment for lung and thyroid cancers with a RET fusion or mutation; gave Breakthrough Therapy designation to a doublet therapy for TP53-mutated myelodysplastic syndromes; and issued an update to their...
Among men with prostate cancer who received care from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health System, an equal-access health-care system, African American men did not have more advanced disease at the time of diagnosis or die earlier than white men, unlike trends seen in the greater...
With nearly all patients who undergo treatment for cancer of the head and neck experiencing oral mucositis, effective pain control is one of the main goals of physicians and care teams. Looking to provide more effective relief for patients—while also reducing the need for opioid painkillers—a team...
A tumor-highlighting technology—OTL38—enhances the visualization of lung cancer tissue, providing surgeons with a significantly better chance of finding and removing more cancer than previously possible, according to a scientific presentation by Gangadharan et al at the Plenary Session of the 56th...
Advanced-stage cancer diagnoses declined following health insurance expansion in Massachusetts, likely due to increased access to screening and diagnostic services that identified cancers earlier, according to new research published by Sabik et al in the journal Medical Care. The analysis...
Some patients with cancer celebrate the end of a course of radiation or chemotherapy by ringing a bell. Indeed, many patients say they love the graduation-like ceremony and the sense of closure it gives them. However, a study published by Williams et al in the International Journal of Radiation...
Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, of USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses how treating microsatellite instability–high/DNA mismatch repair–deficient metastatic colorectal cancer with nivolumab once every 2 weeks plus low-dose ipilimumab every 6 weeks may represent a new option for patients...
Patient enrollment in clinical trials as the first course of treatment after cancer diagnosis is low, despite the fact that enrollment may increase life expectancy, according to research published by Zaorsky et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Researchers also found ...
Residents of rural, sparsely populated “frontier counties” in the western United States have a higher incidence of skin cancer and related mortality rates. New research published by Jensen et al in Psychology, Health & Medicine indicated that the biggest obstacle to early detection and...
On January 27, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) took action to cover U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved or –cleared laboratory diagnostic tests using next-generation sequencing (NGS) for patients with germline ovarian or breast cancer. Over the last several years, CMS ...
Over the past week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to treatments for multiple myeloma and prostate cancer; gave Fast Track designation to a targeted gene therapy for lung cancer; granted Orphan Drug designation to a combination therapy for hepatocellular...
In a study presented by Picozzi et al at the 2020 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, researchers found that even as drug costs increased over the past decade, total inflation-adjusted pancreatic cancer care expenses declined, as did costs related to quality of life (Abstract 773). Health...
Three decades after the first Surgeon General's report on smoking cessation, the Surgeon General has released a new report that reviews and updates evidence on the importance of quitting smoking. The report finds that more than two-thirds of U.S. adult cigarette smokers report an interest in...
On January 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to tazemetostat (Tazverik) for adults and pediatric patients aged 16 years and older with metastatic or locally advanced epithelioid sarcoma not eligible for complete resection. “Epithelioid sarcoma accounts...
Yale Cancer Center has announced the launch of the Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity (CEHE). Building on the commitment of the Yale Cancer Center to patient-centered cancer care, screening, and prevention across the state of Connecticut, the new center is dedicated to ensuring...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced recently that Elizabeth Fox, MD, has been named Senior Vice President of Clinical Trials Research. In this role, Dr. Fox will oversee clinical trials research administration and strategy at St. Jude. She will also serve as Associate Director for...
Dolores Hambardzumyan, PhD, MBA, has been appointed Senior Faculty in the Department of Neurosurgery and a member of The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her research focuses on developing novel therapeutic pathways for the treatment of glioblastoma. She is...
Chosen for his passion and leadership in immunotherapy research, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Deputy Director Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, FRCOG, FACOG, was elected as the Cancer Immunology Working Group (CIMM) Chairperson-Elect for 2020–2021. CIMM is a scientific working group within the...
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute will create the Chen-Huang Center for EGFR-Mutant Lung Cancers to stimulate research, promote clinical trials, and strengthen the Institute’s capabilities for studying and treating lung cancer. The Chen-Huang Center is being established with a $5 million gift from...
The cancer death rate declined by 29% from 1991 to 2017, including a 2.2% drop from 2016 to 2017—the largest single-year drop in cancer mortality ever reported. These findings were reported in “Cancer Statistics, 2020,” the latest edition of the American Cancer Society’s annual report on cancer...
New findings by Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital researchers show that, as the use of ibrutinib increases in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), so do the rates of patients who stop taking the drug. The study was presented at the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH)...
In a news release issued by Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, the following announcements were made. Center Adds Clinical Psychologist to Staff Melissa Walt, PsyD, a clinical psychologist, recently joined the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute. She will focus on the psychological...
To prepare the multidisciplinary cancer care team for the growing prevalence of cancer and comorbidities among our nation’s graying population, the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC)—in collaboration with The Gerontological Society of America and the International Society of Geriatric...
The Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) welcomes its newest and 100th member—Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Cancer Center—one of seven National Cancer Institute–designated basic laboratory cancer centers. The CSHL Cancer Center has nine shared resources that facilitate cancer...
The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) has announced the election of new and re-appointed members to the Board of Directors and Executive Committee. The Board and Committee are comprised of volunteer representatives from community oncology, who direct the management of COA by its Executive ...
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center recently announced that Thomas J. Lynch, Jr, MD, will become the center’s new President and Director. Dr. Lynch, a cancer expert in solid tumor research, precision medicine, and immuno-oncology, will join Fred Hutch on February 1. Dr. Lynch will become the...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized representative Tom Cole (R–OK); the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Hematology and Training Program Director Terry Bishop, PhD; and National Cancer Institute (NCI) Program Director William Merritt, PhD,...
Forbes magazine released the ninth annual “30 Under 30” list Class of 2020 in December 2019, featuring the newest group of 600 young entrepreneurs, scientists, and innovative individuals who were recognized for their extraordinary accomplishments at early ages. A total of 30 honorees were selected...
Seattle Genetics recently announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to tucatinib, in combination with trastuzumab and capecitabine, for the treatment of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast...
African Americans appear to be at higher risk for cancer-associated venous thromboembolism than patients with cancer of other races, according to a recent study by Vipul Chitalia, MD, PhD, of Boston University Medical Center, published in the American Journal of Clinical Oncology.1 Several studies...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) has published new guidelines for treating children, adolescents, and young adults with pediatric aggressive mature B-cell lymphomas, including Burkitt lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. NCCN published the first pediatric NCCN Clinical...
A bacterium typically linked to periodontal disease, Fusobacterium nucleatum, could play an important role in the rising incidence of colorectal cancer in people younger than age 45. Another type of bacteria, Moraxella osloensis, has been found in colorectal cancer tumors at a nearly fourfold...