In March, ASCO announced that Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, was stepping down as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the end of June, ending his 10-year tenure as head of the Society and the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO. Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, Chief of Breast Medicine Service and Vice...
A new study has found there is no decline over time in the accuracy of medical staff who analyze mammogram scans for indications of breast cancer. Researchers at the University of Warwick investigated whether detection rates dropped toward the end of each batch of mammogram readings. The study...
A promising new test is detecting prostate cancer more precisely than current tests by identifying molecular changes in the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) protein, according to Cleveland Clinic research presented at the 111th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA)...
The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have elected five members to serve on the AACR Board of Directors for the 2016–2019 term and four members to serve on the Nominating Committee for the 2016–2018 term. They began their terms at the 2016 AACR Annual Meeting, held...
On April 14, 2016, an 18-month-old patient with cancer named Baron Yerby flew home to Atlanta after receiving treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. However, instead of flying on a crowded commercial plane with the potential for immune deficiency issues, he and his parents flew on a...
ASCO launched a new and improved website in early April, with a focus on improving the user experience. The Society’s redesigned online home makes it easier than ever for members and visitors to find the oncology-related information and resources they trust and value. The site’s redesign is the...
At the 2016 Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, The ASCO Post sat down with the SGO’s outgoing President, Robert L. Coleman, MD, and discussed the revolutionary potential of blood biomarkers, why enhanced recovery after surgery protocols is a significant...
Deep knowledge of immunology, cancer biology, and disruptive technology in computational science and molecular profiling has positioned us to dethrone the emperor of all maladies. The cancer research community is prepared to fulfill President Barack Obama’s call for a national cancer moonshot aimed ...
The historic Interurban Clinical Club has announced the election of seven new members. They were elected at the group’s 213th meeting on April 1 in New York and will be welcomed at the group’s next meeting in November 2016 in Philadelphia. James E. Bradner, MD: Staff Physician at Dana-Farber...
New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center has announced the appointment of physician-scientist Leena Gandhi, MD, PhD, as Director of Thoracic Medical Oncology at its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center. In this new role, Dr. Gandhi will be tasked with building a robust program in lung...
Interest in quality measurement and improvement was once primarily a concern of regulators, insurers, and consumer advocates. Today, quality improvement is front and center in health care—a continuous mission requiring the efforts of everyone on the health-care team. At the recent ASCO Quality Care ...
I was the last one on the oncology team to meet Mel. He was 36 years old, and by then Mel had been living with metastatic colon cancer for several years. During that time, his clinicians had never referred him to our psycho-oncology team because of his strong attitude and outlook. Mel’s outward...
At this year’s ASCO Quality Care Symposium, Craig Earle, MD, MSc, of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, used Donabedian’s Triad—structure, process, and outcome—to set the stage for his presentation on the science of quality. “The theory behind Donabedian’s Triad is that structure...
Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, Chief of the Breast Medicine Service, Vice President for Government Relations, and Chief Advocacy Officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, has been named the next Chief Executive Officer...
Two quality improvement projects described in the Journal of Oncology Practice resulted in reduced errors in prescribing intravenous (IV) and oral chemotherapy. A project at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston outpatient infusion centers first identified 15 different types of...
Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, Chief of the Breast Medicine Service, Vice President for Government Relations, and Chief Advocacy Officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, has been named the next Chief Executive Officer (CEO) ...
Northwestern Medical Group recently announced that Lauren Streicher, MD, will be joining Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. Dr. Streicher is a clinical leader in gynecology, a published author, and a trusted medical contributor for many local and national media outlets. In her new role, Dr....
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is pleased to announce that Natasha Archer, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, and Rayne Rouce, MD, of Baylor College of Medicine, have been selected to participate in the American Society of Hematology-Harold Amos...
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, did more than make it possible for millions of Americans to afford health care; it also established an abbreviated approval pathway for biologic products that are “biosimilar” to, or shown to be “interchangeable” with, a U.S....
ASCO has announced the two physicians selected for its new Health Policy Fellowship, which kicked off this past October. Robert M. Daly, MD, and Steve Y. Lee, MD, will be the fellows for the inaugural class, which runs from July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2017. The program, aimed at oncologists in the...
A quality improvement initiative to reduce the reliance of patients on visits to the emergency department for treatment of side effects related to cancer treatment was reported to be highly effective, according to early findings from a new study. 1 The strategy, involving a telephone triage...
Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO, was elected ASCO President for the 2017–2018 term this past December and will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting, June 3–7, 2016, in Chicago. As an ASCO member since 1986, Dr. Johnson brings over 30 years of experience with ASCO to the...
Although President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act in 1971, essentially declaring a war on cancer, the genesis of the idea had actually been born 2 years earlier, after the first landing on the moon set off a new era of scientific exploration and sparked a belief that any scientific...
A quality improvement initiative to reduce patients’ reliance on emergency room (ER) visits to treat cancer treatment side effects has shown to be highly effective, according to early findings from a new study. The strategy, involving a telephone triage service coupled with patient education, ...
To facilitate doctor/patient conversations about costs of cancer care, researchers developed and piloted an online tool for oncologists. The innovative resource lists prices for the 50 most commonly prescribed cancer treatment regimens. A survey of the pilot users at four clinics in Washington...
Two quality improvement projects described in the Journal of Oncology Practice resulted in reduced errors in prescribing intravenous (IV) and oral chemotherapy. A project at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston outpatient infusion centers first identified 15 different types of...
Head and neck cancer patients who receive induction chemotherapy rather than the standard treatment of concurrent chemoradiation do not benefit from increased survival rates and are less likely to receive a full course of radiation, according to research presented by Stokes et al at the 2016...
Evidence has long supported a volume-outcome relationship for surgical resection of pancreatic cancer, yet surgery alone is not enough to prolong survival in patients with localized disease. James L. Abbruzzese, MD, of Duke University and Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, North Carolina, discussed his ...
Patients with pancreatic cancer who received adjuvant chemotherapy at a high-volume center had superior median and 5-year overall survival than did patients who were treated in a community setting, according to the results of a study presented at the 2016 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 This...
It is estimated that nearly half of adults over age 80 living in the community are frail despite apparent functional well-being.1 Frailty is recognized as a clinical syndrome in which three or more of the following criteria are present: unintentional weight loss, self-reported exhaustion, weakness, ...
Two quality improvement projects described by Bryant-Bova in the Journal of Oncology Practiceresulted in reduced errors in prescribing intravenous and oral chemotherapy. A project at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston outpatient infusion centers first identified 15 different types ...
ASCO announced today that the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP) will be printed on a monthly basis and offer new resources to supply oncology professionals with cutting-edge information on cancer care delivery. Doubling its content, the expanded journal also features clinical information from a...
Patients of the Women’s Cancer Center at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia often ask about ovarian cancer risk, the center’s Director, Robert A. Burger, MD, told The ASCO Post. Moreover, the recent study showing that bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy reduced that risk generated discussion among ...
The FDA recently issued a draft guidance on financial disclosure by clinical investigators, intended to assist researchers, industry, and FDA staff in interpreting and complying with regulations found in the Code of Federal Regulations Title 21, Part 54. The draft is being distributed for comment...
For Nora Janjan, MD, MPSA, MBA, the practice of oncology is rooted in purpose, empathy, and trust. “You walk into the hospital and you know exactly why you’re there,” she says. “You are there to help patients and their loved ones through probably the most difficult experience that they will ever...
Last year’s health-care reform legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, was designed to incrementally roll out major new bureaucratic entities, oversight, and mandates for the practice of medicine between its enactment and 2013, after the next presidential election. A new...
Over the past 2 decades, significant therapeutic advances have led to greater survival rates and quality of life for patients with cancer. During the same period there has been a transformation in the way oncology services are both perceived and delivered. In a recent conversation with The ASCO...
I have spent the past 30 years trying to improve the results of treatment for advanced cancer. I had the privilege of working with Sir Michael Peckham when the late Professor Tim McElwain and he were evolving variants of the PVB (cisplatin, vinblastine, bleomycin) and PEB (cisplatin, etoposide,...
In this installment of Oncology Worldwide, internationally regarded lymphoma expert and cancer survivor, Kensei Tobinai, MD, Chief, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, sheds light on the Japanese oncology experience. Medical Education What was the medical school experience in Japan like? When...
As part of ongoing efforts to respond to a rapidly evolving oncology practice environment, ASCO is conducting a groundbreaking national survey to better understand the challenges facing oncology practices brought on by the current economic, legislative, and regulatory changes. Under the guidance of ...
The Cancer Legal Resource Center (CLRC) is a joint program of the Disability Rights Legal Center and Loyola Law School Los Angeles. This national organization provides free and confidential information on cancer-related financial and legal issues to cancer survivors, families, employers,...
In November 2010, Craig B. Thompson, MD, was named President and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in New York, succeeding Harold Varmus, MD, who is now Director of the NCI. A cancer clinician and researcher, before coming to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Dr. Thompson was Director of...
Would it surprise you to learn that 40% of your peers in oncology who responded to a survey last year have a certified electronic medical record system in place? Or that 86% of them are in physician-owned practices? Or that the average number of full-time equivalent hematology/oncology physicians...
It’s never enough. Whether it is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), other payers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, or specialty companies, one can never provide enough data. When will it all end? The problem, or the opportunity for many, is that it won’t end. The need for discrete ...
On September 1, 2011, Ronald A. DePinho, MD, became only the fourth President in the 70-year history of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. DePinho spent the previous 14 years as head of Dana-Farber’s Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science. In a recent interview...
A study presented at the 2011 ASCO Annual Meeting raised concerns that newly diagnosed cancer patients are having trouble seeing an oncologist. Interviews with several cancer centers and community practices, however, suggest that the process runs smoothly, for the most part. Majority of Patients...
ASCO members now have the opportunity to help the Society gather information and opinions about important cancer policy issues. ASCO in Action, ASCO’s revamped policy news website (http://ascoaction.asco.org), features weekly polls designed to gauge the views of ASCO members on a variety of topics ...
During the 1960s and 1970s, the concept of an expanded approach to oncologic treatment encompassing “body, mind, and spirit” grew in patient popularity and morphed into two basic categories: “alternative” and “complementary” therapies. Together, these later became known by the acronym CAM, for...
In an effort to understand lung cancer risk factors and develop prevention strategies for the disease, Christina S. Baik, MD, MPH, thoracic oncologist and staff scientist at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has examined epidemiologic trends in lung...
When patients and family members have concerns about depression, they often bring them up with the staff, not with the treating oncologist. “I think that people with cancer don’t want to distract their medical oncologist or their surgeon by talking about their mood,” Dr. Massie noted. “Some people ...