Carlson Named Chair of NCCN Government Affairs Committee
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute
Jennifer Carlson, associate vice president for external relations and advocacy at OSUCCC – James, has been named the first chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®)'s Government Affairs Committee. The appointment became effective in late 2019.
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Fox Chase Earns Accreditation From ANCC
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health
Fox Chase Cancer Center's Nurse Residency Program has achieved Practice Transition Accreditation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). They were awarded Accreditation With Distinction, the highest recognition awarded. Nurses in accredited transition programs such as Fox Chase’s Nurse Residency Program experience curricula that promote the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors necessary to deliver safe, high-quality care.
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Sullivan Receives ASTCT Lifetime Achievement Award
Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center
Keith Sullivan, MD, has been named the 2020 recipient of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Lifetime Achievement Award. Sullivan helped establish the ASTCT (then known as ASBMT). For the past 20 plus years, Sullivan has also been working on how stem cell transplants can improve autoimmune diseases — specifically, scleroderma.
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Head and Neck Cancer Chair Honored With Distinguished Alumnus Award
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Recognized for his contributions to patient care, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s
Wesley Hicks, Jr., MD, FACS, has earned a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Weill Cornell Medical Center. Chair of the Department of Head & Neck/Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at the Buffalo cancer center, Dr. Hicks is only the third alumnus to receive this award from Weill Cornell.
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Quality Oncology Practice Initiative Certification Earned
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health
Fox Chase Cancer Center has been recognized by the QOPI Certification Program LLC as successfully completing a three-year certification for oncology practices that meet nationally recognized standards for quality and safety in cancer care. The QOPI program, a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), builds on ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative.
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Wandinger-Ness Wins AAAS Lifetime Mentor Award
University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center
Angela Wandinger-Ness, PhD, was honored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) with its 2020 Lifetime Mentor Award. She was recognized for mentoring some 270 scientists over her 29-year teaching career. Wandinger-Ness is the associate director for education, training and mentoring at the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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UCSF to Co-lead Rare Cancers Initiative
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) has chosen the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation (FCF) to join a select group of organizations fighting rare diseases as part of its Rare As One Network. UCSF oncologist,
John Gordan, MD, PhD, will co-lead the rare-cancers initiative in partnership with the FCF. CZI, founded by Dr. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg in 2015, is committing $13.5 million to its Rare As One Project to support the work patient communities are doing to accelerate research and drive progress in the fight against rare diseases, like fibrolamellar carcinoma.
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$9.1 Million Grant to Focus on 'Cross-Talk' Between Liver, Cancer Cells That Prompts Liver Metastasis
Cedars-Sinai Cancer
Liver metastasis is a leading cause of death in patients with pancreatic or colon cancer. A Cedars-Sinai scientific team has been awarded a $9.1 million grant by the National Cancer Institute to study how cancer metastasizes to the liver and find ways to block it.
Neil Bhowmick, PhD, and
Shelly Lu, MD, are co-lead investigators.
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Breast Cancer Prevention Trial Underway
Siteman Cancer Center
A new $3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute is supporting a phase 2 clinical trial to investigate an osteoporosis drug for its potential to lower breast density in women with dense breasts. Women with dense breasts have four- to six-times higher risk of developing breast cancer than women with lower breast density. Principal Investigator is
Adetunji T. Toriola, MD, PhD.
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$3.3 Million Grant to Study How Immunotherapy Impacts Patients' Ability to Fight Off Bugs
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
A new five-year, $3.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Moonshot program will be used to study the holes that immunotherapy leaves in patients’ defenses against infection — and how doctors can fill them.
Joshua A. Hill, MD, will lead an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Fred Hutch and Seattle Children’s focused on CAR T-cell therapies used to treat blood cancers.
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Researchers Receive $3 Million to Investigate Cell Functions Within Bone Marrow
Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center
More than $3 million from the National Institutes of Health will allow Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center researchers to improve understanding of the complex system of how hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) survive and sustain their function in the bone marrow.
Edward F. Srour, PhD, and
Melissa A. Kacena, PhD, are building on a decade of research collaboration on how bone cells help HSC function.
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$1.6 Million Awarded to Improve Current Treatments for Cancers in Plasma and White Blood Cells
VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center
Massey Cancer Center researcher
Senthil Radhakrishnan, PhD, a member of the Cancer Molecular Genetics research program, was awarded a $1.6 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study the genetic properties that facilitate cellular stress response to proteasome inhibition as a means to inform the development of more effective cancer therapies.
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Kunz Named Leader of Gastrointestinal Cancers Program
Yale Cancer Center, Yale School of Medicine
Pamela L. Kunz, MD, has been appointed leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancers Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven and Yale Cancer Center and director of GI Medical Oncology within the Section of Medical Oncology. Dr. Kunz joins Yale from Stanford University School of Medicine where she is currently director of the Stanford Neuroendocrine Tumor Program.
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Alyea Named Chief Medical Officer
Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center
Medical oncologist
Edwin P. Alyea, III, MD, has been named chief medical officer for Duke Cancer Institute. He will also serve as professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy. In addition, Dr. Alyea will operate a clinical practice with the Adult Blood and Marrow Transplant Program. He joined Duke on January 1.
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Cupertino to Lead Community Engagement and Disparities Research
Wilmot Cancer Institute, UR Medicine
Paula Cupertino, PhD, joins the University of Rochester Medical Center as Professor of Public Health Sciences and Oncology and as Wilmot Cancer Institute’s associate director of community outreach, engagement and disparities. Her appointment is pending approval by the University’s Board of Trustees. Cupertino begins her tenure in Rochester in March.
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Hooper Selected as Deputy Director of the NIMHD
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Monica Webb Hooper, PhD, will become deputy director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), one of the 27 institutes of the National Institutes of Health, in March. She was previously associate director for cancer disparities research and director of the Office of Cancer Disparities Research at Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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Forman Steps Down, Smith Appointed as New Chair
City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
After more than 30 years as chair of City of Hope’s Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation,
Stephen J. Forman, MD, will transition out of this role but continue as director of the Hematologic Malignancies Research Institute and director of the T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory.
Eileen Smith, MD, medical director of City of Hope’s Alpha Stem Cell Clinic, has been appointed chair of the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation.
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Cold Plasma Patch Could Make Immunotherapy More Effective for Treating Melanoma
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has developed a medicated patch that can deliver immune checkpoint inhibitors and cold plasma directly to tumors to help boost the immune response and kill cancer cells.
Zhen Gu, PhD, is the study's senior author.
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Brain Tumor Discovery May Unlock New Treatments for Many Cancers
University of Virginia Cancer Center
A surprising discovery about a rare form of childhood brain cancer suggests a new treatment approach for that cancer and, potentially, many others. Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the supposedly simple cancer, called medulloblastoma, forms an unexpectedly intricate network to drive its growth. Some tumor cells actually turn into another type of cell altogether.
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CD19 CAR NK-Cell Therapy Achieves 73 Percent Response Rate in Leukemia, Lymphoma Patients
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
According to results from a Phase I/IIa trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center, treatment with cord blood-derived chimeric antigen receptor natural killer-cell therapy targeting CD19 resulted in clinical responses in a majority of patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Katy Rezvani, MD, PhD, is corresponding author on the study.
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New Molecular Mechanism Involved in Cellular Senescence That Modulates Inflammation, Cancer Immunotherapy Response
Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center of The Wistar Institute
Scientists at The Wistar Institute discovered a novel pathway that enables detection of DNA in the cytoplasm and triggers inflammation and cellular senescence. This pathway may be modulated during senescence-inducing chemotherapy to affect cancer cell response to checkpoint inhibitors. Lead researcher is
Rugang Zhang, PhD.
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Fight Against Endometrial Cancer Boosted With New Molecular Road Map
Siteman Cancer Center
A new study that reveals the dozens of molecular changes that bring about endometrial cancer offers insight into how physicians might be able to better identify which patients will need aggressive treatment and why a common treatment is not effective for some patients. Funded by the National Cancer Institute, the study also suggests a potential role for already approved drugs that target proteins newly implicated in this disease also commonly known as uterine cancer.
Li Ding, PhD, is co-senior author on the study.
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Absent P53, Oral Cancers Recruit and Reprogram Nerves to Fuel Tumor Growth
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Loss of an important tumor-suppressing gene allows head and neck cancer to spin off signals to nearby nerves, changing their function and recruiting them to the tumor, where they fuel growth and cancer progression, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report.
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A Single Number Helps Data Scientists Find Most Dangerous Cancer Cells
Stanford Cancer Institute
Biomedical data scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown that the number of genes a cell uses to make RNA is a reliable indicator of how developed the cell is, a finding that could make it easier to target cancer-causing genes. Cells that initiate cancer are thought to be stem cells, which are hard-to-find cells that can reproduce themselves and develop, or differentiate, into more specialized tissue, such as skin or muscle — or, when they go bad, into cancer.
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Combination Drug Therapy for Childhood Brain Tumors Shows Promise in Laboratory Models
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University
In experiments with human cells and mice, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report evidence that combining the experimental cancer medication TAK228 (also called sapanisertib) with an existing anti-cancer drug called trametinib may be more effective than either drug alone in decreasing the growth of pediatric low-grade gliomas.
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Researchers Say Multiple Drug Adaptive Therapy is Possible
Moffitt Cancer Center
Personalized cancer treatments have greatly improved the lives of patients; however, many patients eventually develop resistance to these targeted drugs. Instead of simply using another targeted agent against a resistant tumor at a maximum tolerated dose, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers are approaching the problem of resistance from a different direction — evolutionary science. In a new article, members of Moffitt’s Center of Excellence for Evolutionary Therapy present a case study of an adaptive treatment approach based on evolutionary principles in prostate cancer and suggest that these strategies may provide a path toward improved multidrug adaptive therapies.
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Study Sheds Light on Gastric Cancer Development
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have created the world’s first laboratory model of precancerous changes in the lining of the stomach, helping to unlock the mysteries of gastric cancer development. Their achievement is aiding the search for potential new drugs that could slow—and perhaps even reverse—precancerous changes in the stomach in humans.
Eunyoung Choi, PhD, is senior author on the study.
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Antiviral Treatments Lead Researchers to Develop Possible Cancer Drug
Stanford Cancer Institute
For years,
Jeffrey Glenn, MD, PhD, and his lab have worked to develop new ways of battling viruses like the ones that cause hepatitis D and the common cold. The lessons they’ve learned have led to a new kind of drug that has been effective at treating cancer in mice by disrupting otherwise normal cellular processes that both viruses and some cancer cells rely on to grow and spread.
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Brain Tumor Surgery That Pushes Boundaries Boosts Patients' Survival
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Survival may more than double for adults with glioblastoma, the most common and deadly type of brain tumor, if neurosurgeons remove the surrounding tissue as aggressively as they remove the cancerous core of the tumor. This discovery, reported in a retrospective study headed by researchers at UC San Francisco, is welcome news for those in the glioblastoma community, which celebrated its last breakthrough in 2005 with the introduction of the chemotherapy drug temozolomide.
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Breast Cancer Patients With Inherited Genetic Mutation Receive Different Cancer Treatment
University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
Women with early stage breast cancer who test positive for an inherited genetic variant aren’t always receiving cancer treatment that follows current guidelines, a new study finds. An inherited gene can increase risk of developing a second breast cancer, so strategies such as removing a woman’s breasts or ovaries are intended to prevent a future cancer. But women who have already been diagnosed with breast cancer must also consider how best to treat the existing tumor.
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Statins May Lower Mortality in High-Risk Prostate Cancer Patients
Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health
Preliminary research suggests that two commonly prescribed medications, cholesterol-lowering statins and the diabetes therapy metformin, may have anticancer effects. However, it is unclear which of these two medications—commonly prescribed together—contributes the most and whether they can impact high-risk prostate cancer. New research shows that statins, alone or with metformin, increase survival in men with high-risk prostate cancer.
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Researchers Stress Need to Overcome Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening, Education
University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
In the United States, the medical community has made great strides in preventing and controlling cervical cancer. Screening can effectively detect the disease in its earliest, pre-cancerous stages, while the HPV vaccine is highly effective at preventing cervical cancer. But globally, it’s a different picture, especially in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia. Worldwide, an estimated 569,847 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2018, with 85 percent of that burden occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
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Strong Connection Found Between HPV, Head and Neck Cancers
Livestrong Cancer Institutes, The University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School
A type of cancer that has traditionally been caused by tobacco and alcohol use now has a stronger connection to human papillomavirus (HPV), according to a new study.
Laura Chow, MD, a professor at Dell Medical School, found 73 percent of head and neck cancers are now related to HPV infection.
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Much Shorter Radiation Treatment Found to Be Safe, Effective For People With Soft Tissue Sarcoma
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
A new study led by researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found that treating soft tissue sarcoma with radiation over a significantly shorter period of time is safe, and likely just as effective, as a much longer conventional course of treatment.
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New Areas in Human Genomes Linked to Skin Cancer Risk Identified
Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center
Jiali Han, PhD, and colleagues at the IU Simon Cancer Center, have discovered eight new loci—locations on a person’s genome—that are susceptible to squamous cell skin cancer. Researchers previously identified 14 loci with increased risk for squamous cell skin cancer. This study also confirmed those findings, bringing the total identified risk loci to 22.
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Internal Clock Could Be Targeted to Prevent or Slow Breast Cancer Progression
City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
The circadian rhythm is gaining traction as a potential catalyst—or brake—for the onset of disease. For example, studies have shown that women who work frequent night shifts have disrupted internal clocks and an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Now, City of Hope's
David K. Ann, PhD, and colleagues may have found a new role for the "clock gene": it is linked to triple-negative breast cancer.
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Genetics May Predict Cancer Patients at Highest Risk of 'Chemo Brain' After Blood, Marrow Transplant
O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers identified a combination of genetic factors associated with cognitive impairment after blood or marrow transplantation, or BMT. The researchers used the information to pinpoint patients at highest risk for deficits in a large patient cohort, significantly enhancing risk predictions compared with demographic or clinical characteristics alone.
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Improving Outcomes for Uveal Melanoma Patients With Liver Metastasis
Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health
Uveal melanoma—a cancer found in the eye—is rare, comprising less than five percent of all melanomas. Despite successful treatment of the primary tumor in the eye, up to 50 percent of patients will develop metastasis, most commonly in the liver. New research from Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health investigating uveal melanoma patients with liver metastasis treated at Jefferson showed that outcomes of these patients significantly improved with changes in treatment.
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Nanosize Device 'Uncloaks' Cancer Cells in Mice, Reveals Them to the Immune System
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University
Scientists at Johns Hopkins report they have designed and successfully tested an experimental, super small package able to deliver molecular signals that tag implanted human cancer cells in mice and make them visible for destruction by the animals' immune systems. The new method was developed, say the researchers, to deliver an immune system "uncloaking" device directly to cancer cells.
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Study Shows Three-Year Screening Interval Protective Against Cervical Cancer
University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center
A new study led by University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists shows that screening every three years instead of annually prevents most cervical cancers. And of the cancers that are found during routine screenings, most are caught before they’ve had a chance to spread, making them far easier to treat.
Cosette Wheeler, PhD, led the study.
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Reminder: Join AACI for a PCLI Webinar on March 4
The AACI
Physician Clinical Leadership Initiative (PCLI) will host
"Maintaining a Clinical Research Practice at an Academic Cancer Center" at 2:00 pm eastern time on
Wednesday, March 4. PCLI Steering Committee Chair
Claire Verschraegen, MS, MD, FACP, will present the webinar. Dr. Verschraegen is director and professor, Division of Medical Oncology, at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, James Cancer Hospital & Solove Research Institute.
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New Center for Indigenous Cancer Research Has Regional Focus, Global Reach
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Center for Indigenous Cancer Research at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, the first initiative of its kind in the Northeast, is dedicated to reducing the impact of cancer on Indigenous communities regionally, nationally, and internationally.
Rodney Haring, PhD, MSW, is director.
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Virginia Residents Asked to Partner in Research to Reduce Cancer Disparities
VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center
Massey Cancer Center is asking local citizens to partner in cancer research designed to identify and address health needs in their own communities. The project, called
Together for Health – Virginia, is a comprehensive health assessment program designed to better understand how social and behavioral patterns as well as financial and environmental factors impact cancer rates. Information from this research will help to improve health care practices and services within communities.
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Olympic Gold Medalist's Children's Book Helps Parents Talk to Kids About Cancer
Moffitt Cancer Center
A new children’s book,
Fritzy Finds a Hat, written by Olympic Gold Medalist, bestselling author, and cancer survivor
Scott Hamilton, and illustrated by country music superstar
Brad Paisley, has been released. The book, which tells the story of a young boy trying to find a hat for his mother who is undergoing cancer treatment, is intended to help parents talk with their children about the disease.
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Pilot Telemedicine Program to Serve Lung Nodule Patients
O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
Some lung nodules identified on radiographic studies need specialized follow-up to ensure early detection and treatment of lung cancer. Patients identified with lung nodules will now be able to receive care from University of Alabama at Birmingham physicians via telemedicine. This pilot project, in conjunction with UAB eMedicine, will treat patients in rural Bibb County communities at Bibb Medical Center to improve access to health care.
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Vanderbilt-Ingram Patient First for New Cell Engineering Platform
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Rhea Dodd is the first patient treated with an experimental cancer vaccine derived from a completely new cell engineering platform. The retired veterinarian, triathlete, and climber traveled from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, where she received an infusion of her own immune cells reprogrammed with tumor antigens and designed to elicit an immune response to an HPV-related cancer.
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