Lung Cancer, Health Disparities Expert Named Director of VCU Massey
Robert Winn, MD, has been named director of Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center. Dr. Winn, an expert in lung cancer and community-based health care, will start at VCU on December 2. He joins VCU from the University of Illinois at Chicago where he has served as director of the University of Illinois Cancer Center.
Sleckman to Lead O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center
Barry Paul Sleckman, MD, PhD, a world-renowned researcher who focuses on understanding how DNA double strand breaks are generated and repaired, has been named director of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Currently an associate director of the Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Sleckman will begin his new role at UAB on January 6, 2020.
Patient Advocacy Plays Prominent Role at AACI Annual Meeting
Inspiring patient advocates delivered messages of hope and perseverance at the 2019 AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting, in Washington, DC. The event convened more than 450 AACI cancer center directors and executive-level administrators with industry and government health agencies to develop solutions to common challenges and share best practices. The AACI Annual Meeting Program Committee was chaired by Michael B. Kastan, MD, PhD, director of the Duke Cancer Institute.
AACI Honors Scientific Discovery, Public Service, and Philanthropy at Annual Meeting
National Cancer Institute Acting Director Douglas Lowy, MD, received the Distinguished Scientist Award on October 21, during the 2019 AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Dr. Lowy accepted the award after delivering a talk titled "Preventing Cancer by HPV Vaccination." Following Dr. Lowy’s talk, an awards luncheon highlighted the Public Service Award recipients, Representatives Kathy Castor (D-FL) and Fred Upton (R-MI), and the Jon M. and Karen Huntsman family, who received AACI’s Champion for Cures Award.
AACI cancer center directors are invited to submit nominations for the 2020 Champion for Cures Award. AACI established the award in 2018 to recognize an individual or individuals who, through direct financial support of an AACI cancer center, demonstrate exceptional leadership in advancing cancer research and care and in inspiring others to do the same. The Champion for Cures Award was presented at the 2019 AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting to Brynn and Peter Huntsman (pictured) of the Jon M. and Karen Huntsman family.
The AACI Public Policy Resource Library went live on October 21, during the 2019 AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. The resource library is the presidential initiative of Roy A. Jensen, MD, AACI president and director of The University of Kansas Cancer Center. It will enable cancer centers and partners in the cancer advocacy community to share resources in order to foster collaboration, promote cancer prevention, and spur the development of sound public health policy at the state and local level.
Save the Dates: 2020 Annual Meetings - Chicago and Kansas City
Please join us in 2020 for two signature events: AACI's Clinical Research Innovation (CRI) annual meeting, July 7 - 9, in Chicago, and the AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting, October 11 - 13, in Kansas City, home of The University of Kansas Cancer Center, led by AACI President Roy Jensen.
Researcher Honored for Work Advancing Immunotherapy
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Cancer Research Institute has awarded Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, director of the tumor immunology program at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, with the 2019 William B. Coley Award. Dr. Ribas was honored for his distinguished research in basic and tumor immunology, including his development of stem cell-based adoptive cell therapies.
Deininger Receives Lifetime Achievement Award for Leukemia Research
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
The International Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Foundation has awarded the Rowley Prize to Michael Deininger, MD, PhD. Dr. Deininger leads the Center of Excellence in hematology and hematologic malignancies at Huntsman Cancer Institute. His work focuses on the role of tyrosine kinases, enzymes that regulate important cell functions such as cell growth and survival.
Neurologist David H. Gutmann, MD, PhD, has received the Abhijit Guha Award from the Society for Neuro-Oncology and the Section on Tumors of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The award honors an accomplished investigator who has achieved significant results in the laboratory and the clinic while mentoring the next generation of neuro-oncology professionals.
Richard J. Bleicher, MD, FACS, has been awarded the 2020 Jamie Brooke Lieberman Remembrance Award from Susan G. Komen® Philadelphia for his work in the breast cancer community. Dr. Bleicher is a breast cancer surgeon and clinical researcher at Fox Chase. He serves as the director of the breast fellowship and leader of the Breast Cancer Program at Fox Chase.
Betty Ferrell, PhD, FAAN, FPCN, MA, director and professor of the Division of Nursing Research and Education at City of Hope, was elected to become a member of the National Academy of Medicine. The academy honored her for her pioneering work in palliative and end-of-life care, which includes developing and leading the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium. The consortium has trainers in 99 countries and all 50 states.
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Arthur "Art" Weiss, MD, PhD, received a 2019 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology/Basic Immunology from the Cancer Research Institute for his contributions on CAR T-cell therapy.
Colorectal Cancer Researchers Receive SPORE Funding
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Colorectal cancer researchers from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center have been awarded a Specialized Program of Research Excellence grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The Gastrointestinal SPORE grant is for a five-year period totaling $11.6 million. The researchers, led by principal investigator Robert Coffey, MD, have succeeded in securing continuous SPORE funding since an initial grant in 2002.
$6.5 Million Grant Funds Hawai'i's First Cutting-Edge Research Clinic
University of Hawai'i Cancer Center, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa
University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center received a $6.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to significantly improve access to experimental treatments for cancer patients in Hawaiʻi. The Early Phase Cancer Clinical Research Center will be named Hoʻōla, Hawaiian for "healing." The clinic will focus on early phase clinical trials and be the first of its kind in the state.
$7.6 Million Grant Funds Center to Fight Cancer Disparities
Siteman Cancer Center
The National Cancer Institute has awarded $7.6 million to Washington University in St. Louis to create a research center that will develop ways to implement proven cancer control interventions among disadvantaged rural and urban populations in Missouri and Illinois. The Washington University Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control will seek to eliminate cancer disparities with rapid-cycle studies that put findings into practice quickly. It will be led by a team of researchers affiliated with Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine and the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
Breast cancer researchers at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center have secured a fourth round of continuous Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) funding. The SPORE in Breast Cancer grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is for a five-year period totaling $11.6 million. Applications for SPORE funding are highly competitive. Including Vanderbilt, currently there are only five medical research centers in the nation with SPOREs in Breast Cancer.
$8.3 Million Grant Advances Breast Cancer Immunotherapy Research
Moffitt Cancer Center
Moffitt Cancer Center has secured a new grant from the Department of Defense to advance immunotherapy research for patients whose breast cancer has metastasized to the brain. The four-year, $8.3 million Breakthrough Award from the DoD’s Breast Cancer Research Program will fund a Phase II clinical trial led by Brian Czerniecki, MD, PhD.
Researchers Selected to Join Immuno-Oncology Translational Network, Awarded $3.8 Million Grant
Yale Cancer Center, Yale School of Medicine
Yale Cancer Center researchers were awarded a $3.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop a new cytokine-based immunotherapy for melanoma. The scientists and their laboratories will collaborate to perform advanced preclinical testing and characterization of their drug to enable first-in-patient clinical trials as early as 2021.
Cancer Prevention Therapy Supported With $3.8 Million Grant
University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
University of Michigan School of Dentistry faculty member Yu Leo Lei, DDS, PhD, is the principal investigator for research on new cancer prevention therapies funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. The five-year, $3.8 million grant supports research that is part of the NCI’s Immuno-Oncology Translational Network.
$2.5 Million Awarded to Engage Underrepresented Students and Their Teachers in Cancer Research
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
Huntsman Cancer Institute has been awarded $2.5 million from the National Cancer Institute’s Youth Enjoy Science Research Education Program to engage Utah high school students and their teachers in cancer research. The program will engage racial and ethnic minorities, economically disadvantaged students, and rural and frontier residents from across Utah in order to increase diversity in biomedical research.
NCI U54 Award to Reduce HPV-Associated Cancers in Latin America
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Global Cancer Program at UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center has received a U54 award for a partnership with the National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, and the University of Puerto Rico, to establish The CAlifornia-Mexico-Puerto RicO (CAMPO) Collaboration for Prevention of HPV-related cancer in HIV-positive individuals. Together, CAMPO Collaboration will examine innovative approaches to cervical and anal cancer prevention among HIV-positive people in hopes of advancing the field as quickly as possible.
Jensen Appointed MSK's First Chief Digital Officer and Head of Technology
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Claus Torp Jensen, PhD, has joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) as its first chief digital officer and head of technology. Dr. Jensen joins MSK from CVS Health and Aetna, where he served as chief technology officer and head of architecture, leading technology innovation, business transformation incubation, architecture planning and design, and digital integration.
Assistant Director for Clinical Research Announced
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University
Jyoti Patel, MD, has joined Northwestern Medicine as medical director of thoracic oncology and assistant director for clinical research at the Lurie Cancer Center. She will also serve as associate vice chair for clinical research in the Department of Medicine.
Menendez Named Director of Clinical Cancer Genetics
Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center
Carolyn Menendez, MD, FACS, assistant professor of surgical oncology, has been appointed director of Duke Cancer Institute’s Clinical Cancer Genetics Program. In her newly appointed position leading Clinical Cancer Genetics, including the Hereditary Cancer Clinic, Dr. Menendez will provide leadership, strategy, and oversight for the clinic.
Ronald Chen, MD, MPH, has been named the Brandmeyer Chair and professor of radiation oncology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, clinical service chief at The University of Kansas Health System, and associate director for health equity at The University of Kansas Cancer Center. Dr. Chen joins KU from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, where he served as the radiation oncology program director.
Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center
Yousuf Zafar, MD, associate professor of medicine and public policy, has been appointed director of healthcare innovation at Duke Cancer Institute. Dr. Zafar will be responsible for articulating a vision of value-based innovation in cancer care delivery. He will collaborate with representatives within Duke Cancer Institute, the Duke University Health System, and external stakeholders.
Researchers Document Marked Slowdown of Cell Division Rates in Old Age
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University
In a novel study comparing healthy cells from people in their twenties with cells from people in their eighties, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have documented that cell division rates appear to consistently and markedly slow down in humans at older ages. The researchers say the findings may help explain why cancer—long considered a disease of aging, with incidence highest among people over age 65—has been found to decelerate in occurrence at the extreme end of human life.
Pancreatic Cancer Discovery Reveals How the Aggressive Cancer Fuels Its Growth
University of Virginia Cancer Center
A new discovery about pancreatic cancer sheds light on how the cancer fuels its growth and may help explain how promising cancer drugs work — and for whom they will fail. The new discovery represents the fulfillment of years of work for David F. Kashatus, PhD, who first proposed the research project while interviewing at the University of Virgnia in 2012.
CAR T Trial Aims to Extend Lives of People With Most Common Types of Lymphoma, Leukemia
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
The UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center has launched a pioneering chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) immunotherapy trial that will attack cancer cells by simultaneously recognizing two targets—CD19 and CD20—that are expressed on B-cell lymphoma and leukemia. By launching a bilateral attack instead of using the conventional single-target approach, researchers are hoping to minimize resistance and increase life expectancy for people diagnosed with these cancers.
Machine Learning Helps Predict Which Cancer Patients Are Most Likely to Enter BMT 'Fog'
O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
Something happens in the months and years after cancer patients receive a blood or marrow transplant (BMT) from donor cells. Rather, for about a third of those patients, something doesn’t happen. Even as they recover from the exhausting BMT procedure—which obliterates their body’s own, faulty blood cell machinery and then holds their immune systems in a straitjacket while the donor cells establish themselves—their brains just don’t seem to return to normal.
University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center
The UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center has joined the landmark international Tomosynthesis Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (TMIST), which compares the screening efficacy of 3-D mammography (tomosynthesis) and 2-D digital mammography. Ursa Brown-Glaberman, MD, co-leads the cancer center's Breast Team and serves as the principal investigator for New Mexico.
Algorithm Reduces Need for Therapy in Children With Intermediate-Risk Neuroblastoma
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
A recent Children’s Oncology Group study identified a treatment algorithm that can help reduce therapy for some patients with intermediate-risk neuroblastoma, while maintaining good clinical outcomes. The study’s findings suggest that many infants and young children with this disease may be spared unpleasant or lingering side effects of prolonged therapy. Lead researcher is Clare Twist, MD, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
A new study describes how gamma secretase inhibitors, or GSIs, can reverse a disappearing act that multiple myeloma pulls on the immune system. That ability to vanish even tricks T cells that are genetically programmed to home in on and attack myeloma cells. But scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have found that GSIs, experimental drugs originally tested for Alzheimer's, can disable cancer’s cloaking device.
Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have discovered a strange new organelle inside our cells that helps to prevent cancer by ensuring that genetic material is sorted correctly as cells divide. The researchers have connected problems with the organelle to a subset of breast cancer tumors that make lots of mistakes when segregating chromosomes.
Aggressive Breast Cancers Store Large Amounts of Energy, Enabling Them to Spread
University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
Measuring glycogen levels in cell lines representing triple-negative breast cancer, inflammatory breast cancer, hormone receptor positive breast cancer, and normal breast cells, Sofia D. Merajver, MD, PhD, found that aggressive cancers stored glycogen in very large amounts, depending on available oxygen.
New Mechanism Fueling Brain Metastasis Discovered at Wistar
Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center of The Wistar Institute
Scientists at The Wistar Institute described a novel mechanism through which astrocytes, the most abundant supporting cells in the brain, also promote cancer cell growth and metastasis in the brain. According to the study, astrocytes provide fatty acids that activate the PPAR-gamma pathway in cancer cells, enhancing their proliferation.
Metabolic Vulnerability Found in Cancer Cells With Mutated Spliceosomes
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University
A research team from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center reports it has discovered a metabolic vulnerability in multiple types of cancer cells that bear a common genetic mutation affecting cellular machines called spliceosomes. In test tube and mouse experiments, the researchers learned that the resulting spliceosome malfunction cripples the cells’ chemical process for generating the amino acid serine, making the cancer cells dependent on external (dietary) sources of the amino acid.
New Gene Expression Tool Allows for More Accurate Diagnosis of Thyroid Nodules
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health
Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center say a new, more accurate, genomic sequencing classifier allows patients to avoid one in five surgeries for thyroid cancer because it more accurately classifies samples taken from thyroid nodules compared to earlier versions of the technology. Shuanzeng Wei, MD, PhD, is the lead researcher.
Study Suggests New Metabolic Target for Liver Cancer
Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Iowa
Disrupting a metabolic pathway in the liver in a way that creates a more “cancer-like” metabolism actually reduces tumor formation in a mouse model of liver cancer. That's the surprising and potentially useful finding from a new UI study led by Eric Taylor, PhD, which shows that the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier, a protein complex that is critical for glucose production in the liver, may represent a new target for preventing liver cancer.
Triplet-Targeted Therapy Improves Survival for Patients With Advanced Colorectal Cancer and BRAF Mutations
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
The three-drug combination of encorafenib, binimetinib, and cetuximab significantly improved overall survival in patients with BRAF-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer, according to results of the BEACON CRC Phase III clinical trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Principal investigator is Scott Kopetz, MD.
Using Artificial Intelligence to Predict Risk of Thyroid Cancer on Ultrasound
Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health
A new study from Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health investigates whether a non-invasive method of ultrasound imaging, combined with a Google platform machine-learning algorithm, could be used as a rapid and inexpensive first screen for thyroid cancer.
Researchers First to Show That Specific Protein Inhibitor Kills Multiple Myeloma Tumor Cells
VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center
Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 7 (CDK7) plays a key role in controlling transcription of three genes that help tumor cells proliferate in patients with multiple myeloma. Researchers at VCU Massey Cancer Center, led by principal investigator Steven Grant, MD, have found that a CDK7 inhibitor, THZ1, effectively reduced and suppressed the transcription of the three genes—MCL-1, BCL-xL, and c-Myc—and led to induction of tumor cell death.
Scientists Discover Why Targeted Immuno-Oncology Drugs Sometimes Fail
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute
A discovery by researchers at OSUCC – James may help scientists understand why some tumors lack immune cell infiltration and are unresponsive to newer PD-1 targeted therapies. Yiping Yang, MD, PhD, and colleagues reported data showing the specific mechanisms that limit the ability of CD8 T cells to infiltrate the tumor microenvironment.
The 2019 AACI Clinical Research Innovation (CRI) Abstracts and Posters Book is now available to AACI members. The book features 66 abstracts from 24 cancer centers submitted for presentation at the 11th Annual AACI CRI Meeting this past July. This year’s submissions reflected an increase in collaboration between AACI members, vendors, and community partners, and covered topics in several categories.
Varian Partnership to Optimize Radiation Oncology Treatment
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Varian have announced a new strategic collaboration to develop an integrated software platform to streamline review of radiation oncology treatment plans. The goal of the platform is to establish an efficient framework to connect participating sites to a central database, allowing MD Anderson physicians to host collaborative review sessions around treatment plans and to communicate plan changes back to physicians.
Moffitt Cancer Center Launches Immunotherapy Contract Research Organization
Moffitt Cancer Center
Moffitt Cancer Center has launched a first-of-its-kind contract research organization focused on accelerating immunotherapy research. The subsidiary will provide a one-stop shop for pharmaceutical and biotech companies to accelerate their immuno-oncology and cell therapy research through collaborative clinical trial support and administration.
Vaping With Nicotine Causes Sticky Mucus That May Lead to Chronic Illness
The University of Kansas Cancer Center
In an episode of The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s weekly Facebook Live series, Bench to Bedside, Roy Jensen, MD, director of KU Cancer Center and AACI president, and Matthias Salathe, MD, discuss the latest in vaping research. Dr. Salathe conducted a study that discovered vaping with nicotine causes sticky mucus that may lead to chronic illness.
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is now accepting applications for its residents/fellows seed and early career development 2020 grant cycle awards. Also, new ASTRO-Industry Research Training Fellowships will offer research training opportunities for residents to work at either an AstraZeneca site or a Varian site starting on July 1, 2020. One fellowship per site will be offered and provides salary support for up to one year. US-based residents are encouraged to apply through proposalCENTRAL by November 15, 2019.
Research Excellence Awards Mark Faculty, Staff Achievements
UMMC Cancer Center and Research Institute
Three members of the UMMC Cancer Center and Research Institute were honored at the medical center's annual Excellence in Research Awards event. Shou-Ching Tang, MD, PhD, Vani Vijayakumar, MD, and Keli Xu, PhD, were recognized for their achievements in gaining outside funding. The awards are based on the cumulative amount of extramural funding received by the investigator for their original research over their career at UMMC.
Innovators in AYA Cancer: Driving Science and Policy Toward a Brighter Future for Teens and Young Adults With Cancer
November 14, 2019
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Angie Fowler Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Research Initiative symposium will engage physicians, practitioners, advocacy organizations, patients and survivors, their families, and caregivers in a conversation about the steps being taken to improve outcomes and address challenges specific to cancer in the AYA population.
The symposium will feature a poster session and Rising Star oral presentations by students, postdocs, residents, fellows and faculty conducting research in AYA cancer.