September 14, 2012

YNHH and Hospital of Saint Raphael Become One

On Wednesday, Yale-New Haven Hospital acquired the assets of the Hospital of Saint Raphael (HSR) and became a single 1,519-bed hospital with two main campuses. This transition will allow for 511 more inpatient beds for Yale-New Haven Hospital, and will integrate 400 medical staff members and 3,400 employees into YNHH. The medical oncology, hematology, and radiation oncology practices at HSR have already been integrated into Smilow Cancer Hospital, and we will make plans to welcome other cancer providers into the Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital clinical programs. Drs. Bruce Lundberg, Andrea Silber, and Hal Tara will continue to care for patients at the Smilow Cancer Care Center on the campus

Closer to Free

It was an honor to participate in last Saturday's Closer to Free Ride with so many of you. Thank you to all of the riders, volunteers, and staff who made the day a wonderful success!  We had 500 riders and 350 volunteers; 46 of the riders were cancer survivors and 41 of the volunteers were! Together, we have raised over $600,000 to support cancer care and research at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital, and the fundraising continues until September 30. We doubled our efforts from 2011 and I look forward to doing the same in 2013.

Emily Christison-Lagay Joins Pediatric Surgery

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Emily Christison-Lagay to the department of surgery. Dr. Christison-Lagay is a pediatric surgeon specializing in patients with cancer and has a special interest in neuroblastoma and childhood sarcomas. She will serve as the pediatric surgical representative for the Pediatric Thyroid Center at Yale, working with both benign and malignant diseases of the thyroid and parathyroid alongside of Dr. Udelsman.

Dr. Christison-Lagay is a graduate of the University of Virginia and received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School. She completed her general surgical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, with research completed in tumor angiogenesis at Boston Children's Hospital. From there, she did a pediatric surgical fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) in Toronto, followed by a "super"-fellowship in Pediatric Surgical Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Yale Cancer Center Oncology CME Series: Gastrointestinal Cancers

Please join us for our fourth session in the Yale Cancer Center Oncology CME Series, focused on Gastrointestinal Malignancies, on Thursday, September 20 at 5:00 PM in Smilow Cancer Hospital.

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Notables

David Fischer, MD will receive the Richard Blumenthal Patient Advocate for Life Award from the Connecticut Hospice during their Legacy Ceremony on Sunday, September 23.  Dr. Fischer helped to found CT Hospice back in 1974; it is the first Hospice in the country. He continues to be a member of their Professional Advisory Committee.

John Roberts, MD received the Harry Hines Award from the NCI Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) at their annual meeting. The award is the equivalent to the CCOP Principal Investigator of the Year, selected by NCI staff.

Development Update 

An anonymous donor recently pledged $125,000 to Smilow Cancer Hospital to start a Fund supporting a visiting lecture series and Grand Rounds lectures focusing on hematology oncology. The donor's mother succumbed to myelogenous leukemia in 1938, when no therapeutic agents were available. The donor, working with Alison Marcinek, YNHH Sr. Development Officer, wished to honor his mother and make an impact on hematology fellows and physicians by supporting continued education of current trends in the field of hematology oncology. Dr. Madhav Dhodapkar and Abe Lopman will be the nominators for the new Fund.

Employee Profile:

Hong Vu

The Employee Profile recognizes the diverse contributions made by Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital staff have to meet our patient care, research, education, and outreach goals. The staff profiled are examples of the great work being done here, and the dedication and values we possess. To suggest someone to be profiled, please contact Emily Fenton.

As Data Manager for the lung oncology team in the Clinical Trials Office at Yale Cancer Center, Hong Vu works closely with Principal Investigators such as Dr. Scott Gettinger and Dr. Roy Herbst and research nurses on clinical trials. Her role is to perform patient data gathering, extraction, and data entry in various electronic data capture (EDC) systems such as Oracle, RAVE, and Inform. She also keeps track of things like adverse events and eligibility requirements. 

Adverse events are reported to Hong by the PI or research nurses working on the study. Adverse events can include skin toxicity, diarrhea, vomiting, and fatigue and are assessed using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE).  This helps grade the severity of the event and attribute the causality to the study drug. Hong then captures these within the patient's EDC. 

Hong is also responsible for gathering information on prospective patients. She makes a report of the patient's relevant eligibility criteria and based on her information, the PI decides whether or not the patient is a good fit for a particular clinical trial. "Even though I do not have direct patient contact, it is rewarding to know that I am a part of getting them on a trial in the hopes for a better quality of life.  Often times they come to Yale because they have exhausted all other options of standard treatment," said Hong.

For Hong, capturing patient data is not as easy as entering A, B, and C. There is a lot of research involved and she has to go through all of the PI's notes from meeting with patients, and sometimes years of medical history to find what she needs.

Kathleen Uscinski, Associate Director for Clinical Trials Operations, commented, "Hong does an exceptional job representing the best face of Yale research. She consistently works to the highest standards and contributes to the overall mission of Yale Cancer Center by bringing excellence to the research enterprise." 

Funding Opportunities 

Women's Health Research at Yale Pilot Grants

Women's Health Research at Yale is pleased to offer pilot project funds for research that represents a new direction in women's health, or explores gender differences in health and disease. We are particularly soliciting clinical or prevention research projects, and basic science projects that have a clear translational goal.

Letter of Intent Due: October 22, 2012

Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA)-Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) Team Science Partnership Award

Applications are solicited by the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) and the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) for one jointly sponsored Team Science Award that will simultaneously advance clinical science in both diseases. A total award amount of up to $1.5 million over 2-3 years is offered to support innovative, meritorious and translational work with the potential for high clinical impact in prostate cancer and melanoma. The following are examples of investigative areas relevant to both kinds of cancer, for which applications will be considered: 1) nuclear imaging technologies and/or applications as early predictors of treatment outcomes, including novel tracers to distinguish immune from tumor cells in the context of immunotherapy; 2) therapeutic interventions targeting tumor cell metabolism and protein translation; and 3) development of effective combinatorial therapies in the adjuvant or advanced disease setting, based on immune-modulating drugs paired with other agents.

Application Deadline: October 15, 2012

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network - AACR Grants

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network - AACR research grants program is designed to help incubate innovative research projects, grow the number of researchers dedicated to studying pancreatic cancer, nurture collaborations across disciplines and institutions, and expedite scientific progress for patient benefit.

Research Acceleration Network Grant: Supports a project currently underway within the pancreatic cancer research community that is ready to be accelerated, includes a clinical component, and will help double the survival rate for pancreatic cancer by the year 2020.

Term:1,000,000

Grant Term Begins:

Letter of Intent Deadline: October 8, 2012, noon ET

Innovative Grant: Supports creative and cutting edge ideas and approaches, including those successful in other areas of cancer that have justifiable promise for pancreatic cancer.

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Grant Term Begins: 

Letter of Intent Deadline: October 8, 2012, noon ET 

Career Development Award: Supports newly independent investigators develop or strengthen their research program in pancreatic cancer.

Terms: Two-year grant totaling $200,000

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Pathway to Leadership Grant: Supports highly promising early career scientists in their postdoctoral positions and through the transition to independence to build future leadership in pancreatic cancer research.

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Fellowship Award: Supports early career scientists during their mentored research phase.

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