DirectConnect
A newsletter for the Yale Cancer Center & Smilow Cancer Hospital community
Director's Message
Dear Colleagues:
I write to you at the start of a new academic year. I have now been at Yale for almost 2.5 years and feel solidly entrenched. I understand and appreciate many of our strengths, and I recognize where there is room for improvement.
There is no question this has been a year full of change. We continued to recover from the pandemic, successfully re-competed the Cancer Center Support Grant, and instituted (or began to institute) disease-specific care across the network. In my view, all represent positive changes. There is much work to be done, but there is no question in my mind that we are looking at better times ahead with a stronger and healthier clinical footprint.
Our clinical research operation has recovered nicely, and clinical trial activation and accrual are both improving significantly. We will need to keep pushing, and both Ian Krop and I believe that we can accrue over 1,000 patients per year by 2027, if not before. Most importantly, we want to continue to enroll patients on trials that will make a difference in their lives and the lives of future patients.
With the arrival of Tracy Battaglia, MD MPH, Associate Director for Cancer Care Equity, we are expanding our efforts in the area of cancer care disparities. Our hybrid-decentralization program, which brings phase I trials to community sites and is co-led by Drs. Pat LoRusso and Marcella Nunez-Smith, is off the ground. In the months ahead, you will be hearing more about programs designed to bring greater equity to cancer care.
Most importantly, I want to emphasize that all of you are what makes the Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Hospital so special. It is your excellence, collaboration, hard work, and dedication to providing the best possible cancer care that sets us apart. Without all of you, we would not be what we are, and we would not have the hope of becoming even stronger. Whether you are a nurse, a physician, a pharmacist, a social worker, a member of the staff in the clinics or the inpatients units, a researcher, or an administrator, I am grateful and awed by your efforts.
Thank you,
Eric
Director, Yale Cancer Center • President and Physician-in-Chief, Smilow Cancer Hospital
Yale Lung SPORE workshop
Lung Cancer Experts Gather to Share Research
A Lung Cancer SPORE workshop on Yale West Campus drew more than 200 oncologists and researchers from around the country for panel discussions, poster sessions, and speakers on the latest breakthroughs.
The two-day event on Yale West Campus commemorated the 20th anniversary of the discovery of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation in lung cancer, which launched the era of personalized medicine in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), leading to a dramatic shift in treatment.
Chaired by Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD and Katerina Politi, PhD, the workshop included lung cancer experts came from various institutions including Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School, The Ohio State University, Emory University, and UT Southwestern, amongothers.
The first day of the event focused on early research and current research, treatment, and diagnosis in the EGFR and oncogene-driven lung cancer field as well as expectations for further improvements in future treatments.
The second day focused on health disparities, the importance of early detection and screening, the role of immuno-oncology, and small cell lung cancer, and featured patient and community advocates who shared their experiences. > READ MORE
YNHHS Innovation Awards
A system that will use AI technology to consider real-time medical information to determine whether a patient is eligible for a clinical trial was among five winning projects, each awarded $100,00, at the Yale New Haven Health (YNHHS) Innovation Awards.
The June event celebrating the five pioneering projects was a highlight of the 10th annual Yale Innovation Summit, which drew more than 2,000 entrepreneurs for two-days of networking and pitch competitions in New Haven.
The AI project called Clinical Trial Patient Matching was led by Guannan Gong, PhD, a research scientist from the Yale School of Public Health, and his Yale Cancer Center team including Pamela Kunz, MD; Patricia LoRusso, DO; Maryam Lustberg, MD, MPH; Ian Krop, MD, PhD; and Neal Fischbach, MD.
The clinical trials project aims to ensure that all patients get equal access to try new treatments in medical studies. Clinical Trial Patient Matching (CTPM) is meant to streamline the process of assessing patient eligibility for a specific trial by rapidly reviewing patient files and making a list of patients suitable for specific trials. Preliminary studies of the tool have shown 94.4 percent accuracy, a threefold increase in accrual numbers, and increased diversity in enrollment.
Other projects that won the YNHHS Innovation Awards include three other AI-assisted projects. JuniHealth aims to improve patient throughput in radiology and improve inefficient billing; another AI tool that predicts urinary tract infections based on urinalysis and other results in a patient’s electronic medical record; and another that will that allow early diagnosis of treatable cardiovascular disease through a portable device attachable to a smartphone. The final project winner was the Simulated Psychedelic Immersive Experience (SI-PHI): Healthcare Intervention for Depression, which went on to also win the Blavatnik Accelerator award at the Innovation summit.
Smilow /YCC News
Smilow Star and Scholarship Recipients
Vandana Kant has been a Business Analyst on NP12 since May 2022. She consistently goes above and beyond for the staff and patients. She recently obtained her BA II for helping to create a daily checklist of the roles and responsibilities as a BA on NP12. She has taken on decorating the front BA area and entire unit for holidays & special occasions making it inviting and festive for our patients, visitors, and staff. She also builds relationships with patients that go far beyond her BA role. Recently, she recognized that a hospice patient with very few visitors seemed lonely and often called the front desk just to talk to someone. Vandana started spending her lunch break sitting with the patient, holding her hand, and talking with her. This brought such comfort to the patient, who looked forward to spending time with her daily. Vandana also does a wonderful job celebrating her peers and is always at the heart of highlighting staff birthdays and milestones with unit potlucks. Vandana is one of our CHAMPs for improving Responsiveness of Hospital Staff by committing to the work of the BA scripting and algorithm. Vandana is a role model to others.
Congratulations to the 2024 recipients of The Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation Smilow Cares Scholarships: Sarah Ann Sarney, RN, Smilow Greenwich; Aida Mecka, RN, NP15; Gaelyn Kattman, RN, NP15; Angelina Zaccariello, RN, NP11; Gillian O’Callaghan, RN, NP7; Marcela Nelson, RN, NP12; Devin Echle, RN, NP12; Kimberly Babson, Care Manager, NP11; Shannon Cardoza, RN, NP15; and Amanda Ingham, RN, Smilow St. Francis. The Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation has been funding scholarships and tuition reimbursement to assist nurses at Smilow Cancer Hospital since 2016.
Honored for Nursing Leadership
Alexandra Dormal, RN, BSN, Program Manager for the Cellular Therapy and CAR-T Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital, was honored for her administrative leadership with the 3rd annual Catherine A. Lyons Excellence in Oncology Nursing Leadership Award.One nominee noted, “Alex has the unique ability to treat all those that report to her as equals. She values each team member’s skills and is inherently respectful in her requests and interactions. She is also honest and forthright, and provides constructive, targeted feedback to help us continually improve our performance.”The award was established in remembrance of Catherine “Cathy” Lyons to recognize an outstanding oncology nurse leader.
Awards & Honors
A few weeks ago, George Goshua, MD, MSc, accepted the NOMIS & Science Young Explorer Award in a ceremony in Switzerland. Dr. Goshua’s award-winning essay published in Science, Napkin math can change the world, is about how data-driven improvements in value-based and equitable healthcare need to be driven by healthcare providers to make significant change. The Goshua Lab at YCC uses quantitative decision modeling methods to fill gaps in clinical guidelines, impact health resource allocation, and inform health policy decisions. > MORE
The June 26 White House Clinical Trials Forum included Patricia LoRusso, DO, YCC Chief of Experimental Therapeutics. Also, Dr. LoRusso presented "The Making of a Clinical Researcher: A Personal Journey" late in June at the Association of American Cancer Institute’s Clinical Research Innovation Meeting.
Michael Cecchini, MD, was recently promoted to Associate Professor, Internal Medicine (Medical Oncology) in the Clinician Educator-Scholar Track. He is Co-Director, Colorectal Program in the Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers; and Medical Oncology Section Lead for National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer.
Surgical oncologists Drs. Mehra Golshan and Elena Ratner are Exceptional Care Awardees of the Healthnetwork Foundation, which honor “hospital staff who share in our mission to provide outstanding care...We celebrate their dedication and outstanding service with ($10,000 each) to support their department operations.”
At the HemOnc Fellowship Program graduation, Jessica M Stempel, MD and Curtis Perry, MD, PhD received Research Awards and Rory Shallis, MD, Michael Cecchini, MD, and Michal Rose, MD, got Teaching Awards.
Tarun Tyagi, PhD, a YSM Associate Research Scientist, received the 2024 JH Milstone Award. The $10,000 yearly award goes to early-stage investigators whose research improves understanding of bleeding or thrombosis.
The Yale Head and Neck SPORE recently announced five awards. The Career Enhancement Program award went to Yash Chhabra, PhD, Fox Chase Cancer Center. Four Developmental Research Programs (DRP) awards went to YSM associate professors, Samuel Katz, MD, PhD and Michael Chiorazzi, MD, PhD. Other awardees include Oneida Arosarena, MD, Temple University and Travis Schrank, MD, PhD, University of North Carolina.
Colleagues in the News
Roy Herbst, MD was quoted in Cure magazine on Imdelltra (tarlatamab), a new option for patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer whose disease worsened after treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy. Earlier in the month, he shared the progress that has been made in treating lung cancer with WTNH as well as Oncology NewsCentral.
Michael Cecchini, MD, spoke with BestLife on the importance of screening in catching colon cancer early and about a warning sign of colon cancer for Huffington Post. Also his recent publication in JAMA Oncology was the topic of an article in HealthDay, a syndicator of health news.
Vikram Reddy, MD, chief of Colon and Rectal Surgery at the Yale School of Medicine, was featured on a PBS television report on treating specific colon cancers with immunotherapy as a frontline treatment.
In Medscape Medical News, Maryam Lustberg, MD, director of the Center for Breast Cancer at Smilow Cancer Hospital, was interviewed about research on lightchains as identifiers of early signs of neurotoxicity.
An article on how rapid autopsies bridge clinical care and research, in CAP Today, featured co-directors of the Yale Legacy Tissue Donation Program, Marcello DiStasio, MD, PhD and Harold Sanchez, MD.
OncLive hosted three YCC members in June. Pamela L. Kunz, MD was interviewed on a study that tested a new treatment, called lutetium Lu 177 dotatate (Lutathera), for advanced gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). Barbara Burtness, MD discussed subgroup outcomes from a Phase II trial that evaluated primary transoral surgery and postoperative radiation deintensification strategies for patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated oropharynx cancer. And David Rimm, MD, PhD, discussed challenges in distinguishing between HER2-low and HER2-ultralow breast cancer using current diagnostic kits.
John Lewin, MD, the chief of the breast imaging division at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, commented on the increasing use of 3D mammograms for EverydayHealth.com.
Publications
Overexpression of Malat1 drives metastasis through inflammatory reprogramming of the tumor microenvironment. Martinez-Terroba E, Plasek-Hegde LM, Chiotakakos I, Li V, de Miguel FJ, Robles-Oteiza C, Tyagi A, Politi K, Zamudio JR, Dimitrova N. Sci Immunol. 2024 Jun 14;9(96):eadh5462.
Partial Hepatectomy and Ablation for Survival of Early-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients: A Bayesian Emulation Analysis. Wang J, Im Y, Wang R, Ma S. Life (Basel). 2024 May 22;14(6):661.
High-throughput transcriptome profiling indicates ribosomal RNAs to be associated with resistance to immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Moutafi MK, Bates KM, Aung TN, Milian RG, Xirou V, Vathiotis IA, Gavrielatou N, Angelakis A, Schalper KA, Salichos L, Rimm DL. . J Immunother Cancer. 2024 Jun 10;12(6):e009039.
Adjuvant Trastuzumab Emtansine Versus Paclitaxel Plus Trastuzumab for Stage I Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Positive Breast Cancer: 5-Year Results and Correlative Analyses From ATEMPT. Tarantino P, Tayob N, Villacampa G, Dang C, Yardley DA, Isakoff SJ, Valero V, Faggen M, Mulvey T, Bose R, Weckstein D, Wolff AC, Reeder-Hayes K, Rugo HS, Ramaswamy B, Zuckerman D, Hart L, Gadi VK, Constantine M, Cheng K, Garrett AM, Marcom PK, Albain K, DeFusco P, Tung N, Ardman B, Nanda R, Jankowitz RC, Rimawi M, Abramson V, Pohlmann PR, Van Poznak C, Forero-Torres A, Liu MC, Ruddy KJ, Waks AG, DeMeo M, Burstein HJ, Partridge AH, Dell'Orto P, Russo L, Krause E, Newhouse DJ, Kurt BB, Mittendorf EA, Schneider B, Prat A, Winer EP, Krop IE, Tolaney SM; Consortium of the TBCRC Translational Investigators; TBCRC Translational Investigators. J Clin Oncol. 2024 Jun 27:JCO2302170.
Rare Drivers at Low Prevalence with High Cancer Effects in T-Cell and B-Cell Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Mandell JD, Diviti S, Xu M, Townsend JP. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Jun 15;25(12):6589.
Surgical and Endoscopic Management of Clinical T1b Esophageal Cancer. Ayoade OF, Canavan ME, De Santis WP, Zhan PL, Boffa DJ. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2024 Jun 24:S0022-5223(24)00533-6.
In vivo AAV-SB-CRISPR screens of tumor-infiltrating primary NK cells identify genetic checkpoints of CAR-NK therapy. Peng L, Renauer PA, Sferruzza G, Yang L, Zou Y, Fang Z, Park JJ, Chow RD, Zhang Y, Lin Q, Bai M, Sanchez A, Zhang Y, Lam SZ, Ye L, Chen S. Nat Biotechnol. 2024 Jun 25.
Inhibition of lysine acetyltransferase KAT6 in ER+HER2- metastatic breast cancer: a phase 1 trial. Mukohara T, Park YH, Sommerhalder D, Yonemori K, Hamilton E, Kim SB, Kim JH, Iwata H, Yamashita T, Layman RM, Mita M, Clay T, Chae YS, Oakman C, Yan F, Kim GM, Im SA, Lindeman GJ, Rugo HS, Liyanage M, Saul M, Le Corre C, Skoura A, Liu L, Li M, LoRusso PM. Nat Med. 2024 Jun 24.