newsletter-issue

1. At the recent World Lung Cancer Conference in San Diego, members of the Center for Thoracic Cancers team helped celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). New research and advances in lung cancer were shared by attendees, who included Roy Herbst, MD, PhD; Anne Chiang, MD, PhD; Sanja Dacic, MD, PhD; Amin Nassar, MD; Kurt Schalper, MD, PhD; Gavitt Woodard, MD; and Emily June Zolfaghari, MD, MS. And when you see her, congratulate Gavitt Woodard, MD, for receiving an IASLC Young Investigator Grant.

2. Smilow and YCC were well represented in the nation's Capitol this past month.
Eric Winer, MD participated on Sept. 13 in the President’s Cancer Panel meeting "Developing and Retaining a Robust and Diverse Cancer Workforce: Challenges and Opportunities Across the National Cancer Program and nearly a week later Patricia LoRusso, DO, president of the American Association for Cancer Research, led the release of AACR's Cancer Progress Report to Congress and the 90-minute press conference. The 216-page report outlines the increase in cancer of patients under 50, continued disparities of care, childhood cancers, recent research breakthroughs, and more. Download it here. On Sept. 24 Luisa F. Escobar-Hoyos, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology, was part of a five-person congressional briefing on "Looking Ahead: Challenges and Opportunities in Cancer Research."

3. The 14th annual Closer to Free bike ride on Sept. 7 included more than 2,000 riders and 600 volunteers. More than 300 survivors participated in the event. Of the five course options, the 40-mile route was the most popular. The fundraising total will be announced in November. All of the $30 million raised in the last 13 years has directly supported research and patient care at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center. Among the top five individual fundraisers this year? Our own Dr. Winer. Also, a shout out to CEHE, the Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity team, which had a table (pictured above) at the Health & Wellness Village at New Haven Pride that made a cameo appearance during a WTNH TV report.

4. In the September report from OncoDaily on the 100 Influential Women in Oncology—right between Catherine, Princess of Wales and Tilly Metz, a member of the European Parliament from Luxembourg—was Patricia LoRusso, DO, Amy and Joseph Perella Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) at the Yale School of Medicine; Chief, Experimental Therapeutics; Associate Yale Cancer Center Director, Experimental Therapeutics; and the president of the American Association for Cancer Research.

5. The Heme Team Appreciation evening recognized "the excellence of our Hematology team members including providers, nurses, support staff & research teams in myeloma, leukemia, lymphoma, cell therapy and classical heme. True pleasure to be part of this amazing group at Yale Cancer Center, Smilow Cancer Hospital, Yale Medicine, Yale New Haven Hospital, Yale University," was the proud post on Facebook by Amer Zeidan, MBBS, director of YCC's Hematology Early Therapeutics Research and an associate profession at YSM.

• Tara Sanft, MD, chief, Patient Experience Officer at Smilow Cancer Hospital, was recently named an Associate Editor for the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI). Dr. Sanft is medical director of the Cancer Survivorship Clinic.

• At the American Society of Clinical Pathology meeting in Chicago in early September Yale experts — Xuchen Zhang, MD, PhD and Dhanpat Jain, MD, MD — presented.

• Xuan “Novak” Yang, a current PhD student and Cancer Biology Training Program graduate, was one of 23 researchers to receive the National Institutes of Health F99/K00 Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Transition Award. that aims to encourage and retain outstanding graduate students interested in research careers.

•The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) hosted a Special Conference: Advances in Pancreatic Cancer Research in Boston in mid-September that included Yale researchers Diana Martinez-Saucedo, PhD; Cathy Garcia; Christian Ruiz, PhD: and Sherry Agabiti, PhD.

• Investigators from YCC recently were awarded a research grant from the American Cancer Society (ACS) and Yosemite, an oncology-focused venture capital firm. YCC's proposal “Artificial Intelligence to reduce breast cancer overtreatment among older women," will develop ways to identify older women with low-risk breast cancer, who might benefit from active surveillance rather than immediate treatment. Dr. Winer is joined in this research with co-investigators Sanjay Aneja, MD; Ilana Richman, MD, MHS, Elizabeth Berger, MD, MS, FACS, and Rachel Greenup, MD, MPH. Lucila Ohno-Machado, MD, MBA, PhD, is a collaborator on the grant.

• Smilow/Yale experts recently presented in Barcelona, Spain at the annual meeting of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO). They included physician-scientists Sara Pai, MD, PhD, a surgeon at Smilow who also leads several immunotherapy clinical trials; Patricia LoRusso, DO, Chief of Experimental Therapeutics involved with multiple clinical trials; David Braun, MD, PhD, a kidney cancer specialist and a member of the Center of Molecular and Cellular Oncology (CMCO) at YCC; Barbara Burtness, MD, Chief Translational Research Officer at YCC and Chief Head & Neck Cancers/Sarcoma; Maryam Lustberg, MD, PhD, who is Director of the Center for Breast Cancer and Chief of Breast Medical Oncology; and Hermine Poghosyan, PhD, MPH, BSN, an associate professor at the School of Nursing.

A daylong gathering of cancer specialists and experts, drew a packed-house audience of providers, pharma representatives, colleagues and more at Anthony's Ocean View on Sept. 27.

Presentations providing highlights of the June meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) were interspersed with "hot topic" briefings and panelists discussing specific cases. The day began with an 8 am welcome from Eric Winer, MD, and Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD (top left photo) followed by a presentation by Veda Giri, MD "Unraveling the Genetic Tapestry: Advances in Germline Testing."

The lunchtime keynote lecture "Artificial Intelligence in Oncology: Challenges and Coups" was presented by Lucila Ohno-Machado, MD, MBA, PhD (in top left photo with Dr. Herbst).

Genitourinary, gastrointestinal and lung cancers each had 15-minutes presentations during which there was discussion of "Hot Topics in 2024" followed by a discussion of cases by a panel of clinicial experts.

Genitourinary hot topics were presented by Joseph Kim, MD and the case discussion was moderated by Dan Petrylak, MD with opinions made by Michael Hurwitz, MD, PhD; Matthew Austin, MD; Yi An, MD

Gastrointestinal hot topics were handled by Jill Lacy, MD and the case discussion was led by Pamela Kunz, MD (bottom right photo) with presenters Laura Baum, MD, MPH; Jeremy Kortmansky, MD; Sajid Khan, MD, FACS, FSSO; and Kevin Du, MD, PhD, MSCI.

Lung cancer hot topics were covered by Sarah Goldberg, MD, MPH and the case discussion was led by Roy Herbst, MD, PhD with presenters Anne Chiang, MD, PhD; Michael Grant, MD; Henry Park, MD, MPH; Andrew Dhanasopon, MD, FACS; Yu Zhang, MD, PhD

Breast cancer hot topics were presented by Maryam Lustberg, MD, MPH and the case discussion was led by Dr. Winer (bottom left photo) with presenters Adriana Khan, MD; Andrea Silber, MD; Suzanne Evans, MD, MPH, FASTRO; Elizabeth Berger, MD, MS, FACS; Ellie Proussaloglou, MD.

For Hematologic Malignancies, hot topics were presented by Tarsheen Sethi, MD, MSc (Lymphoma), Nikolai Podoltsev, MD, PhD (Myeloid Malignancies), and Sabrina Browning, MD (Multiple Myeloma). The case discussion was led by Scott Huntington, MD, MPH, MSc with discussion by Iris Isufi MD and Lohith Gowda MD.

Ehud Mendel, MD, MBA and Henry Park, MD, MPH covered "New Tools in the Toolbox: Surgical and Radiotherapy Advances at Yale."

Later, 10-minute reports on "Practice Changing Literature Across Disciplines," were made by Harriet Kluger, MD (Melanoma), Nicholas Blondin, MD (Neuro-Oncology), Elena Ratner, MD, MBA (Gynecological Cancers), Barbara Burtness, MD (Head & Neck Cancers) and Elizabeth Prsic, MD (Palliative Care).

• The Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) is now accepting applications for its Career Development Award to support junior investigators with an aim to establish an independent bladder cancer research program. Junior investigators (must have doctoral degree) who are within the initial seven years of their first full-time faculty appointment with the title of assistant professor, instructor, research assistant professor, or equivalent, and who have not yet received a major independent research award (NIH R01 or equivalent). The CDA is a three-year grant totaling $250,000 supporting translational, clinical or epidemiological research directly relevant to bladder cancer. Projects must demonstrate the likelihood of translating new concepts into clinical practice. Deadline Oct. 11, 2024, by 5 PM ET. More on guidelines and instructions.

• The American Association for Cancer Research invites applications for a pair of pancreatic cancer research grants, one each in honor of former US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and another for former Georgia Congressman John Robert Lewis, and for Clinical Oncology Research (CORE) Training Fellowships. For details, visit the AACR funding opportunities site.

• The Lion Heart Fund, a non-profit devoted to raising money for Yale Cancer Center breast cancer research , is accepting applications for a pair of one-year $50,000 research grants for 2025. YCC members are encouraged to submit proposals requiring pilot funding in any area of breast cancer research. In a single PDF document, submit proposals to df.stern@yale.edu and cc Janine.hoffmann@yale.edu.. Deadline is 11:59 PM Nov. 10, 2024. Subject line should say: Lion Heart Application. The PDF should include a title page with the project title, primary investigator and co-investigators and contact information for the PI; lay and technical abstracts (250 words each); a NIH-style biosketch (5 pages max); a proposal including discussion of future directions and how the funding would achieve your career goals (4 pages single-space max, excluding references, 11 point Arial font, 1" margins ); and proposed budget.

• National Comprehensive Cancer Network and Taiho Oncology seek proposals for the design and performance of clinical studies of Trifluridine/Tipiracil and Futibatinib for treatment of gastrointestinal cancers. Deadline: 5 pm ET Nov. 12. For more email Nicole Zion , subject: “NCCN Taiho Gastrointestinal RFP."

• The US Department of Defense is soliciting letters of intent for glioblastoma research grants in three focus areas—biomarkers, drug delivery, and novel disease models. Deadlines: Pre-application letters of intent due Nov. 6 by 5 pm ET; applications due Nov. 20 by 11:59 PM. Details: https://cdmrp.health.mil/funding/gbmrp

• Oct. 9 • 6 pm • Smilow Shares • Zoom
"Empowered through Knowledge: Breast Cancer Awareness." Presented by Barbara Ward, MD; Siba Haykal, MD, PhD; Mariya Rozenblit, MD; and Allison Campbell, MD, PhD. Register.

• Oct. 15 • Noon • YCC Grand Rounds
"Global Impact of the Quality of Cancer Survivorship Care Framework: Present and Future" by Larissa Nekhlyudov, MD, MPH, Brigham and Women's Hospital. Smilow Hospital auditorium.

• Oct. 17 • 6 pm • Smilow Shares • Zoom
"Self-Harm & Cancer: Risks, Realities, and Pathways for Support" by Gabriel Cartegena, PhD and Angela Khairallah, MSW, LCSW Register

• Oct. 19 • 9 am to 4:30 pm • Yale Conference for Alcohol Research & Education. In-person. Register.

• Oct. 22 • noon • YCC Grand Rounds
"Slowing of Transcription and Epigenetic Rewiring: A New Paradigm to Understanding Biology of Splicing Factor Mutations in Cancer" presented by Prajwal Boddu, MD. Smilow auditorium, 55 Park St., New Haven.

• Oct. 23 • 6 pm • Smilow Shares • Zoom
Empowered through Knowledge: Breast Cancer Awareness. Drs. Melanie Lynch, Kamal Addagatla, Kathleen Fenn and Kevin Du. Register.

• Oct. 25 • noon to 4 pm • Inaugural YCC National Clinical Trials Network summit
YCC investigators invited to learn about Lead Academic Participating Site (LAPS) grant. Harkness Auditorium.

• Oct. 28 • 6 pm • Smilow Shares • ZoomEmpowered Through Knowledge: Breast Cancer Awareness. Drs. Ellie Proussaloglou, Siba Kaykal, Anca Bulgaru, and Meena Moran. Smilow Hospital, Waterbury. Register via Zoom.

• Oct. 28 • 9 a.m. to Noon • Groundwater Approach SeminarTraining includes an analysis of racial inequities, and how historic and systemic factors contribute to today's health disparities. Open to the first 100 YCC members to register. Smilow Auditorium, 55 Park St.

• Oct. 30 • 6 pm • Smilow Shares • Zoom
Empowered Through Knowledge: Breast Cancer Awareness. Drs. Elizabeth Butler, Paris Butler, Sarah Schellhorn, Susan Higgins. Smilow Cancer Hospital at Guilford. Register via Zoom

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