newsletter-issue

1. A mid-November patient forum, Understanding Lung Cancer: A Conference to Raise Awareness and Offer Hope to Those Impacted by Lung Cancer, spotlighted recent progress in diagnosing, treating, and curing lung cancer and covered topics including the impact of lung cancer screening, lung cancer research, and supporting patients and families. For more photos and the evening's agenda and speakers, visit here.

2. The First Annual Enrollment and Community Health Fair, co-hosted by Smilow Cancer Hospital, Yale Cancer Center, and the American Cancer Society (ACS), was held a the "Q" House in New Haven on the first Saturday in November. The event, also known as "CARES" (Community, Access to Resources, Education, Support) was open to all to provide information on cancer awareness and healthcare. It included providers, cancer survivors, community members, and clinician experts. Special thanks to YCC’s Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity and Smilow Cancer Hospital's Screening and Prevention Program. For more photos and information including those who participated in "Ask the Expert" Session, go here.

3. YCC's monthly Distinguished Lecture Series in Brady Auditorium was given by Craig Crews, PhD (shown with Megan King, PhD, co-leader of the YCC research program, Radiobiology and Genome Integrity) program before a standing-room-only crowd. Dr. Crews has a foothold in both the academic and biotech arenas. On the Yale faculty since 1995, his laboratory has pioneered the use of small molecules to control intracellular protein levels. In 2003, he co-founded Proteolix, Inc., whose proteasome inhibitor, Kyprolis™ received FDA approval for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Since Proteolix’s purchase by Onyx Pharmaceuticals in 2009, Dr. Crews has focused on a new drug development technology, which served as the founding intellectual property for his latest New Haven-based biotech venture, Arvinas, Inc.

4. In the new year, Toby Bressler, PhD, RN, OCN, FAAN, will join the Smilow Cancer Hospital team as Vice President for Patient Services. She is currently Senior Director of Nursing for Oncology and Clinical Quality at The Mount Sinai Health System, Associate Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and an Adjunct Professor at the Phillips School of Nursing. Her expertise is in oncology program development, creating value-based staffing models, streamlining provider onboarding, and establishing standardized clinical guidelines. In the email announcement, Smilow Executive Director Lori Pickens, MHA thanked Tracy Carafeno, RN, MS for "exceptional leadership" as the interim VP for Patient Services over the last year.

5. The 39th Annual Ella T. Grasso Memorial Conference in Gynecologic Oncology was held at Yale West Campus Nov. 6, hosted by Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital. The day of presentations—on topics ranging from "Menopause Management After Cancer Therapy" to "Hormones in the Development of Endometrial Cancer"—was punctuated by fond rememberances of Peter E. Schwartz, MD, a departmental and world leader in GynOnc for nearly 50 years who passed away in October. For more photos and details about the daylong conference go here

A pair of upcoming annual conferences will have impressive Yale representation for presentations, panel discussions, special-interest sessions, clinical workshops, oral and poster abstracts and more.

6. First in early December, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual conference in San Diego (Dec. 7-10) will include program director for the hematology/oncology fellowship program Alfred Lee MD and Jessica A. Stempel MD, who will help lead sessions for trainees and special-interest sessions, while Layla N. Van Doren, MD, MBA, Cecilia Calhoun, MD, MBA, Diane Krause, MD, PhD, and Ash Blythe Alpert, MD, MFA, MPH will be involved in special-interest sessions. Oral and poster abstracts will include work presented by Zhangliang Cheng, BSc; Longhui Zeng, PhD; Samira Glaeser-Khan, BD; Daniel Wang; Amer M. Zeidan, MBBS, MHS; Rahul Roy, MSc; Kadriye Nehir Cosgun, PhD; Cameron J. Hunter; Amro Baassiri, MD, PhD; Noffar Bar, MD; Jennifer A. Afranie-Sakyi, MD; Archibald Enninful; Salma A. Abosabie; Karthik Chetlapalli, MS, BS; Ruifeng Sun; Valentina Restrepo, MD; Prajwal Boddu, MD; Ted M. Getz, MD; Terri L. Parker, MD; Shangqin Guo, PhD; Scott Huntington, MD, MPH, MSc; Tariq Kewan, MD; Etienne Leveille, MD; Nikolai Podoltsev, MD, PhD; Karin Finberg, MD, PhD; Giulia Biancon, PhD; Lourdes Mendez, MD, PhD; Mark Robinson, PhD; Jan Philipp Bewersdorf, MD; and Ahmad Kiwan, MD. More on the conference.

7. The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2024 (Dec. 10-13) includes a FDA Special Session on new drug approvals that will be moderated by Eric Winer, MD and a clinical workshop on dose optimization by Pat LoRusso, DO on the first day. The following three days include Poster Spotlight Sessions by David Rimm, MD; PhD, Ian Krop, MD, PhD; Nicole Odzer; Tara Sanft, MD; and Lajos Pusztai, MD, DPhil; a session on survivorship and biomarker predictors and other measures of survival by Dr. Sanft; and poster sessions in halls 2-3 to include Alejandro Rios Hoyo, MD; Mariya Rozenblit, MD; Adriana M. Kahn, MD; and Drs. Pusztaii and Rimm. More on the conference.

8. Dr. Roy Herbst, MD, PhD presented the Greenspan Lecture at the 42nd Annual Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium Nov. 14 on “Twenty Years of Progress in the Treatment of Non Small Cell Lung Cancer: Targeted Therapy, Immunotherapy, and the Emergence of Treatment for Early Disease.”

Daniel Boffa, MD, professor of surgery (thoracic), has been chosen to serve as Vice Chair of the Commission on Cancer (CoC). The CoC is one of the largest cancer organizations in the world, with almost 75% of newly diagnosed cancer patients in the United States receiving care at a CoC-accredited hospital. The CoC works to ensure all cancer patients receive high quality care, by having hospitals comply with quality standards and supporting hospitals with educational and quality improvement resources.

The Gastric Cancer Foundation has awarded a $100,000 seed grant to Raghav Sundar, MD, PhD, for a research project aimed at understanding the differences between early-onset and average-age onset gastric cancer. Sundar, associate professor of medicine (medical oncology) at YSM, believes the insights he gains could inspire novel treatment approaches that will improve outcomes in young patients. This grant—one of two $100,000 grants the Gastric Cancer Foundation awarded recently—is part of its mission to bridge the funding gap for researchers focused on gastric cancer who are in the early- and mid-stages of their careers. Read more here.

Abhijit Patel, MD, PhD, associate professor of Therapeutic Radiology in YSM, was awarded the 2024 Lung Cancer Early Detection Award from LUNGevity and Rising Tide Foundation for Clinical Cancer Research. Dr. Patel and his close collaborator Dr. Steven Skates from Massachusetts General Hospital, received the research award to create a routine blood test that could revolutionize the detection of lung cancer in its earliest stages, when it is most treatable. Read more about the 2024 Lung Cancer Early Detection Award.

Pamela Kunz, MD, leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancers Program at Smilow and director of GI Medical Oncology, was recently named as one of the chairs of Committee on the Status of Women in Medicine (SWIM) along with Tamar Taddei, MD, chief of Gastroenterology at VA Connecticut Healthcare System. SWIM was founded in 1979 to address issues related to gender equality at YSM and to raise awareness and advocate for issues relevant to women who are faculty including building a supportive environment for women at Yale, increasing leadership roles for women, recruitment and retention of female faculty and compensation equity. They assume leadership of SWIM in July 2025. More about SWIM here.

The Goshua Lab, led by George Goshua, MD, MSc, FACP, took home the 2024 Outstanding Paper of the Year award at the 46th annual Society for Medical Decision Making meeting for their Yale-Harvard collaboration on the first quantification of health equity for any decision within hematology-oncology, on the query of gene therapy utilization in the care of people living with sickle cell disease. Read it here.

The Smilow East Team won the October Capacity Champions Cup for meeting their discharge target of 81% of the days. The team attributed their success to improved communication including beginning discharge planning conversations as soon as the patient is admitted, which helped the team anticipate and remove the barriers early. They also site their frequent interdisciplinary communication as integral to their safe patient flow. Special thanks to patient service manager Jill Williams, assistant patient service manager Janika Abraham, Mildred Martey-Moore, patient representative Dan Urban, Dr Johns, the APPs and whole EP 4-7 team!

At the annual Yale Health System APP Recognition Dinner Nov. 7 three Smilow APPs—each nominated by their nursing/APP colleagues and physician partners—were recognized for their clinical accomplishments and contributions. The Smilow awardees:

1. Caroline Hatta, APRN (Lead Inpatient APP Team) received the APP of the Year Award, which recognizes an APP who embodies the wholeness all the other categories—a peer, a leader, a colleague, a mentor, and someone who symbolizes the best of our profession. (Center of photo holding award)

2. Amy Barile-Pugliese, APRN (Lead Stem Cell Transplant/Cellular Therapy Team) received the APP Clinical Leader Award for a clinically practicing APP who demonstrates clinical leadership and professionalism while maintaining an outstanding clinical practice. (right in photo holding award)

3. Emily Kopas, APRN (Smilow Greenwich) received the APP Clinical Excellence Award, which goes to an APP who demonstrates exceptional, expert and compassionate care to their patients. (left in photo holding award)

More than 250 nominations were received systemwide for 10 award categories and 20 awards were presented. At least 25 nominations were submitted for Smilow APPs.

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