Yale Cancer Center

1. At the Innovation Gala of The Chemotherapy+ Foundation in mid-November Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, was awarded its prestigious Ezra Greenspan Award. Dr. Herbst is a deputy director of the Yale Cancer Center and Ensign Professor off Medicine (Medical Oncology). The annual award is named for the oncologist who founded The Chemotherapy+ Foundation in 1968, was awarded to Dr. Herbst, in part, because "His mission is the enhanced integration of clinical, laboratory, and research programs, making him a pioneer in identifying biomarkers to bring novel targeted treatments and immunotherapies to patients with advanced stage lung cancers. This work led to the approval of several therapies such as gefitinib, cetuximab, bevacizumab, axitinib, which have revolutionized the field and greatly enhanced patient survival," a foundation release said. The gala followed the foundation's annual three-day symposium during which Dr. Herbst gave the Ezra Greenspan lecture on "Twenty Years of Progress in the Treatment of Non-Small Cell Cancer: Targeted Therapy, Immunotherapy, and the Emergence of Treatment for Early Disease." For more.

2. Pamela Kunz, MD, associate professor of internal medicine (medical oncology), was honored with the Distinguished Mentor Award at the 2024 Multidisciplinary North American Neuroendocrine Tumor (NANET) Society Medical Symposium in November.

3. Tracy Battaglia, MD, MPH, who is YCC Associate Director, Cancer Care Equity, was recently congratulated and thanked by the U.S. President’s Cancer Panel in its report Enhancing Patient Navigation with Technology to Improve Equity in Cancer Care. The report presented four priorities and recommendations to implement and ensure digital solutions to minimize cancer disparities, improve health equity and support patients and their families, navigators, care teams and healthcare systems. A release from the White House said it was especially appreciative of the members, including Dr. Battaglia, of the Working Group on Addressing Inequities in Cancer Care Through Innovative Navigation Models that devoted time to the report. Also, she is Founding Chair of the National Navigation Roundtable.

4. Lynn Carbino, RN, Smilow Cancer Hospital, recently was honored with the PEACE (Patient Experience Award for Caring and Excellence) Award. Lynn was in her office when she heard knocking on the outer officer door and when she answered she met a woman who said she had a 7:30 a.m. appointment. Lynn, knowing that the office opens at 8 am, tried to confirm when the woman’s appointment was scheduled but she could not remember the doctor’s name. She was able to pick out her hematologist card from the display at the desk. With the woman's name and date of birth, Lynn accessed her EPIC chart and learned the appointment was for the next Monday at 9am. She also saw that the woman was very confused and upon checking the chart notes saw that she had of history of confusion with a diagnosis of early dementia. She stayed and spoke with the woman and learned that the woman's building manager had dropped her at the office where she was to meet her daughter. Lynn got the daughter’s number from the patient’s phone and made several attempts to reach her. The chart notes referred to the patient’s son, but his name and number were not listed. Lynn was able to find the son’s information on the woman’s cell phone. After several attempts, Lynn was able to reach the son, who then arranged for a ride home for his mother. Lynn had given her a card with the date and time of her appointment and she escorted the patient to the lobby and waited until her ride arrived. The son stayed on the phone with his mother until she was safely home. The son was extremely grateful to Lynn and thanked her for her kindness. With the son’s permission, Lynn added the son’s contact information on EPIC.Lynn's supervisors said that her compassion and kindness with patients and her coworkers is seen daily and that she navigates newly diagnosed cancer patients from diagnosis to treatment, providing support to the patient and family. Lynn’s level of work always exceeds expectations. She is a role model for oncology excellence and truly enjoys her work.

5. The Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity (CEHE) announced the first two recipients of the YCC Catchment Area Research Awards. These awards fund cancer research on the YCC catchment area (i.e. state of Connecticut), specifically for Yale cancer investigators researching the fundamental cause of, or an effective cure or prevention of, cancer. The awardees are: Hermine Poghosyan, PhD, MPH, FAAN, Associate Professor, Yale School of Nursing, received funding for her project "Examining the Effects of Stigma and Mistrust as Barriers to Lung Cancer Screening Utilization" and Guannan Gong, PhD, Associate Research Scientist, who received funding for his project, "Using AI-based Clinical Trial Patient Matching (CTPM) System to Address and Reduce Enrollment Disparities in Therapeutic Clinical Trials in YCC Catchment Area." Funding for these awards was made possible for a grant from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, with matching funds from CEHE.

6. The second annual Senior Fellows Retreat in November gave the second- and third-year fellows in Oncology-Hematology a chance to share life stories, challenges they have faced, and hopes for the future. Organized by Tara Sanft, MD, Thejal Srikumar, MD, PhD, Brenda Sandoval and special session co-facilitation with Laura Baum, MD, MPH, the one-day retreat was at The Estate in New Haven and aimed to provide time to build community, including reflecting on moments of moving connections with patients and reinforcing communication skills to ensure more of these moments. The day was capped by with "Truth Rounds" by a panel of faculty, who spoke openly about challenges, failures, and key learnings from a career in hematology and oncology.

November was Lung Cancer awareness month and that meant several media appearances on the topic.

Lynn Tanoue, MD, discussed "Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines and Care" on Yale Cancer Answers with host Eric Winer, MD, director of the Yale Cancer Center. Listen here. On Veteran’s Day, Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD told WTNH TV that 8,000 veterans would be diagnosed this year with lung cancer and that the early screening and detection was key to successful treatment. Watch here. Later in the month, Dr. Herbst discussed the American Lung Association's recent "State of Lung Cancer" report and Connecticut's statistics on the Melissa in the Morning radio show. Listen here.

Veda Giri, MD, a medical oncologist and director of the Cancer Genetics and Prevention Program at YCC and Smilow, advised readers of USAToday to look into their family health history as it can help guide healthcare decisions about screenings and even genetic testing. Read here.

A Yahoo Life report included an interview with Anne Mongiu, MD, a colorectal surgeon at Smilow and a YCC member, who noted that “Individuals born around 1990, have approximately 2 to 4 times the risk of developing colorectal cancer compared to those born around 1950.” Read more. She spoke on the same topic to Newsweek, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and acting on early warning signs of colorectal cancer. Read more. Dr. Mongiu and Michelle Hughes, MD, also discussed a possible link between too much iron and an increase risk of colorectal cancer with Parade. Read here. Michael Cecchini, MD, co-director of the colorectal program in the Center of Gastrointestinal Cancers at YCC/Smilow, told Cure that researchers are studying early onset colorectal cancer causes including environmental exposures and diet. Read more.

Nancy Borstelmann, PhD, MPH, LCSW, was a guest on WICC radio on the topic of the mental health concerns faced by people diagnosed with cancer earlier in life than most patients who are diagnosed after age 65. Listen here.

Harold Tara Jr., MD, medical oncologist at Smilow Cancer-Trumbull, spoke with WTNH about the warning signs men need to watch for with both prostate and testicular cancers. Watch here

In mid-November Francine Foss, MD, Professor of Medicine (Hematology) and of Dermatology, was a guest on Connecticut public radio's Yale Cancer Answers Sunday evening program with Dr. Winer. An expert in adult lymphomas and in stem cell transplantation, Dr. Foss discussed the recent approval of a new drug, Lymphir, to treat a rare type of lymphoma. Listen here.

Yale Cancer Center hematologist, Shalin Kothari, MD participated in a live interview with NBC Connecticut questions on non-hodgkins lymphoma. Watch here.

Joseph Contessa, MD, PhD, Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and of Pharmacology, joined Dr. Winer on the Yale Cancer Answers radio program in November. They discussed the use of radiation to treat rare brain tumors such as gliomas, ependymomas, high-grade meningiomas, hemangiopericytomas, paragangliomas, and schwannomas. Listen here.

Also on Yale Cancer Answers, Jennifer Ogilvie, MD, discussed "Improving Patient Outcomes with Innovations in Endocrine Surgery" with Dr. Eric Winer. Listen here

Dec. 4 • Yale-Zhejiang University Hematology Symposium • 9:30 am to 5 pm
The symposium is hosted by Markus Müschen, MD, PhD (Yale); He Huang, MD, PhD (ZJU); and the Asian Faculty Association at Yale (AFAY). The symposium features presentations from Zhejiang University experts as well as Yale. Brady Auditorium, 310 Cedar St.

Dec. 8 • Yale Cancer Answers • 7:30 pm • WPRN radio
"Approaches to Being Active and Eating Well for Cancer Prevention and Survivorship" with Melinda Irwin, PhD, MPH, who is Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology and Associate Dean of Research at the Yale School of Public Health, Deputy Director of the Yale Cancer Center, and Deputy Director (Public Health) in the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation. Host Dr. Eric Winer.

Dec. 10 • Distinguished Lecture Series • noon-1 pm
"Perspectives on anti-tumor immunity: learning from the tumor microenvironment" presented by Pam Ohashi, PhD, FRSC, director, Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; Senior Scientist Professor, Department of Immunology University of Toronto. Brady Auditorium, 310 Cedar St.

Dec. 15 • Yale Cancer Answers • 7:30 pm • WPRN radio
"Synthetic Lethal Therapeutic Strategies in Head and Neck Cancer" with Barbara Burtness, MD, co-Leader of the Yale Cancer Center Developmental Therapeutics Program, Division Chief for Head and Neck/Sarcoma Oncology with host Dr. Eric Winer.

Dec. 17 • OncLive: Ask the Expert • 6:30-7:30 pm
"Evolving Treatments: Managing Advanced Prostate Cancer," with moderator Daniel Petrylak, MD. Union League Cafe, 1032 Chapel St., New Haven. The event will include live polling and a Q&A session. Register here.

Dec. 22 • Yale Cancer Answers • 7:30 pm • WPRN radio
"Emerging Trends in Cancer Care Outcomes" with Michaela Dinan, PhD, who is YCC Associate Director for Research, Training and Education (CRTEC) and co-director of the Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness Research Center (COPPER) and co-leader of the YCC Research Program Cancer Prevention and Control. Hosted by Dr. Eric Winer.

Dec. 29 • Yale Cancer Answers • 7:30 pm • WPRN radio
"Patient Perspective: A Lifelong Cancer Journey and the Importance of Fertility Care." A conversation with Amanda (a patient) and Dr. Winer.

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