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UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center Juul delivers substantially more nicotine to the blood per puff than cigarettes or previous-generation e-cigarettes and impairs blood vessel function comparable to cigarette smoke, according to a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco. A caveat of this study is that it measured the impact of equal numbers of puffs of all products, whereas adult former cigarette smokers may stop their vaping session when they reach the level of ni…

Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health In order to understand whether the inactivation of the p53 pathway might contribute to kidney cancer development, Haifang Yang, PhD, a researcher with Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health is probing kidney cancer’s genes for interactions with p53. In a new paper Dr. Yang and colleagues examined whether PBRM1—the second most mutated gene in kidney cancer—can be a "reader," or translator, of the activated p53.   Read More

Moffitt Cancer Center Krystyna Kowalczyk has joined Moffitt Cancer Center as the chief executive officer of the institution’s new contract research organization with a focus on immunotherapy. The wholly-owned, for-profit subsidiary, first announced in October 2019, will offer end-to-end services for pharmaceutical and biotech companies seeking to advance their immuno-oncology product or device.   Read More

University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center Eric Prossnitz, PhD, hopes to help many of the 12 percent of American women who are projected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes. He and his team have recently completed studies on a compound that they think could be made to attack breast cancer cells differently than current drugs.    Read More

The AACI Clinical Research Innovation (CRI) Steering Committee is currently soliciting abstracts for the 12th Annual AACI CRI Meeting, which will be held July 7-9 in Chicago. This year’s meeting will focus on the future of cancer clinical research. The purpose of the abstracts is to inform meeting attendees about clinical trials office challenges and solutions implemented at AACI cancer centers.   Read More

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center Mastectomy has historically been the standard treatment for breast cancer patients experiencing recurrence after an initial lumpectomy and whole-breast radiation. Now, a Phase II clinical trial led by Douglas W. Arthur, MD, has demonstrated an effective alternative.    Read More

Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center A bacterium typically linked to periodontal disease, Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nuc), could play an important role in the rising incidence of colorectal cancer in people under the age of 45. Another type, Moraxella osloensis, has been found in colorectal cancer tumors at a nearly four-fold higher rate in people over 75 than in those under 45 years of age, pointing out how differences in the bacteria that comprise what is known as the body’…

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Men with breast cancer are more likely to die than their female counterparts, across all stages of disease, with the disparity persisting even when clinical characteristics, such as cancer types, treatment, and access to care are considered, according to a study by Vanderbilt researchers.   Read More

UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center Children and young adults with pediatric cancer are less likely to be alive five and 10 years following diagnosis if their health insurance is covered by Medicaid or other government agencies, compared to those with private insurance, according to researchers at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. Lena Winestone, MD, is senior author of the study.   Read More

On December 20, 2019, President Donald Trump signed a federal budget bill for Fiscal Year 2020. The spending package included passage of Tobacco 21, which raises the legal age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21. The bill marks a major victory for the cancer advocacy community. However, there are still opportunities to strengthen enforcement on a local, state, and national level.   Read More

Six new members have been selected to join AACI’s Physician Clinical Leadership Initiative (PCLI) Steering Committee: Steven R. Alberts, MD, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center; Julie Brahmer, MD, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University; Lisa Carey, MD, FASCO, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Merry Jennifer Markham, MD, FACP, University of Florida Health Cancer Center; Jessica Rhee, MD, MS, University of Hawai'i Cancer …

The AACI Physician Clinical Leadership Initiative (PCLI) will host "Maintaining a Clinical Research Practice at an Academic Cancer Center" at 2:00 pm eastern time on Wednesday, March 4. PCLI Steering Committee Chair Claire Verschraegen, MS, MD, FACP, will present the webinar. Dr. Verschraegen (pictured) is director and professor, Division of Medical Oncology, at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, James Cancer Hospital & Solove Research Institute.   Read More

The AACI Physician Clinical Leadership Initiative (PCLI) will host "Maintaining a Clinical Research Practice at an Academic Cancer Center" at 2:00 pm eastern time on Wednesday, March 4. PCLI Steering Committee Chair Claire Verschraegen, MS, MD, FACP, will present the webinar. Dr. Verschraegen is director and professor, Division of Medical Oncology, at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, James Cancer Hospital & Solove Research Institute.   Read More

UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) has chosen the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation (FCF) to join a select group of organizations fighting rare diseases as part of its Rare As One Network. UCSF oncologist, John Gordan, MD, PhD, will co-lead the rare-cancers initiative in partnership with the FCF. CZI, founded by Dr. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg in 2015, is committing $13.5 million to its Rare As One Project to support the work pa…

Cedars-Sinai Cancer Liver metastasis is a leading cause of death in patients with pancreatic or colon cancer. A Cedars-Sinai scientific team has been awarded a $9.1 million grant by the National Cancer Institute to study how cancer metastasizes to the liver and find ways to block it. Neil Bhowmick, PhD, and Shelly Lu, MD, are co-lead investigators.   Read More

UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has developed a medicated patch that can deliver immune checkpoint inhibitors and cold plasma directly to tumors to help boost the immune response and kill cancer cells. Zhen Gu, PhD, is the study's senior author.   Read More

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center The Center for Indigenous Cancer Research at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, the first initiative of its kind in the Northeast, is dedicated to reducing the impact of cancer on Indigenous communities regionally, nationally, and internationally. Rodney Haring, PhD, MSW, is director.   Read More

University of Virginia Cancer Center A surprising discovery about a rare form of childhood brain cancer suggests a new treatment approach for that cancer and, potentially, many others. Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the supposedly simple cancer, called medulloblastoma, forms an unexpectedly intricate network to drive its growth. Some tumor cells actually turn into another type of cell altogether.    Read More

Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center of The Wistar Institute Scientists at The Wistar Institute discovered a novel pathway that enables detection of DNA in the cytoplasm and triggers inflammation and cellular senescence. This pathway may be modulated during senescence-inducing chemotherapy to affect cancer cell response to checkpoint inhibitors. Lead researcher is Rugang Zhang, PhD.   Read More

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center According to results from a Phase I/IIa trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center, treatment with cord blood-derived chimeric antigen receptor natural killer-cell therapy targeting CD19 resulted in clinical responses in a majority of patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Katy Rezvani, MD, PhD, is corresponding author on the study.   Read More

Siteman Cancer Center A new study that reveals the dozens of molecular changes that bring about endometrial cancer offers insight into how physicians might be able to better identify which patients will need aggressive treatment and why a common treatment is not effective for some patients. Funded by the National Cancer Institute, the study also suggests a potential role for already approved drugs that target proteins newly implicated in this disease also commonly known as uterine cancer…

Yale Cancer Center, Yale School of Medicine Pamela L. Kunz, MD, has been appointed leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancers Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven and Yale Cancer Center and director of GI Medical Oncology within the Section of Medical Oncology. Dr. Kunz joins Yale from Stanford University School of Medicine where she is currently director of the Stanford Neuroendocrine Tumor Program.   Read More

Siteman Cancer Center A new $3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute is supporting a phase 2 clinical trial to investigate an osteoporosis drug for its potential to lower breast density in women with dense breasts. Women with dense breasts have four- to six-times higher risk of developing breast cancer than women with lower breast density. Principal Investigator is Adetunji T. Toriola, MD, PhD. Read More

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Loss of an important tumor-suppressing gene allows head and neck cancer to spin off signals to nearby nerves, changing their function and recruiting them to the tumor, where they fuel growth and cancer progression, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report.   Read More

Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center Medical oncologist Edwin P. Alyea, III, MD, has been named chief medical officer for Duke Cancer Institute. He will also serve as professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy. In addition, Dr. Alyea will operate a clinical practice with the Adult Blood and Marrow Transplant Program. He joined Duke on January 1.   Read More

Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center More than $3 million from the National Institutes of Health will allow Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center researchers to improve understanding of the complex system of how hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) survive and sustain their function in the bone marrow. Edward F. Srour, PhD, and Melissa A. Kacena, PhD, are building on a decade of research collaboration on how bone cells help HSC function.    …

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center A new five-year, $3.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Moonshot program will be used to study the holes that immunotherapy leaves in patients’ defenses against infection — and how doctors can fill them. Joshua A. Hill, MD, will lead an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Fred Hutch and Seattle Children’s focused on CAR T-cell therapies used to treat blood cancers.   Read More

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have created the world’s first laboratory model of precancerous changes in the lining of the stomach, helping to unlock the mysteries of gastric cancer development. Their achievement is aiding the search for potential new drugs that could slow—and perhaps even reverse—precancerous changes in the stomach in humans. Eunyoung Choi, PhD, is senior author on the study.   Read More

Moffitt Cancer Center Personalized cancer treatments have greatly improved the lives of patients; however, many patients eventually develop resistance to these targeted drugs. Instead of simply using another targeted agent against a resistant tumor at a maximum tolerated dose, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers are approaching the problem of resistance from a different direction — evolutionary science. In a new article, members of Moffitt’s Center of Excellence for Evolutionary Therapy pr…

Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University In experiments with human cells and mice, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report evidence that combining the experimental cancer medication TAK228 (also called sapanisertib) with an existing anti-cancer drug called trametinib may be more effective than either drug alone in decreasing the growth of pediatric low-grade gliomas.    Read More

Stanford Cancer Institute Biomedical data scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown that the number of genes a cell uses to make RNA is a reliable indicator of how developed the cell is, a finding that could make it easier to target cancer-causing genes. Cells that initiate cancer are thought to be stem cells, which are hard-to-find cells that can reproduce themselves and develop, or differentiate, into more specialized tissue, such as skin or muscle — or, when …

Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health Fox Chase Cancer Center's Nurse Residency Program has achieved Practice Transition Accreditation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). They were awarded Accreditation With Distinction, the highest recognition awarded. Nurses in accredited transition programs such as Fox Chase’s Nurse Residency Program experience curricula that promote the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors necessary to deliver safe, high-quality ca…

The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute Jennifer Carlson, associate vice president for external relations and advocacy at OSUCCC – James, has been named the first chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®)'s Government Affairs Committee. The appointment became effective in late 2019.   Read More

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center Massey Cancer Center is asking local citizens to partner in cancer research designed to identify and address health needs in their own communities. The project, called Together for Health – Virginia, is a comprehensive health assessment program designed to better understand how social and behavioral patterns as well as financial and environmental factors impact cancer rates. Information from this research will help to improve health care practices a…

Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health Preliminary research suggests that two commonly prescribed medications, cholesterol-lowering statins and the diabetes therapy metformin, may have anticancer effects. However, it is unclear which of these two medications—commonly prescribed together—contributes the most and whether they can impact high-risk prostate cancer. New research shows that statins, alone or with metformin, increase survival in men with high-risk prostate cancer.   …

University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center Women with early stage breast cancer who test positive for an inherited genetic variant aren’t always receiving cancer treatment that follows current guidelines, a new study finds. An inherited gene can increase risk of developing a second breast cancer, so strategies such as removing a woman’s breasts or ovaries are intended to prevent a future cancer. But women who have already been diagnosed with breast cancer must also consider how best to t…

UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center Survival may more than double for adults with glioblastoma, the most common and deadly type of brain tumor, if neurosurgeons remove the surrounding tissue as aggressively as they remove the cancerous core of the tumor. This discovery, reported in a retrospective study headed by researchers at UC San Francisco, is welcome news for those in the glioblastoma community, which celebrated its last breakthrough in 2005 with the introduction o…

Stanford Cancer Institute For years, Jeffrey Glenn, MD, PhD, and his lab have worked to develop new ways of battling viruses like the ones that cause hepatitis D and the common cold. The lessons they’ve learned have led to a new kind of drug that has been effective at treating cancer in mice by disrupting otherwise normal cellular processes that both viruses and some cancer cells rely on to grow and spread.    Read More

Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Monica Webb Hooper, PhD, will become deputy director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), one of the 27 institutes of the National Institutes of Health, in March. She was previously associate director for cancer disparities research and director of the Office of Cancer Disparities Research at Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.   Read More

Wilmot Cancer Institute, UR Medicine Paula Cupertino, PhD, joins the University of Rochester Medical Center as Professor of Public Health Sciences and Oncology and as Wilmot Cancer Institute’s associate director of community outreach, engagement and disparities. Her appointment is pending approval by the University’s Board of Trustees. Cupertino begins her tenure in Rochester in March.   Read More

Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center Keith Sullivan, MD, has been named the 2020 recipient of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Lifetime Achievement Award. Sullivan helped establish the ASTCT (then known as ASBMT). For the past 20 plus years, Sullivan has also been working on how stem cell transplants can improve autoimmune diseases — specifically, scleroderma.   Read More

University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center In the United States, the medical community has made great strides in preventing and controlling cervical cancer. Screening can effectively detect the disease in its earliest, pre-cancerous stages, while the HPV vaccine is highly effective at preventing cervical cancer. But globally, it’s a different picture, especially in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia. Worldwide, an estimated 569,847 women we…

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center Massey Cancer Center researcher Senthil Radhakrishnan, PhD, a member of the Cancer Molecular Genetics research program, was awarded a $1.6 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study the genetic properties that facilitate cellular stress response to proteasome inhibition as a means to inform the development of more effective cancer therapies.   Read More

Registration is open for the 12th Annual AACI Clinical Research Innovation (CRI) Meeting, July 7-9, at Loews Chicago O'Hare Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois. The program will provide networking opportunities for AACI members, expanded poster sessions, and panel discussions with content experts. This year’s meeting theme is "Cancer Clinical Research: Focus on the Future." AACI is accepting abstracts for the meeting through 5:00 pm Pacific time on Monday, March 16.    Read More

AACI invites you to promote your cancer center by purchasing an ad in the 12th Annual AACI CRI Meeting program. The event program book offers an excellent opportunity to showcase your center while supporting the CRI meeting. Your cancer center’s program ad may highlight a conference or a new initiative, or celebrate the success of the center’s clinical trials office. Artwork is due Friday, May 22.   Read More

Livestrong Cancer Institutes, The University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School A type of cancer that has traditionally been caused by tobacco and alcohol use now has a stronger connection to human papillomavirus (HPV), according to a new study. Laura Chow, MD, a professor at Dell Medical School, found 73 percent of head and neck cancers are now related to HPV infection.   Read More

Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center Jiali Han, PhD, and colleagues at the IU Simon Cancer Center, have discovered eight new loci—locations on a person’s genome—that are susceptible to squamous cell skin cancer. Researchers previously identified 14 loci with increased risk for squamous cell skin cancer. This study also confirmed those findings, bringing the total identified risk loci to 22.   Read More

UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center A new study led by researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found that treating soft tissue sarcoma with radiation over a significantly shorter period of time is safe, and likely just as effective, as a much longer conventional course of treatment.   Read More

City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center After more than 30 years as chair of City of Hope’s Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, Stephen J. Forman, MD, will transition out of this role but continue as director of the Hematologic Malignancies Research Institute and director of the T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory. Eileen Smith, MD, medical director of City of Hope’s Alpha Stem Cell Clinic, has been appointed chair of the Department of Hematology &…

AACI recently called upon presidential candidates to pledge their support of five policy priorities for our nation's cancer centers: funding lifesaving research; eliminating HPV-related cancers; implementing evidence-based tobacco control and vaping policies; achieving oral chemotherapy parity; and addressing cancer disparities. Published responses are current as of February 28, 2020. To keep its members informed, AACI will continue publishing the candidates' responses as they are received.    …

Moffitt Cancer Center A new children’s book, Fritzy Finds a Hat, written by Olympic Gold Medalist, bestselling author, and cancer survivor Scott Hamilton, and illustrated by country music superstar Brad Paisley, has been released. The book, which tells the story of a young boy trying to find a hat for his mother who is undergoing cancer treatment, is intended to help parents talk with their children about the disease.   Read More

City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center The circadian rhythm is gaining traction as a potential catalyst—or brake—for the onset of disease. For example, studies have shown that women who work frequent night shifts have disrupted internal clocks and an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Now, City of Hope's David K. Ann, PhD, and colleagues may have found a new role for the "clock gene": it is linked to triple-negative breast cancer.   Read More

As part of its ongoing efforts to advocate for stable, predictable funding increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), AACI has prepared a customizable letter for members to share with their representatives. AACI encourages you to write on behalf of your cancer center to request that legislators make cancer research funding a priority in Fiscal Year 2021. The association is requesting that appropriators provide at least $44.7 billion for the NI…

AACI and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) will co-host the 2020 Hill Day in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, May 13. For the second year, AACI will offer scholarships to patient advocates to help defray the costs of airfare, lodging, meals, and ground transportation. AACI cancer centers may nominate one patient advocate to receive a full scholarship. Up to five recipients will be selected by AACI’s Government Relations Steering Committee. To nominate a patient advocate, please c…

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Rhea Dodd is the first patient treated with an experimental cancer vaccine derived from a completely new cell engineering platform. The retired veterinarian, triathlete, and climber traveled from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, where she received an infusion of her own immune cells reprogrammed with tumor antigens and designed to elicit an immune response to an HPV-related cancer.   Read More

O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Some lung nodules identified on radiographic studies need specialized follow-up to ensure early detection and treatment of lung cancer. Patients identified with lung nodules will now be able to receive care from University of Alabama at Birmingham physicians via telemedicine. This pilot project, in conjunction with UAB eMedicine, will treat patients in rural Bibb County communities at Bibb Medical Center to imp…

University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center A new study led by University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists shows that screening every three years instead of annually prevents most cervical cancers. And of the cancers that are found during routine screenings, most are caught before they’ve had a chance to spread, making them far easier to treat. Cosette Wheeler, PhD, led the study.   Read More

Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University Scientists at Johns Hopkins report they have designed and successfully tested an experimental, super small package able to deliver molecular signals that tag implanted human cancer cells in mice and make them visible for destruction by the animals' immune systems. The new method was developed, say the researchers, to deliver an immune system "uncloaking" device directly to cancer cells.   Read More

Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health Uveal melanoma—a cancer found in the eye—is rare, comprising less than five percent of all melanomas. Despite successful treatment of the primary tumor in the eye, up to 50 percent of patients will develop metastasis, most commonly in the liver. New research from Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health investigating uveal melanoma patients with liver metastasis treated at Jefferson showed that outcomes of these patients significantl…

O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers identified a combination of genetic factors associated with cognitive impairment after blood or marrow transplantation, or BMT. The researchers used the information to pinpoint patients at highest risk for deficits in a large patient cohort, significantly enhancing risk predictions compared with demographic or clinical characteristics alone.    Read More

University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center Angela Wandinger-Ness, PhD, was honored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) with its 2020 Lifetime Mentor Award. She was recognized for mentoring some 270 scientists over her 29-year teaching career. Wandinger-Ness is the associate director for education, training and mentoring at the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center.   Read More

Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health Fox Chase Cancer Center has been recognized by the QOPI Certification Program LLC as successfully completing a three-year certification for oncology practices that meet nationally recognized standards for quality and safety in cancer care. The QOPI program, a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), builds on ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative.   Read More

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Recognized for his contributions to patient care, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Wesley Hicks, Jr., MD, FACS, has earned a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Weill Cornell Medical Center. Chair of the Department of Head & Neck/Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at the Buffalo cancer center, Dr. Hicks is only the third alumnus to receive this award from Weill Cornell.   Read More

Effective immediately, AACI is retiring its member portal. Initially conceived of in 2012 as the presidential initiative of William S. Dalton, PhD, MD, the portal served as a valuable resource for members to register for AACI meetings and to access presentations and surveys. Members can still access these materials through listservs and other platforms. As new technologies have emerged, AACI has migrated its event registration to Cvent, which allows users to access presentations indefinitely vi…

AACI continues to closely monitor the coronavirus outbreak. To facilitate communication around this rapidly-evolving topic, AACI launched a Slack workspace as a forum for AACI cancer center members and National Cancer Institute leaders to share challenges and best practices related to COVID-19 and cancer. To ensure confidentiality and encourage open discussion, all requests to join the forum require administrative approval from AACI.  Read More

Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), an AACI sustaining member, has launched two new online communities to rapidly disseminate critical information related to COVID-19. These forums—Implications for Patient Management and Considerations for Basic and Translational Research—aim to spark conversations between professionals on the frontlines of this pandemic to facilitate communication in real time.   Read More

The health and well-being of AACI meeting attendees, exhibitors, and cancer center patients is our top priority. With that in mind, we have been closely monitoring the coronavirus outbreak that has led to COVID-19 infection across the United States. Due to mounting concerns about COVID-19 transmission and travel restrictions, AACI has postponed its annual Hill Day and is exploring options for its upcoming meetings.   Read More

University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center Nathan Boyd, MD, and his team recently launched The University of New Mexico Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery Program, housed at the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center, to offer state-of-the-art treatments for thyroid cancer and other diseases of the thyroid and parathyroid glands. Read More

The University of Kansas Cancer Center Around 60 teens attended a special town hall meeting on vaping sponsored by The University of Kansas Cancer Center in partnership with the Kansas City Kansas School District and a local television station. Laura Martin, PhD, Matthias Salathe, MD, and Roy Jensen, MD, director of the cancer center, participated in the event. Materials developed for this town hall are available in the AACI Public Policy Resource Library. Read More

University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center At a cellular level, the growth of cancer requires both a foot on the gas pedal and a removal of vital braking mechanisms. However, more than 100 studies worldwide involving an abnormal modification in a key "braking" mechanism—the tumor suppressor protein PP2A—likely need a second look, research led by the Rogel Cancer Center has found. Goutham Narla, MD, PhD, is senior study author.   Read More

Cancer Center at Illinois Paul J. Hergenrother, PhD, was appointed the Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) deputy director, effective March 1. Dr. Hergenrother currently co-leads the CCIL research program, Cancer Discovery Platforms Across the Engineering-Biology Continuum. He joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty in 2001.   Read More

City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center A $12 million federal grant enabled City of Hope and collaborators to deploy a novel cloud-computing platform, making an immense amount of data from a historic 25-year study more accessible and user-friendly. The ongoing California Teachers Study that first began in 1995 has already given researchers a bevy of data on how to better prevent and treat cancers, heart conditions, and Alzheimer's disease.    Read More

The University of Kansas Cancer Center The University of Kansas Cancer Center will receive an additional $5 million from the state budget for the KU Cancer Center Research Fund, approved by the Kansas legislature and signed by Governor Laura Kelly. "These funds will be crucial to the KU Cancer Center's competitive application for National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer center designation," said Roy Jensen, MD, director of KU Cancer Center.   Read More

In a March 23 letter, AACI implored President Donald Trump to immediately invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to marshal American manufacturing to forcefully confront the COVID-19 emergency. As of March 23 the president had yet to fully invoke and utilize the DPA, while cancer centers continued to weigh in with their members of Congress on their respective situations as they related to personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies. Signed by the leaders of 97 AACI cancer centers in…

Siteman Cancer Center A new $3 million grant is supporting a clinical trial to investigate whether an osteoporosis drug can reduce breast density in premenopausal women with dense breasts. Women with dense breasts have four- to six-times higher risk of developing breast cancer than women with lower breast density. Adetunji T. Toriola, MD, PhD, is principal investigator. Read More

Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center Duke orthopedic surgical oncologists Brian Brigman, MD, PhD, William Eward, MD, DVM, and Julia Visgauss, MD; interventional radiologist Alan Alper Sag, MD; radiation oncologist Nicole Larrier, MD, MS; and orthopedic oncology nurse practitioner Pam Pennigar, MSN, FNP, launched a Bone Metastasis Clinic, focusing on patients whose cancer has spread to their arms, legs, or pelvis.   Read More

The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute OSUCCC – James has announced the passing of Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, a distinguished university professor at The Ohio State University and a former director and longtime senior adviser to The James. Dr. Bloomfield was 77.   Read More

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Vanderbilt researchers have identified ancestral fragments of DNA that are associated with hereditary prostate cancer in a first-of-its-kind genomic study. Researchers analyzed the Nashville Familial Prostate Cancer Study comparing men with prostate cancer, each from a separate family with a history of the disease, to screened men without a personal or family history of prostate cancer. Senior author is Jeffrey Smith, MD, PhD. Read More

Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health Edna Cukierman, PhD, co-director of the Marvin & Concetta Greenberg Pancreatic Cancer Institute at Fox Chase Cancer Center, has been named a fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). Her induction as a fellow is notable because historically AGA has been a medical association. Though Dr. Cukierman is not a medical doctor, she joined AGA to better understand the medical side of gastroenterology. Read More

Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University In experiments with mice, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center say they have slowed the growth of transplanted human prostate and pancreatic cancer cells by introducing bone marrow cells with a specific gene deletion to induce a novel immune response. The results suggest that the technique—a type of adoptive cell therapy—could target such cancers in humans, using patients’ own marrow cells.   R…

UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Researchers from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have received a $2.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop new techniques to improve the quality of prostate magnetic resonance imaging and new artificial intelligence methods that use prostate MRI to assist cancer diagnosis.   Read More

Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University More than 35 million Americans take statin drugs daily to lower their blood cholesterol levels. Now, in experiments with human cells in the laboratory, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have added to growing evidence that the ubiquitous drug may kill cancer cells and have uncovered clues to how they do it.   Read More

Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center John H. Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA, chair of the Duke Department of Neurosurgery, has assumed the role of president of the Private Diagnostic Clinic (PDC). The PDC is the physician practice of Duke Health, with 1,850 physicians and additional provider members practicing in Duke University hospitals and more than 140 primary and specialty clinics across North Carolina.   Read More

The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center Aytekin Oto, MD, has been appointed chair of the Department of Radiology at the University of Chicago. His research, which is supported by NIH funding, focuses on the detection of prostate cancer using MRI and utilizes new research in image acquisition and interpretation to guide biopsies and discover prostate cancer earlier and more effectively. Read More

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center Devanand Sarkar, MBBS, PhD, and Paul B. Fisher, MPh, PhD, FNAI, scientists at VCU Massey Cancer Center and VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine, were awarded $2.6 million to study novel combination therapies to improve outcomes for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common and deadliest form of liver cancer. Read More

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Researchers from Vanderbilt-Ingram discovered a role for MYCN in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and identified a potential intervention for further clinical investigation. MYCN is an oncogene that plays a role in cancer aggressiveness, but is typically associated with neuronal and neuroendocrine cancers. Although there is no way to currently target MYCN directly, investigators determined that experimental drugs called BET inhibitors are effective aga…

Stanford Cancer Institute About 1 in 40 postmenopausal women diagnosed with breast cancer before age 65 have cancer-associated mutations in their BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, according to a study led by Allison Kurian, MD, MSc at the Stanford School of Medicine. The prevalence of mutations in this group is similar to that of Ashkenazi Jewish women, who are advised to consult with their physicians to determine if genetic testing is warranted. Read More

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center Established in 2017 within the VCU College of Engineering, the Medicines for All Institute (M4ALL) at VCU is an internationally distinctive facility equipped to manufacture large volumes of targeted therapeutics for the university to conduct research. In addition, it works on developing new lower cost methods for the preparation of global health drugs associated with HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.   Read More

University of Florida Health Cancer Center The number of people diagnosed with thyroid cancer has more than quadrupled in the last 40 years. It is a classic case of disease overdiagnosis, with little resulting benefit for many patients, according to University of Florida Health endocrinologist Naykky Singh Ospina, MD. She is the lead author of an analysis of the medical literature on strategies for the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of thyroid nodules.   Read More

University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center An anti-cancer compound developed at the University of Michigan has shown "profound" activity in mouse models against two subtypes of leukemia, according to a U-M research team report. The compound, dubbed MI-3454, inhibits the protein-protein interaction between menin and Mixed Lineage Leukemia 1 (MLL1) protein. It induced complete remission in mice transplanted with patient-derived cells containing MLL1 genes with translocations. These genetic…

Siteman Cancer Center Stephanie M. Perkins, MD, a Washington University associate professor of radiation oncology, has been named director of the S. Lee Kling Proton Therapy Center at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She began her new role March 1. Read More

Cedars-Sinai Cancer Experts in the Cedars-Sinai Cardio-Oncology Program work alongside oncologists to encourage heart monitoring before, during, and after cancer treatment. The program is more relevant than ever because cancer patients are living longer than ever. With an uptick in longevity, many cancer survivors are faced with additional health concerns, including heart failure.   Read More

UK Markey Cancer Center A new study by UK Markey Cancer Center researchers suggests that targeting a protein known as heat shock protein 47 (Hsp47) could be key for suppressing breast cancer metastasis. The study, led by Ren Xu, PhD, found that Hsp47, a protein that assists with collagen production, plays a role in breast cancer metastasis.   Read More

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center A study conducted by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center demonstrated acceptable toxicity and anti-tumor activity in patients with four types of advanced, hard-to-treat rare cancers. The open-label, Phase II study followed 127 patients who had advanced rare cancers: squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, carcinoma of unknown primary, adrenocortical carcinoma, and paraganglioma-pheochromocytoma. Read More

Stanford Cancer Institute In recent months, Michael Bassik, PhD, and his lab members have been busy making millions of tiny round tumor "spheroids." These little round balls of cells are a type of 3D lung cancer model that Dr. Bassik and his team are using to better understand how and why tumor tissue grows.   Read More

The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center Gina Curry, MPH, MBA, is the new director of the UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center Office of Community Engagement & Cancer Health Equity. Curry has over 15 years in community-engaged academic research and is well versed in program development, training design, coalition building, and multi-institutional collaborations. In her role as director, Curry will develop and oversee community-based education, outreach,…