National Cancer Clinical Leadership Role for UH Researcher
University of Hawai'i Cancer Center, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa
University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center researcher Stephanie Si Lim, MD, was selected as a member of AACI's Physician Clinical Leadership Initiative (PCLI) Steering Committee. The committee seeks to identify roadblocks in cancer care, ensure quality of services, provide faculty career development, and disseminate information across cancer centers.
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McAllister Receives Award for Pancreatic Tumor Microbiome Research
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Florencia McAllister, MD, has been awarded the 2023 Mary Beth Maddox Award and Lectureship from the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology. Her pioneering research on the intra-tumoral bacteria detected in long-term pancreatic cancer survivors led to the discovery of a gut-tumor axis and the use of fecal microbial transplants to improve therapy outcomes.
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Nussbaum Named to NCI Surgeon-Scientist Program Cohort
Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center
Daniel Nussbaum, MD, is one of 12 surgeons selected for the National Cancer Institute 2023 Early-Stage Surgeon Scientist Program. This pilot program builds surgeon-scientist cohorts that will be trained together for up to three years. Dr. Nussbaum has also received a Duke Physician-Scientist Strong Start Award for his research on pancreatic cancer metastasis to the liver.
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Salloum Selected to Lead NCI Action Group
University of Florida Health Cancer Center
The National Cancer Institute’s Consortium for Cancer Implementation Science has selected Ramzi Salloum, PhD, to chair its Learning Healthcare Systems as Natural Laboratories action group. The group focuses on facilitating implementation research that advances the study and understanding of learning health care systems as natural laboratories for improving health care quality, equity, and patient outcomes.
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Gao Receives AAPM Early-Career Scientist Award
The University of Kansas Cancer Center
Hao Gao, PhD, associate professor and director of physics research in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, is a recipient of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine’s (AAPM) John S. Laughlin Early-Career Scientist Award.
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Goyal Named ACS Researcher of the Year
Stanford Cancer Institute
Lipika Goyal, MD, was honored as the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) Researcher of the Year, which recognizes investigators who have benefited from an ACS extramural grant and made remarkable advances in cancer research. She has also recently been appointed director of Stanford Cancer Institute's Gastrointestinal Oncology program.
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The American Cancer Society, Winship Partner to Accelerate Cancer Research in Georgia
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
The American Cancer Society (ACS), in partnership with Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, has announced a new project to significantly accelerate cancer research and improve patient outcomes. Supported by a $6 million, three-year grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, a cloud-based technical infrastructure is being built to connect Winship experts with ACS population science researchers and relevant biospecimens and data within their Cancer Prevention Studies cohorts.
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$3.3 Million Grant Aims to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening in Rural Indiana
Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center
Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center are addressing the low colorectal cancer screening rates in rural Indiana communities with a five-year, $3.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute.
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Researchers Receive $1 Million Grant to Create Platform That Could Assist in Development of New Drugs
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health
John Karanicolas, PhD, co-leader of the Cancer Signaling and Microenvironment research program at Fox Chase Cancer Center, was recently awarded a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to create a platform that could assist in the development of new drugs.
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ACS Funding Received for Research, Education Programs
Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center
As part of a longstanding partnership, the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center has received new and renewed funding from the American Cancer Society (ACS). IU cancer researchers currently receive more than $6 million in multi-year ACS funding. New this year: a $660,000 grant as one of eight inaugural sites for the American Cancer Society Post-Baccalaureate Diversity in Cancer Research Education Program.
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American Cancer Society Supports Promising UVA Research
University of Virginia Cancer Center
The American Cancer Society is backing the UVA Cancer Center’s efforts to nurture promising ideas from early career scientists that could lead to important breakthroughs in our understanding of cancer and improve our ability to treat it.
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Hollings Surgeon Awarded NCI Grant to Increase Number of Surgeon-Scientists
Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina
Thomas Curran, MD, is one of only 12 physicians across the nation to have been selected to participate in the National Cancer Institute’s Early-stage Surgeon Scientist Program. The three-year program ensures that surgeons have protected time, or time during which they aren’t expected to care for patients or perform administrative duties, so they can conduct research.
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Govindarajan Named Chief of Hematology and Oncology Division
UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute
Rangaswamy Govindarajan, MD, hematologist and oncologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, has been appointed chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
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Curseen Named Director of Palliative Medicine Program
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Kimberly A. Curseen, MD, has been named director of the Palliative Medicine Program at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. Dr. Curseen joined Emory in 2015 and has led Winship’s Supportive Oncology Clinic since that time.
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Hematology/Oncology Expert Joins Roswell Park in Vice Chair Role
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Peter Maslak, MD, has been named vice chair of clinical affairs and technical director of the Clinical Flow Cytometry Laboratory at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. He joins Roswell Park from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
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Swiecicki Named Associate Medical Director for Oncology Clinical Trials Support Unit
University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
Paul Swiecicki, MD, is the inaugural associate medical director for the Oncology Clinical Trials Support Unit (O-CTSU) at the Rogel Cancer Center. Clinical Trials Support Units (CTSUs) are business units that partner with investigators and their teams to ensure efficient activation and execution of clinical trials at Michigan Medicine.
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Moffitt Names Three New Research Leaders
Moffitt Cancer Center
Moffitt Cancer Center has named three new research leaders. Damon Vidrine, Dr.PH, MS, has been named chair of the Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior; Gina DeNicola, PhD, has been named the leader of the newly established Metabolism Program; and Matthew Schabath, PhD, has been named co-leader of the Cancer Epidemiology Program.
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Osterman Named Associate Vice President for Research Informatics
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Travis Osterman, DO, MS, director of cancer clinical informatics at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, has been appointed to a new role as associate vice president for research informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
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New Leadership Appointments Announced
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Kathrin Plath, PhD, and Hanna Mikkola, MD, have been named director and co-director of the Epigenomics, RNA & Gene Regulation Research Program. William Lowry, PhD, has been named co-director of the Office of Cancer Training & Education. The appointments became effective April 1.
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Troubling Disparities Found in Esophageal Cancer Outcomes
University of Virginia Cancer Center
Lower-income people are significantly less likely to receive a potentially lifesaving treatment for the fastest-increasing type of esophageal cancer – and are more likely to die from the disease, new research from UVA Cancer Center reveals. The study highlights troubling socioeconomic disparities in treatment access for early stage esophageal adenocarcinoma, an increasingly common cancer of the food tube that can be cured if treated early but can be fatal if treated too late.
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Wheeler Leads Study to Improve Risk-Based Cancer Screening for HPV
University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center
Cosette Wheeler, PhD, and her team at UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center worked with Becton Dickinson and the New Mexico HPV Pap Registry to conduct one of the largest real-world evidence studies of its kind to support FDA approval of a new HPV Assay that detects 14 high-risk HPV virus types. It reports individual results for six of the 14 high-risk types and three groups of results for the remaining eight high-risk types.
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Clinical Trial Could Help Men Avoid Surgery to Remove Prostate
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health
Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers are recruiting for a clinical trial called PRESERVE that will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the NanoKnife System to destroy prostate cancer cells. One of the measurements of treatment effectiveness is to assess the number of subjects who were able to avoid surgery to completely remove the prostate.
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Investigators Find Disparities in Mesothelioma Survival Due to Social Determinants, Limited Access
Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami
Treatment outcomes for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, a rare cancer commonly known as mesothelioma, are often affected by social determinants of health and overall survival rates could be improved by addressing these health disparities and improving access to specialized care.
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Paid Sick Leave Means More People Get Screened for Cancer
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
An estimated 300,000 additional employees received colorectal cancer screening in a two-year period, following mandated paid sick leave in 57 metropolitan areas across the U.S. About 250,000 additional workers underwent breast cancer screenings in a two-year period after the mandate, according to a study led by UC San Francisco and headed by senior author Julie Ann Sosa, MD.
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Clinical Trials Add Beta Blocker to Arsenal Against Esophageal Cancer
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Roswell Park researchers have launched two Phase II clinical trials for esophageal cancer. Their goal: to determine whether a beta blocker called propranolol (brand name Inderal) can improve the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors.
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New Program Shows Promise in Reducing Financial Burden of Cancer Care
UK Markey Cancer Center
The rising cost of cancer care puts patients and their caregivers at increased risk of experiencing financial toxicity, a term used to describe financial hardship caused by out-of-pocket treatment costs. A new UK Markey Cancer Center study found that the use of a financial navigator can significantly reduce financial toxicity for patients with hematologic cancer and their caregivers.
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Study Finds Education and Navigation Increased Cancer Genetic Counseling, Testing
Rutgers Cancer Institute
Researchers at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey have explored informing patients of their potentially increased risk for genetically-inherited cancers and navigating them to receive a cancer genetic risk assessment (genetic counseling and/or testing) through phone-based decision coaching and navigation.
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Alternative Bladder Cancer Treatment Emerges Amid Worldwide Shortage of Standard of Care BCG
Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Iowa
A worldwide shortage of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) means that many patients with a common and serious type of bladder cancer have limited access to this treatment. But, for the first time in decades, there appears to be a viable treatment alternative. A new study from the University of Iowa finds that a safe, inexpensive combo-chemotherapy is better tolerated than BCG and is better at preventing high-grade cancer recurrence in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.
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Possible Treatment Strategy Identified for Bone Marrow Failure Syndrome
Siteman Cancer Center
Research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has identified a possible treatment strategy for a rare bone marrow failure syndrome called poikiloderma with neutropenia. The work also may have implications for treating other bone marrow failure syndromes with similar underlying dysfunctions.
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Study Reveals New Understanding of How Androgen Therapy Affects Breast Tissue
Cedars-Sinai Cancer
New insights into the effects of a hormonal treatment for transgender men, discovered by Cedars-Sinai investigators, could have implications for the treatment of breast cancer. A new study has found that molecular changes observed in the breast tissue of transgender men undergoing androgen therapy may signal the potential for also using the hormone to prevent or treat a type of breast cancer that is fueled by estrogen.
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New Anti-Cancer Compound Takes Major Step Towards Clinical Development
Stony Brook Cancer Center
For the past few decades, Iwao Ojima, PhD, and colleagues have been working to develop next-generation anti-cancer agents. One of these agents—a second-generation taxane conjugate in a nanoemulsion formulation (called NE-DHA-SBT-1214)—has shown great promise against solid tumors – particularly against colorectal cancer.
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Small Molecule Developed to Stimulate Natural Killer Cells Against Neuroblastoma
Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina
An MUSC Hollings Cancer Center research team has created what team members believe to be among the first small molecules designed to stimulate immune cells to fight cancer. More importantly, these compounds inhibit a specific enzyme that hasn’t been targeted with small molecules for the treatment of cancer.
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Oncolytic Virus Treatment Produces Promising Results in Patients With Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Moffitt Cancer Center
A new therapy for triple-negative breast cancer being investigated at Moffitt Cancer Center involves oncolytic viruses, which infect and kill the cancer cells. In a new article, researchers share results from a Phase II clinical trial of the oncolytic virus talimogene laherparepvec combined with standard chemotherapy in patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer.
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Researchers Identify White Blood Cells Called Neutrophils as Major Culprits in Treatment Resistance of Pancreatic Cancer
Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami
Investigators at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have described a previously unrecognized signaling circuit in pancreatic cancer that instigates immunosuppression and tumor-promoting inflammation in the pancreatic tumor microenvironment, ultimately creating treatment resistance.
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Study of Prostate Cancer in Men of African Descent Finds New Risk Factors for the Disease
USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
While past studies have identified nearly 270 genetic variants linked to prostate cancer risk, researchers have yet to find a clear explanation for the disproportionate risk among men of African ancestry. New discoveries from the largest-ever study of prostate cancer in men of African descent, led by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, are now addressing those long unanswered questions.
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Two Mutations Team Up to Cloak a Deadly Brain Cancer From the Immune System, Study Suggests
University of Florida Health Cancer Center
A new study of the aggressive brain cancer glioblastoma suggests that two specific cancer cell mutations may work together to help hide tumors from the immune system, offering a possible way to predict whether the tumors would respond to an emerging class of immunotherapy drugs.
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A New Combination Therapy Regimen Shows Promising Results for Prostate Cancer
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
TALAPRO-2, a study led by Neeraj Agarwal, MD, FASCO, demonstrated that using TALZENNA, in combination with XTANDI, may reduce the risk of disease progression or death by 37 percent. TALAPRO-2 combines the two oral medications to treat metastatic prostate cancer.
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Study Shows Potential for New Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Treatment
UK Markey Cancer Center
A recent UK Markey Cancer Center study suggests a new radiopharmaceutical compound may be a viable treatment option for patients with advanced cervical cancer. The study validates that the radioactive drug 212Pb-DOTAM-GRPR1 may be useful in the treatment of persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer.
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Biomarkers Show Promise for Identifying Early Risk of Pancreatic Cancer
Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center
Duke Cancer Institute researchers in the Allen Lab have identified a set of biomarkers that could help distinguish whether cysts on the pancreas are likely to develop into cancer or remain benign. The finding marks an important first step toward a clinical approach for classifying lesions on the pancreas that are at highest risk of becoming cancerous, potentially enabling their removal before they begin to spread.
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Fat Burning-Linked Molecule Promising Target for Most Common Childhood Brain Cancer
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University
Research from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center revealed a type of RNA, previously considered to be "junk," that may help doctors distinguish and treat a subgroup of patients with medulloblastoma. The ability to better distinguish between subtypes of medulloblastomas has important implications for developing treatments and improving survival.
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New Study on Mutation Linked to Leukemia Could Help Identify Patients Most at Risk
USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
Why do some people with a genetic mutation associated with leukemia remain healthy, while others with the same mutation develop the blood cancer? In a new study, scientists from the USC Stem Cell laboratory of Rong Lu, PhD, discovered a mechanism that linked a leukemic mutation to varying potentials for disease development – a discovery that could eventually lead to a way to identify patients with the mutation who are most at risk.
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Study Finds Differences in Microbes in Breast Tumors From Women of Different Races
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University
The breast tumors of Asian, Black, and white women have very different cellular, microbial, and genomic features that could potentially be used to personalize care or predict disease progression, according to new research by investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.
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Big Data and AI Meet Cancer Research
University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center
Avinash Sahu, PhD, and his team leveraged artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Big Data to create a novel way to discover multi-function drugs. The approach used cancer research data, biological data, and transfer learning to not only find drugs with specific properties but also to predict patient responses to them.
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Immunotherapy Before Surgery Significantly Improves Outcomes of Patients with Melanoma
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
If cancer exhibits a weakness, exploit it before taking the target away. That’s what researchers did in a Phase II, randomized clinical trial showing that adding immunotherapy before surgical removal of Stage III-IV melanoma significantly improved event-free survival and produced no more side effects than standard-of-care treatment, which provides immunotherapy only after surgery.
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Two-Pronged Immunotherapy Eliminates Metastatic Breast Cancer in Mice
Siteman Cancer Center
Researchers have identified a way to treat the area surrounding breast tumors that have spread to bone so that such tumors become vulnerable to attack by the body’s immune system. When the researchers boosted the activity of T cells and macrophages, these immune cells worked together to clear metastatic breast tumors that had spread to the bones of mice, and continued to eliminate tumor cells that eventually returned.
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New Data Show Therapies May Activate Lymph Nodes to Produce Tumor-Tackling T Cells
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
New findings from a clinical trial by researchers at UC San Francisco and Gladstone Institutes shows that immunotherapy can activate tumor-fighting T cells in nearby lymph nodes. The study suggests that leaving lymph nodes intact until after immunotherapy could boost efficacy against solid tumors, only a small fraction of which currently respond to these newer types of treatments.
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Study Shows How Cancer Gene Tricks Immune Cells
Stanford Cancer Institute
Cancer-associated genes called oncogenes are well known to stimulate cell growth and division, causing tumors to balloon and spread. But now, researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine and Sarafan ChEM-H have found that one notorious oncogene called Myc also has a direct role in disguising growing cancers from the immune system.
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Cancer Center Uses Art to Reach Underserved Communities
The University of Kansas Cancer Center
Sometimes the best way to reach a community is through art. That’s the idea behind The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s new mural being painted by artist Vania Soto on the side of the Guadalupe Centers Middle School in Kansas City, Missouri. The mural is a portrait of four cancer survivors and co-survivors, all from underserved populations, beneath which are painted the words "Clinical Research Needs Representation."
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Jill Biden Commends Unique Collaborative Approach at LCRC
Louisiana Cancer Research Center
After First Lady Jill Biden toured the Louisiana Cancer Research Center, with Center Director Joe W. Ramos, PhD, United States Senator Bill Cassidy, Dr. Laura Cassidy, and U.S. Representative Troy Carter, she told a room packed with researchers and policymakers how impressed she was with the work of LCRC's member institutions and its statewide partner researchers.
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A New Chapter for DEIJ at Rogel
University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice are crucial to Rogel Cancer Center’s mission, from Community Outreach and Engagement programs addressing health care disparities to hiring processes and leadership development.
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Need for Clinical Trial Support Stressed at Cancer Forum
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Cathy Eng, MD, stressed the need for more patient participation and better funding for clinical trials to improve colorectal cancer treatment and outcomes during the White House Cancer Moonshot Colorectal Cancer Forum in March. She was one of four panelists who discussed efforts to improve treatment outcomes during the event.
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Victory is Sweet in Super Bowl Challenge
The University of Kansas Cancer Center
Leading up to the Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, Roy Jensen, MD, KU Cancer Center director and AACI immediate past president, challenged Andrew Chapman, DO, director of Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health, to a friendly wager. As a result, Dr. Jensen is enjoying Philly cheesesteaks and snacks, and Dr. Chapman will be sporting a Chiefs jersey at AACI's annual meeting in October.
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