The University of Kansas Cancer Center has received designation as a National Cancer Institute cancer center. The new status, which, officials noted, the center has been working on for almost 10 years, means that patients in the area will have access to clinical trials that are available only to NCI-designated cancer centers. Similarly, the center, which last year merged with Kansas City Cancer Center, will be able to apply for federal research grants available only to centers with the NCI designation.
David H. Johnson, MD, has been named Chair-Elect of the American Board of Internal Medicine Board of Directors. He is the Donald W. Seldin Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
He was Chair of the ABIM Subspecialty Board on Medical Oncology from 2006 to 2010; President of ASCO for the 2004-2005 term (where he helped advance the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative and the Survivorship Program); and Chairman of the Thoracic Committee of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group.
Michael E. Williams, MD, has been named Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine's Subspecialty Board on Hematology. He is currently Chief of the Hematologic Malignancies Section and Director of the Hematology Malignancy Program at the University of Virginia Cancer Center, and has been a member of the Subspecialty Board on Hematology since 2006.
Riad Salem, MD, Professor of Radiology, Medicine, and Surgery, and Director of the Division of Interventional Oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, has been made Vice-Chair of Image Guided Therapy and Chief of Interventional Radiology.
Weill Cornell Medical College has appointed Michael G. Stewart, MD, to the new role of Vice Dean and John P. Leonard, MD, as the new Associate Dean for Clinical Research.
Stewart will also continue to serve on the leadership team at Weill Cornell as the E. Darracott Vaughan Jr., MD Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and Professor and Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Otolaryngologist-in-Chief at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, positions he has held since 2005.
Leonard will continue to serve as the Richard T. Silver Distinguished Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Vice Chairman for Clinical Research in the Department of Medicine, and Associate Director for Clinical Research at Weill Cornell Cancer Center.
Julia White, MD, has been named Director of Breast Radiation Oncology at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, as well as Vice-Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology.
Margaret Foti, PhD, CEO of the American Association for Cancer Research, has received the Biotechnology Industry Organization's 2012 Biotech Humanitarian Award for research and advocacy for cancer patients.
Barbara L. McAneny, MD, Managing Partner and CEO of the New Mexico Cancer Center, will return as a member of the AMA Board of Trustees for 2012-2013.
Richard M. Goldberg, MD, Physician-in-Chief at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, was selected to present the Charles G. Moertel Lecture at the plenary session of the first meeting of the newly merged Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology cooperative group meeting. His presentation, "Meaningful Outcomes: Lives Saved Due to Clinical Trials in Early Stage Colon Cancer," included a discussion of his personal relationship with Moertel, who among his many achievements was co-founder of the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG).The Moertel Lecture was initiated in 1995 by Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) to honor the legacy of Moertel, who died in 1994 of Hodgkin lymphoma.
The Alliance was formed last year by the merger of the NCCTG, CALGB, and the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group.
Also at the Alliance meeting:
* Clara Bloomfield, MD, received the Richard L. Schilsky Cancer and Leukemia Group B Achievement Award. She is the William G. Pace III Professor of Cancer Research and a Distinguished University Professor at Ohio State University College of Medicine, where she is also senior advisor to the Cancer Program here and a charter member of the OSU Cancer Scholars Program. The award was established in 2010 to recognize Schilsky's 15-year tenure as Group Chair of CALGB.
* Electra Paskett, PhD, gave the Jimmie Holland lecture, which she titled, "Interventions to Address Cancer Health Disparities: The Case of Cervical Cancer in Appalachia." Paskett, also at OSUCCC-James, is Associate Director for Population Sciences and the Marion N. Rowley Chair in Cancer Research.
Bayard D. Clarkson, MD, the Enid A. Haupt Chair of Therapeutic Research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, received the AACR Distinguished Service Award. He has served more than 30 years on behalf of the AACR, most recently as President and Chairman of the AACR Foundation for the Prevention and Cure of Cancer, which he helped found in 2001.
Kathryn V. Anderson, PhD, Chair of the Developmental Biology Program at the Sloan-Kettering Institute, has been named the 2012 recipient of the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal for Lifetime Contributions to the Science of Genetics from the Genetics Society of America. Her work with genetic screening has led to seminal discoveries including genes controlling the body plan of the Drosophila embryo, the immune response in fruit flies and mammals, and the early development of mammalian embryos.
David A. Scheinberg, MD, PhD, Chair of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program and the Experimental Therapeutics Center, has received the 2012 Emil J. Freireich Award, presented annually by MD Anderson Cancer Center. Scheinberg's research focuses on developing new immunotherapeutic agents, including monoclonal antibodies, targeted radiopharmaceuticals, targeted nanodevices, and therapeutic vaccines. Eight of the therapeutic agents developed in his lab have reached human clinical trials.
Also at MSKCC, Andrew Zelenetz, MD, PhD, previously Chief of the Lymphoma Service, has been appointed Vice Chair of Medical Informatics in the Department of Medicine. He will focus on digital communication within the department and developing electronic medical records and institutional databases.
Ian F. Pollack, MD, has been announced as the recipient of the National Brain Tumor Society's Mahaley Clinical Research Award for his paper, "Peptide Vaccine Therapy for Childhood Gliomas: Interim Results of a Pilot Study," which demonstrated immunological responses using peptide vaccines in children with gliomas. He is Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Brain Care Institute and Co-Director of the Brain Tumor Program. The award will be given in October at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting.
Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, Professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology, Associate Director for Clinical Research, and Director of the Breast Cancer Program of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, has been awarded a five-year Clinical Research Professorship grant from the American Cancer Society. The $400,000 award is a renewal of a previous grant in 2007.
The NIH's National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities has awarded a $6.1 million grant over five years to Georgetown University Medical Center to establish the Center of Excellence for Health Disparities in Our Nation's Capital. The center's vision will be to eliminate or dramatically reduce health disparities, particularly minority populations in Washington, DC.
"We know we can make immediate inroads toward reducing health disparities in breast cancer and stroke because of our previous work in these areas," Lucile Adams-Campbell, PhD, GUMC's Associate Dean for Community Health and Outreach and the Co-Principal Investigator of the grant, said in a statement. "We have bridges in place, we have research-based, culturally appropriate evidence to guide our efforts and now we have NIH funding to help expand our delivery capabilities."
Other co-principal investigators on the grant include Chelsea Kidwell, MD, Director of the Stroke Center at GUMC, and Phyllis Magrab, PhD, Director of the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development.
The University of California Davis Health System has announced a partnership with the California Department of Public Health to run daily operations of the California Cancer Registry.
"The California Cancer Registry provides an unparalleled opportunity to understand the relationship of cancer to genetic, environmental, lifestyle, and other factors, and to use that knowledge to advance cancer care and inform public policy," Kenneth W. Kizer, MD, MPH, Director of the Institute for Population Health Improvement (IPHI) at UC Davis Health System, who will lead the new partnership, said in a statement.
The statewide population-based cancer surveillance system contains information on more than four million cancer cases diagnosed since 1988 and includes patient demographics, cancer type, extent of disease at diagnosis, treatment, and survival information. Until now, the registry has been run by the California Department of Public Health since 1986. In the new partnership, IPHI will take the lead in collecting, analyzing, interpreting and disseminating information on cancer incidence and mortality for the state.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Houston have named their most recent collaboration, the Dorothy I. Height Center for Health Equity and Evaluation Research (CHEER), in honor of the pioneering social worker who devoted her life to education, civil rights, and women's rights.
"Dorothy I. Height was a pillar of strength who made life better for all people. We're confident that CHEER will carry out her legacy with excellence and dignity," said Ira Colby, PhD, Dean of the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Houston.
Also in Height's honor, the Dorothy I. Height Lifetime Achievement Award has been presented to Marilyn Hughes Gaston, MD, former U.S. Assistant Surgeon General and Director of the Bureau of Primary Health Care. "Dr. Gaston, in her own right, exemplifies the work that Dr. Height dedicated her career to-including civil rights, human rights and more specifically, women's rights," Pamela Mosley Jackson, Height's niece, said in a statement. "Dr. Gaston is also pivotal as the first African-American woman to direct a public health service bureau and only the second African-American woman to achieve the position of Assistant Surgeon General and rank of Rear Admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service."
Texas Children's Cancer Center has opened the Fayez Sarofim Lymphoma Center, the first center dedicated solely to research and care for pediatric lymphoma. "Our researchers have already developed effective cell-based therapies that have demonstrated extremely exciting clinical results, and we are also evaluating new chemotherapeutic agents with significant clinical promise. The formation of this new research center will allow the physician scientists and researchers at Texas Children's Cancer Center to expand on this progress in exponential ways," Catherine Bollard, MD, the center's new Director, said in an press release.
Two new directors-at-large have been elected to join the Oncology Nursing Society's Board of Directors for 2012-2013, and began their terms in May at the Annual Congress:
* Barbara Biedrzycki, PhD, RN, CRNP, AOCNP, a nurse practitioner at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
* Deborah Kirk Walker, DNP, FNP-BC, AOCN, Assistant Professor/Nurse Practitioner at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Joyce E. Dains, DrPH, JD, RN, FNP-BC, DPNAP, Director of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center's Advanced Practice Nursing Program, has been inducted into the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners as a fellow. She is also Associate Professor in the Department of Nursing and Manager of Professional Education for Prevention and Early Detection at MD Anderson, and clinically practices as a family nurse practitioner in the Cancer Prevention Center.
Lori McCormick, RN, MSHSA, has been named Patient Care Administrator for MD Anderson Cancer Center Orlando to oversee the Breast Care Center, and the Head & Neck, Thoracic, Dental and Plastic/Reconstruction Outpatient Clinics as well as the Radiation Oncology Department.
Susan R. Glaser, LCSW, has received the American Cancer Society Lane W. Adams Quality of Life Award for cancer caregiving. Glaser, a clinical social worker at MSKCC, is currently developing a psychosocial needs assessment of women with metastatic breast cancer, and says she hopes to further develop a hospital-wide support and educational program for advanced cancer patients.
Sarah Washburn, MS, RD, CSO, CD, has recently joined the Cancer Center of Santa Barbara as an Oncology Nutrition Specialist, where she will provide personalized nutrition counseling to cancer patients currently receiving or recovering from recent treatment. Before this position, Washburn was with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, where she helped establish multidisciplinary nutrition, genetic counseling, and survivorship programs.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has received the 2012 INFORMS prize from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences in recognition of outstanding widespread use and influence of operations research.
Correction: In the July 10th Shop Talk, the information for Monica L.S. Wilt, RN, should have read as follows: Monica L.S. Wilt, RN, an oncology nurse at Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, has been selected by the Maryland School of Nursing Summer Institute in Nursing Informatics Planning Committee to present her paper titled, "Saving Patients from Barcoding," also recognized with an Outstanding Practice Paper Award.
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