Acs Research - Theorylab

Yousuf Zafar, MD, MHS, is a physician scientist whose research is focused on the cost of cancer care, specifically the patient-level impact of the cost of cancer care and what he calls financial toxicity: “Any time a patient experiences costs related to his/her cancer care, whether that’s a cost of drug, a co-pay, time off work, parking, or any of the multitude of costs that our patients face—any time those costs result in harm to the patient—that in my mind is the financial toxicity of cancer care.” Yousuf Zafar, MD, MHS, is Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke Cancer Institute. He’s also a practicing oncologist who treats patients with GI cancers. 2:22 - What is financial toxicity? 3:58 – What he means by, “We must make the invisible, visible.” 7:36 – How the Affordable Care Act impacted the financial toxicity of cancer 11:00 – On the very important findings from the “natural experiment” that’s happened with Medicaid eligibility expansion: “37 states have passed Medicaid expansion, increasing the

For people who have had certain cancers or certain patterns of cancer in their family, genetic testing and counseling can be a lifesaver. Heather Hampel, a Professor and genetic counselor at The Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, explains how genetic testing can help prevent cancer and personalize treatments for cancer patients. She talks about her research into breast cancer health equity, which is funded by the American Cancer Society, and about Lynch Syndrome, which increases risk for several types of cancer that are preventable if you know you have Lynch Syndrome. She also describes some of the red flags that indicate someone should seek cancer genetic counseling; she encourages such individuals to visit www.findageneticcounselor.com. You can learn more about genetic testing and counseling on the American Cancer Society’s website: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/genetics/understanding-genetic-testing-for-cancer.html 2:45 -What is a genetic counselor? 3:34 - How can g

Dr. Anees Chagpar has made a difference in the lives of so many patients and families, not only as a breast cancer surgeon, but also through her research. Her groundbreaking study proved that removing just a little more healthy tissue during surgery cut the need for patients to have a second surgery in half. In this interview she spoke at length about that study—including the rationale behind it, its innovative design, and how it was shown to work in different hospitals—and she also talked about the special relationship she has with her patients. Anees Chagpar, MD, MBA, MPH, FACS, FRCS(C), is a breast surgical oncologist and full Professor in the Department of Surgery at Yale School of Medicine. 2:57 – What motivated her to be a breast cancer surgeon? 4:51 – The special relationship that she has with her patients 6:55 – How breast cancer surgery has changed over the years 12:36 – On her groundbreaking study showing that taking just a little bit more healthy tissue initially can help breast cancer patien

Sarah Gollust’s research focuses on how scientific evidence is translated to the public, and how that process can shape public opinion, health policy, and patient decision making. She has applied her work to public health issues such as vaccines, mammograms, health disparities, and the Affordable Care Act. Her research also “yields insight into how communication to the public and policymakers can be more effective.” Sarah Gollust, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Division of Health Policy and Management at the University of Minnesota. 3:26 – On some of the changes we’ve seen in health communication over the past decade 5:57 – Two ways the media can affect health-related outcomes or decisions 11:25 – On how the news media has covered recommendations on mammograms “We’re trying to better understand how references to competing messaging in the news media environment might affect downstream women’s health attitudes and beliefs and ultimately behaviors.” 16:17 – How women’s attitudes about mammograms wer

American Cancer Society scientists project that approximately 33,330 men will die from prostate cancer in America in 2020. The majority of these deaths are due to the development of advanced stage castration-resistant disease, which typically progresses to bone metastatic prostate cancer. In this conversation, two-time American Cancer Society grantee Leah Cook, PhD, talks us through the problem of bone metastatic prostate cancer. Why is it so hard to treat? What is happening inside the bones? And why is she excited about recent discoveries made in her lab? Leah Cook, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology at the Univ. of Nebraska Medical Center. 3:36 - Where in the body does prostate cancer most frequently go when it moves? 4:49 – How many men with prostate cancer will experience bone metastatic disease? 5:52 – On how bone metastatic prostate cancer is treated 8:30 – On what happens to bones when prostate cancer cells invade 10:32 – On why immune cells are present

Oncolytic viruses are cancer-killing viruses engineered to target and replicate in cancer cells and leave normal cells unharmed. They can also alert the immune system to attack the cancer cells. Susanne Warner, MD, is conducting research around a novel cancer-killing virus that can attack tumors in three different ways: by infecting tumor cells, by shutting down blood supply to the tumor, and by training a patient’s immune system to attack the tumor. Dr. Warner is also a surgical oncologist, and she has a deep interest in patient care that goes beyond the operating room – she talks at length about helping patients through their emotional and spiritual journey. Susanne Warner, MD, is Assistant Professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology and Department of Surgery at City of Hope. 2:07 – What is an oncolytic virus? 3:09 – How do they find cancer cells and how do they kill them? 7:17 – How do you make an oncolytic virus in the lab? 8:53 – One of the ongoing debates in the scientific community about onc

A physician-scientist and thought leader whose research has helped change the clinical care of leukemia patients, Kevin Shannon, MD, continues to shape the field. In this conversation, Dr. Shannon takes us through the challenges and hopes of leukemia research and describes what has him most excited about the state of cancer research. Kevin Shannon, MD, is Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, where he holds the Roma and Marvin Auerback Distinguished Professorship of Molecular Oncology. For his seminal research accomplishments, Dr. Shannon was named an American Cancer Society Research Professor. 2:09 – What are leukemias? 4:37 – What people should know about the state of leukemia research: “Leukemia has been one of the diseases where we’ve been able to apply the principle of understanding the underlying molecular basis of the disease to developing better treatments, and then implementing those treatments in the clinic.” 7:13 – How he decides which mut

Lipids are fat molecules normally found in the membranes that surround each cell in the body. They also play a critical role in cellular communication. Ray Blind, PhD, and his lab have been investigating how a particular lipid turns cancer genes on and off in glioblastoma. In this interview he talks about how this happens as well as the very exciting therapeutic potential of his work. Ray Blind, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 2:57 – Lipids? What are lipids? Why are they important? 9:40 – What does the cutting edge of science tell us what it’s like in the nucleus? 15:28 – A nuclear lipid the Blind Lab studies interacts with chromatin. Why is that interaction important? 18:24 – How this nuclear lipid might be especially important in glioblastoma 21:39 – “You know the lipid is there, you know it has a role in cancer, we also assume that it has a role in normal cell development—is there a way to block it and not impact normal development or function? What

The circadian clock is an internal, 24-hour timekeeping system that’s synchronized with the light-dark cycle, and it’s resident in basically all our cells. Kristin Eckel-Mahan, PhD, recently discovered an important molecular mechanism linking the circadian clock to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) growth. When her lab “repaired” the broken circadian clock within HCC cells, they were able to cause cell death. Her findings suggest that altering circadian function could provide prevention strategies and even, in the long term, treatment strategies for HCC, which is the most common type of primary liver cancer. Kristin Eckel-Mahan, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the Center for Metabolic and Degenerative Diseases at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. 2:15 – On the rise in incidence and mortality rates of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of primary liver cancer 4:03 – Risk factors for HCC 5:24 – The role of fatty liver in increased HCC risk 9:22 – A particularly inte

Around a quarter of people who smoke are non-daily smokers (those that smoke on some but not all days), and that number is increasing. The cancer risk of non-daily smoking is significant and existing treatments tend not to be tailored to this population. To address this issue, Bettina Hoeppner, PhD, an experimental psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, has developed a smartphone app, “Smiling Instead of Smoking,” to support non-daily smokers in quitting smoking. It serves “as a behavioral, in-the-pocket coach and uses positive psychology exercises to enhance quitting success.” 4:00 – What are “non-daily smokers?” Why is this a thing? 5:40 – Health risks of non-daily smoking 6:51 – Populations that are more at risk, and why they may be more likely to be non-daily smokers 9:31 – Barriers to quitting that are unique to non-daily smokers 12:05 – Why she uses a smart phone app in her research to help non-daily smokers quit smoking

Cancer drugs that target “the machinery required for cell division” have been used successfully in clinics for decades. But these drugs have limitations. Many patients develop resistance and the side effects can be severe, because these drugs—in addition to targeting rapidly dividing tumor cells—also kill healthy cells. Dr. Holland’s lab is searching for vulnerabilities in cell division that are unique to cancer cells. And he is building on some of his findings to develop a novel anti-cancer strategy that allows for the specific killing of proliferating tumor cells without affecting healthy dividing cells. Andrew Holland, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics and the Department of Oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He’s also a two-time American Cancer Society grantee. He recently received a Mission Boost Grant, which are designed to support select current and past ACS grantees specifically for the translation of their research to human testing. 2:23 – On what it

Cancer cells, explains Dorothy Sipkins, MD, PhD, “have this tendency to steal from or copy the way that normal cells respond to their microenvironment.” In this conversation Dr. Sipkins explains how cancer cells profit from the tissue microenvironment. She also describes an important discovery made by her lab, showing how acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells get around the blood-brain barrier to find the microenvironment in the central nervous system where they flourish. Dorothy Sipkins, MD, PhD, is an associate professor at the Duke University Medical Center in the Division of Hematological Malignancies and Cellular Therapy. Dr. Sipkins runs a lab that’s focused on tissue microenvironments, or “niches, that regulate the migration, survival and regeneration of cancerous cells.” 3:42 – Why the tissue microenvironment is so important… 8:02 – …and how different microenvironments are crucial for cancer cells 11:55 –The treatment challenges resulting from the movement of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (A

As both a clinician and scientist Kosj Yamoah, MD, PhD, has dedicated his career to increasing access and quality of care for prostate cancer patients, particularly African American men. In this conversation Dr. Yamoah describes the challenges associated with knowing when prostate cancer is likely to be aggressive. And he talks about the increased incidence and mortality among African American prostate cancer patients, touching on causal factors as well as issues around incidence, diagnosis, treatment delivery, treatment response, and outcomes. Kosj Yamoah, MD, PhD, is a radiation oncologist and Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute. 1:08 – The biggest challenge clinicians face when treating prostate cancer patients 3:01 – Some of the issues faced by African American prostate cancer patients 5:14 –Disparities and health inequity issues for African American prostate cancer patients 8:25 – On his research into biomarkers for prostate cancer 12:30 – On p

“To be a scientist,” notes Steve Morris, MD, “you have to take failure after failure with undying enthusiasm.” Without that persistence, we might never have had the lung cancer drug Crizotinib. The path to that drug’s development spanned more than two decades, and Dr. Morris played a critical and recurring role. In 1994, Dr. Morris and his team discovered the gene ALK and showed that it plays a critical role in some lymphomas. He went on to help show that a variety of cancer sub-types are caused by ALK abnormalities, including certain lung cancers, lymphomas, leukemias, mesotheliomas, thyroid cancers, and pediatric cancers. But he didn’t stop with discovery. He and his team also created a diagnostic test, the Vysis ALK Break Apart FISH Probe Kit, to help clinicians determine if a patient’s tumors have an abnormal ALK gene. Ultimately his efforts helped drug developers to come up with the lung cancer drug Xalkori (crizotinib), which was first approved by the FDA in 2011 for the treatment of ALK-positive n

As a clinician and researcher, Efren Flores, MD, is dedicated to helping everyone, including the most vulnerable populations, prevent and treat lung cancer. In this conversation, Dr. Flores talks about health equity and disparities, the barriers that patients are faced with, and the importance of coordinated care. He also speaks eloquently about the stigma that some lung cancer patients have to deal with and how, “medical conditions don’t define people. Nobody is defined by cancer.” Efren Flores, MD, is a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Instructor in Radiology at Harvard Medical School, where he’s the Officer for Community Health and Equity. He’s also a member of the National Lung Cancer Roundtable, a coalition of leading professional, government and non-governmental organizations working to accelerate the nation's efforts to reduce mortality from lung cancer. 4:30 – On health equity and health disparities, the critical issue of missed appointments in radiology, and some of the barriers pa

Dr. Monica Webb Hooper is a leader in the field of cancer health disparities, internationally recognized for her tobacco research. She is Director of the Office of Cancer Disparities Research in the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. She is also Professor of Oncology, Family Medicine & Community Health and Psychological Sciences. 3:50 - What are cancer disparities? 6:09 – The listening tour her cancer center underwent to learn more about community health care needs, perceptions, desires, and experiences 8:29 – Tobacco-related health disparities and the unique role that stress has on ethnic and racial disparities 14:14 – Culturally specific interventions for African Americans, how to increase access to these interventions, and the challenges of keeping patients engaged using mobile applications 22:56 – How to find the web-based intervention, “Pathways to Freedom: Leading the Way to a Smoke-Free Community” 23:42 – The mission of the Tobacco Obesity Oncology Laboratory (T

As a lung cancer pulmonologist who sees 5-7 new patients every week, runs a patient-focused clinical research program, and has been helping patients fight lung cancer for more than 25 years, Gerard Silvestri, MD, MS, has a long history with this disease. So when he says, “I have never been in my career so optimistic as I am now,” take note. In this interview Dr. Silvestri talks about reasons for optimism in nearly every aspect of lung cancer research, from prevention and screening to new treatments and survivorship. Dr. Silvestri is Professor of Medicine and the George C. and Margaret M. Hillenbrand Endowed Chair at the Medical University of South Carolina. He’s also on the steering committee of the National Lung Cancer Roundtable, a coalition of leading professional, government and non-governmental organizations working to accelerate the nation's efforts to reduce mortality from lung cancer. 2:29 – On his work in the clinic and the lab: “Every Tuesday I see between 5 and 7 new patients with lumps and bump

The stark and persistent disparity in breast cancer outcomes between black and white women is a public health dilemma that Vanessa Sheppard, PhD, has dedicated her career to addressing. Among the many reasons for this disparity is non-adherence to therapy, and in her new American Cancer Society-funded study, Dr. Sheppard has a plan to address that. In this interview, Dr. Sheppard describes Sisters Informing Sisters, the first communication skills intervention for newly diagnosed black breast cancer patients. Co-created with survivors, it has already shown great potential for improving equity in adherence to treatment in black women. Vanessa Sheppard, PhD, is Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, Associate Director of Disparities Research, and co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Massey Cancer Center. 2:55 – Important distinction between health equity and health disparities 5:45 – On the many contributing factors to the breast cancer disparities experienced by African Americ

Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, or DIPG, is a rare but particularly aggressive and hard-to-treat tumor. Ranjit Bindra MD, PhD, a practicing radiation oncologist at the Yale School of Medicine and Associate Professor of Therapeutic Radiology, is leveraging his translational research and clinical experience to find new ways to treat this cancer. 3:18 – On the use of radiation to treat cancer patients: “…really the most exciting research on the horizon is trying to understand which particular tumors—what types of mutations in the DNA of those tumors—make them more sensitive to treatments that have radiation therapy.” 6:19 – On his research into combining drugs with radiation: “We are very interested in finding tumor mutations—the actual mutations that drive those cancers. We try to find ways to target them with novel drugs so that when we combine them with radiation, it’s sort of a 1-2 punch.” 10:11 – On Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, or DIPG. What is it? What are the current treatments? Why aren’t they

“Mitosis is not only important from a fundamental point of view to try to understand how the body can develop all the cells that it has and heal its wounds and so forth, but also it represents an entrée into a process that you can attack as a physician trying to block the processes that are fundamental to cancer…I’ve now spent 50 years on mitosis, and I’ve never been bored.” In a career that has spanned decades, with seminal accomplishments that earned him an American Cancer Society Research Professorship, Richard McIntosh, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has profoundly impacted our understanding of mitosis. And now he has written an undergraduate textbook for non-science majors, Understanding Cancer; an Introduction to the Biology, Medicine and Societal Implications of this Disease. In this conversation he talks about the importance of mitosis, his motivation for writing this new book for students who aren’t necessarily scientists, and his son’s battle with