Conquest Magazine – Audio

Now is the time for MD Anderson to envision and prepare for its future — one of increased financial stability, caring and mentorship, entrepreneurial opportunities, and trying new ideas and ventures while remaining judicious about how it uses its talents and resources.

Patients come first at MD Anderson as researchers develop therapies to strengthen the immune system; surgeons adapt even greater patient safety measures; emphasis is placed on nursing excellence and education; and volunteers help patients and caregivers navigate the journey through our hallways.

Every day, teams of cancer experts work together across specialties and around the world to help patients at each step in the journey — from assessing cancer risk to early detection, advanced technology for early treatment evaluation and side effects management.

Cancer research increasingly focuses on what we eat, our physical activity, the support of friends and family — and the role that our individual genetic make-up plays in our health. As the depth and breadth of research data increases, so do the possibilities of bringing the right drugs to the right patient at the right time.

Elementary school students, college graduates, health care professionals, tomorrow's scientists and doctors, surgeons and nurses are among the many who take training and knowledge gained at MD Anderson into the community, the region, the nation and the world.

As government funding and grants dwindle, philanthropy becomes more essential for new prevention strategies and novel treatments. Fundraising groups find creative ways to raise money, for example, through cattle auctions. They also educate the community by supporting programs such as Too Cool to Smoke.

Key financial and statistical data for fiscal year 2012

In the fall 2012 issue of Conquest, learn about the Moon Shots Program, reconstructive plastic surgery, symptom research, healthy recipes, biomedical sciences education, end-of-life goals and much more.

Team members in MD Anderson’s Andreas Beck Inpatient Palliative Care Unit help patients talk about their end-of-life goals. They’ve even arranged wedding services on the unit.

An initiative to counsel patients on the importance of eating the right types of food during and after treatment has led to the production of an online cookbook with healthy recipes for everyone.

Circulating tumor cells — established in metastatic breast cancer for predicting a woman’s chance of recurrence and survival — have now shown similar value in early-stage breast cancer.

To prolong and improve patients’ lives, MD Anderson has launched several “moon shots,” while charting a trajectory for curing cancer.

A new study using T-cell therapy to treat companion canines with non-Hodgkin lymphoma could be a key to discovering better ways to treat humans with cancer.

Nurses do their best to understand the patient’s perspective as they provide care. However, none can relate as well as three MD Anderson nurses.

At the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences graduation, 70 future scientists were encouraged “to change the very nature of human existence” as they move into their research careers.

Many of today’s medical dosimetrists are graduates of the Medical Dosimetry baccalaureate program with MD Anderson’s School of Health Professions.

Using sophisticated operating microscopes and instruments, MD Anderson’s reconstructive plastic surgeons carve bones into new structures, reattach thread-like blood vessels and transplant harvested tissue as new scaffolds for cratered parts of the body.

An increasing number of people from academia, the pharmaceutical industry, policy groups and government agencies are coming together to promote the integration of patient-reported outcomes in all clinical trials.

While their peers were poolside soaking up the summer, Patrick Ede and Mary Blake donned lab coats and spent their days researching at MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital.

Chaplains at MD Anderson provide stem cell blessings at the request of any MD Anderson patient.

MD Anderson ranked No. 1 in cancer care, according to U.S. News and World Report’s 2012 Best Hospitals survey.

There’s hope for men facing erectile dysfunction, intimacy issues and a low sex drive after prostate cancer treatment.

In the summer 2012 issue of Conquest, learn about the importance of quality improvement, environmental efforts, regional expansion, high-tech simulation, integrative medicine, cancer drug shortages and much more.

Understanding the "what" and "how" of telomerase may be critical in treating and eliminating cancer.

The cellular process that causes morphine tolerance can be blocked by a reformulated form of imatinib, a drug commonly used to treat certain kinds of leukemia and gastrointestinal tumors.

COLLAGE: The Art for Cancer Network not only takes cancer patients' minds off their illnesses, but allows them to explore their conditions and how their diseases relate to their identities.

MD Anderson works proactively to ensure that the institution has the right drugs at the right time, despite national shortages.

A study shows that acupuncture, when given alongside radiation therapy for head and neck cancer, reduces xerostomia (dry mouth).

By combining two drugs, researchers shrank tumors in some patients with treatment-resistant Ewing's sarcoma, a cancer that primarily affects the bones.

Genomic instability caused by an erosion of the protective caps on chromosomes, followed by activation of an enzyme that reinforces those caps, allows malignant cells to evade destruction and acquire more deadly characteristics.

Upholding standards of care while minimizing environmental impact is something that MD Anderson has embraced.

Recognizing the psychological benefits of looking and feeling good, MD Anderson offers salon services without charge in its Beauty/Barber Shop.

A breast cancer vaccine already shown to elicit a powerful immune response in women with varying levels of HER2 expression has the ability to improve recurrence rates and is well tolerated in an adjuvant setting.

MD Anderson treats the whole patient, offering integrative modalities, such as massage therapy, music therapy, acupuncture, meditation and clinical nutrition support.

Today's doctors, nurses and other health care providers can learn and build their skills through a variety of high-tech simulators.

An experimental drug targeting a common mutation in melanoma successfully shrank tumors that spread to the brain in nine out of 10 patients who participated in an international Phase I clinical trial.

Having survived her early battle with non-Hodgkin disease, Jameisha Brown is passionate about volunteering and a career in health promotion.

An experimental drug targeting a common mutation in melanoma successfully shrank tumors that spread to the brain in nine out of 10 patients who participated in an international Phase I clinical trial.

While it's not a cure, a drug has alleviated side effects and significantly improved outcomes for patients coping with myelofibrosis, a disease for which there has been no therapy.

As early as 1867, doctors noticed that cancer patients are at high risk for developing blood clots. Recently, MD Anderson professor Anil Sood, M.D., and colleagues discovered an explanation and a vicious cycle.

Four proteins have been linked to poor prognosis for certain types of breast cancer and could lead to targeted therapies.