Podcasts about Oncology

David Gornoski sits down with Prof. Thomas Seyfried and Dr Pierre Kory for a discussion on why cancer isn't a genetic disease, the untold damage from standardized treatment, a new paradigm in oncology, treatment with repurposed drugs, what needs to happen at the regulatory scene, and more. Follow Prof. Thomas Seyfried on X here. Follow Dr Pierre Kory on X here. Follow David Gornoski on X here. Visit aneighborschoice.com for more

EPISODE DESCRIPTIONLisa Shufro is the storyteller's storyteller. A musician turned innovation strategist, TEDMed curator, and unapologetic truth-teller, Lisa doesn't just craft narratives—she engineers constellations out of chaos. We go way back to the early TEDMed days, where she taught doctors, scientists, and technocrats how not to bore an audience to death. In this episode, we talk about how storytelling in healthcare has been weaponized, misunderstood, misused, and still holds the power to change lives—if done right. Lisa challenges the idea that storytelling should be persuasive and instead argues it should be connective. We get into AI, the myth of objectivity, musical scars, Richard Simmons, the Vegas healthcare experiment, and the real reason your startup pitch is still trash. If you've ever been told to “just tell your story,” this episode is the permission slip to do it your way. With a bow, not a violin.RELATED LINKSLisa Shufro's WebsiteLinkedInSuper Curious ArchiveEight Principles for Storytelling in InnovationStoryCorps InterviewCoursera Instructor ProfileWhatMatters ProjectFEEDBACKLike this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) women — but far too often, cultural stigma, language barriers and a lack of tailored education prevent early detection and timely care. To celebrate AANHPI Month, we're joined by Dr. Judy Wang, a national leader in cancer prevention and behavioral science at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Wang unpacks how breast cancer uniquely impacts AANHPI communities, and why culturally responsive communication is critical in closing gaps in education, screening and survivorship. She also shares how providers, advocates and researchers can better meet AANHPI women where they are — with humility, trust and cultural understanding.

In this episode of Molecule to Market, you'll go inside the outsourcing space of the global drug development sector with Adriana Herrera, CEO at Pierre Fabre Pharmaceuticals (USA). Your host, Raman Sehgal, discusses the pharmaceutical and biotechnology supply chain with Adriana, covering: Why Big Pharma is such a great training ground for future pharma leaders, and how a period living and working in Mexico defined her leadership style The reality of being purchased by a big pharma like Gilead, and retaining independence as the acquired company, Kite Pharma The opening of a market opportunity that led Adriana to her first CEO role, and how the role is pushing her outside of her comfort zone Why she is optimistic about the future of manufacturing and commercialising cell therapies - innovation will find a way, but it takes time How the current geopolitical environment is adding more risk and uncertainty to an industry plagued with risk... and how that may impact investments and supply chains Adriana leads the expansion of Pierre Fabre's US presence in precision oncology, cell therapy and rare diseases with an immediate focus on the commercialization of a groundbreaking allogenic cell therapy. Most recently, Adriana served as U.S. General Manager at Kite Pharma where she successfully commercialized the autologous CART-cell therapy portfolio and led the US commercial functions. Prior to that, her experience included a tenure at Eisai as Senior Vice President and commercial head for U.S. Oncology and high-impact leadership roles at Novartis Oncology including Vice President and Global Diseases Lead for Lung and Genitourinary cancers. Adriana commenced her career at Bristol Myers-Squibb. Please subscribe, tell your industry colleagues and join us in celebrating and promoting the value and importance of the global life science outsourcing space. We'd also appreciate a positive rating! Molecule to Market is also sponsored and funded by ramarketing, an international marketing, design, digital and content agency helping companies differentiate, get noticed and grow in life sciences.

With more adults living longer, oncology is facing a critical challenge: how to provide cancer care that reflects the realities of aging. In this episode, Dr. Dale walks us through the creation of SOCARE (Specialized Oncology Care and Research in Elders), a clinic that evaluates patients' physical function, cognitive health, and social environment before treatment begins. This kind of assessment leads to better decisions, fewer complications, and care that aligns with each person's capacity and goals.We also talk about the OASIS program, which extends this approach across disciplines, bringing in nurses, pharmacists, and social workers to create a more coordinated experience for patients. Throughout the conversation, Dr. Dale shares real examples and lessons from the field, showing how geriatric oncology can improve not just outcomes, but the entire care process.Episode Highlights:A fresh look at what defines “fitness” for cancer treatment — and why age alone isn't enoughHow SoCare creates space for longer, more thoughtful patient conversationsPractical examples of tailoring chemotherapy, transplant, and CAR T plans for older adultsInsights into building trust with patients and providers through individualized care Resources & LinksCity of Hope – Center for Cancer and Aging: cityofhope.orgASCO Geriatric Oncology Guidelines: asco.org

In this week's episode we'll learn about how frequent blood donation affects clonal hematopoiesis in older, male blood donors; the effect of immune microenvironment on response to bispecific antibodies in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; and the feasibility of adding blinatumomab to early consolidation therapy in CD19-positive Ph-negative B-cell acute lymphoblastic lymphoma.Featured ArticlesClonal Hematopoiesis Landscape in Frequent Blood DonorsIntegrative genomic analysis of DLBCL identifies immune environments associated with bispecific antibody responseUpfront Blinatumomab Improves MRD Clearance and Outcome in Adult Ph-negative B-lineage ALL: The GIMEMA LAL2317 Phase 2 Study

In part two of the How I Treat Series on Transfusion Medicine Dr. Erica Wood interviews the "How I Manage Major Hemorrhage" author group: Drs. Jeannie Callium, Keyvan Karkouti, and Ron George.Find the full published review series in Volume 145 Issue 20 of Blood Journal.

In this episode of The Patient From Hell, host Samira Daswani speaks with oncology pharmacist Megan Hartranft about the critical role of oncology pharmacists in cancer care. They discuss the unique responsibilities of oncology pharmacists, the importance of patient education, and the growing field of oral chemotherapy. Megan shares insights on medication adherence, the use of mobile health technologies, and the significance of symptom management in improving patient outcomes. The conversation highlights the need for better integration within healthcare systems and offers practical tips for patients navigating their treatment journey.About Our Guest:Dr. Megan Hartranft is a Clinical Lead with the Clinical and Digital Solutions team, advising on precision oncology products.Prior to joining Labcorp, Dr. Hartranft was a Field Medical Scientific Associate Director at Sanofi, in charge of training for the hematology-oncology medical science liaison team. Earlier as a practicing clinician, she established an oral chemotherapy education program and participated in interprofessional clinics at Rush University Cancer Center. She has also spent time in academia as the oncology faculty member at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Health Sciences, where she maintains an adjunct appointment. Dr. Hartranft is active in several professional organizations, including her roles on the Hematology Oncology Pharmacy Association's Public Policy & Advocacy Committee as well as the American Society of Health System Pharmacy Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology Clinical Decision Support and Analytics Advisory Group.BS in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and BA in Classical Studies - Michigan State University Doctor of Pharmacy - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill PGY1 Pharmacy Residency - University of Michigan PGY2 Oncology Specialty Residency - University of Georgia/Augusta University Health SystemResources & Links:This episode was supported by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and features the PCORI research study here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30964... ‘Integrating Advance Care Planning Videos into Surgical Oncologic Care: A Randomized Clinical Trial'00:00 Introduction to Oncology Pharmacy02:49 The Role of Oncology Pharmacists in Patient Care06:03 Patient Interaction and Education09:09 Exploring Oral Chemotherapy11:45 Adherence to Oral Anti-Cancer Medications15:01 Mobile Health Technologies in Oncology17:58 Symptom Management and Patient Support21:11 The Future of Oncology Pharmacy24:09 Final Thoughts and Tips for PatientsConnect with Us:Enjoyed this episode? Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review! Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, or Linkedin @mantacares and visit our website at mantacares.com for more episodes and updates.Listen Elsewhere: Website: https://mantacares.com/pages/podcast?... YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mantacares Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3TR1... Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Disclaimer:All content and information provided in connection with Manta Cares is solely intended for informational and educational purposes only. This content and information is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.This episode was supported by an award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Ever thought about why medications work differently for different people? In this episode of Absolute Gene-ius, we explore the exciting field of pharmacogenomics with Wendy Wang, pharmacogenetic laboratory supervisor at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Wendy shares how genetics can influence drug metabolism, offering a glimpse into how precision medicine can revolutionize healthcare by tailoring treatments based on an individual's unique genetic makeup.At the heart of Wendy's research is CYP2D6, a cytochrome P450 enzyme responsible for metabolizing around 20% of all prescribed medications. She explains how her lab uses digital PCR to analyze copy number variations (CNV), offering a reliable and precise method to predict drug metabolism. Wendy dives into the complexities of structural variants, the role of digital PCR in enhancing assay efficiency, and why pharmacogenomics is a critical piece of the precision medicine puzzle. Her use of delightful metaphors—like comparing genetic testing to ladling soup—makes complex science both relatable and engaging.In the Career Corner, Wendy opens up about her winding path to molecular biology, which included studying classical antiquity and nearly pursuing a career in history. She emphasizes the importance of resilience in research, embracing failure as a learning opportunity, and encourages budding scientists to reach out to mentors and explore diverse interests. Plus, hear about her most embarrassing lab mishap (hint: it involves a fire alarm) and the proud moment of publishing her first, first-author paper.Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guests, the hosts, and the Applied Biosystems QuantStudio Absolute Q Digital PCR System. 

Read the full article here: https://oncdata.com/reimagining-oncology-nursing-through-ai In this episode of the Exploring AI in Oncology series, Dr. Waqas Haque, Hematology/Oncology Fellow at the University of Chicago, spoke with Kathleen McGrow, Sangeeta Agarawal, and Marc Perkins-Carrillo about their presentation at the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Congress about the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and oncology nursing. Their conversation highlights the transformative potential of AI in nursing, the skills needed to navigate this evolving landscape, and the ethical considerations that must guide its implementation.

What happens when you blend the soul of Mr. Rogers, the boldness of RuPaul, and just a pinch of Carrie Bradshaw? You get Sally Wolf.She's a Harvard and Stanford powerhouse who ditched corporate media to help people actually flourish at work and in life—because cancer kicked her ass and she kicked it back, with a pole dance routine on Netflix for good measure.In this episode, we unpack what it means to live (really live) with metastatic breast cancer. We talk about the toxic PR machine behind "pink ribbon" cancer, how the healthcare system gaslights survivors when treatment ends, and why spreadsheets and dance classes saved her sanity. Sally doesn't just survive. She rewrites the script, calls out the BS, and shows up in full color.If you've ever asked “Why me?”—or refused to—this one's for you.RELATED LINKS:Sally Wolf's WebsiteLinkedInInstagramCosmopolitan Essay: "What It's Like to Have the 'Good' Cancer"Oprah Daily Article: "Five Things I Wish Everyone Understood About My Metastatic Breast Cancer Diagnosis"Allure Photo ShootThe Story of Our Trauma PodcastFEEDBACK:Like this episode? Rate and review Out of Patients on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Check out the website and subscribe to the newsletter!   www.quadshotnews.com   Founders & Lead Authors: Laura Dover & Caleb Dulaney   Podcast Host: Sam Marcrom

On October 29-30, 2024, the ACCC Community Oncology Research Institute (ACORI) hosted the Community Oncology Inclusive Clinical Trial Design Summit in Arlington, VA. The event brought together stakeholders including academic and community cancer center practitioners and researchers, advocacy organizations, government agencies, and industry partners to discuss strategies to increase patient access to clinical trials in the community setting. Five priority areas were identified that characterize actionable strategies to promote fair and accessible clinical trial design that is representative of all patients with cancer: strengthening the clinical trial workforce, optimizing trial design, engaging communities outside of clinical trial interactions, decentralizing clinical trials, and leveraging artificial intelligence/digital health tools for increased access and efficiency.   ACCC is committed to providing support in these priority areas to increase representative participation and opportunities in clinical trials for oncology patients across the US. In this episode of CANCER BUZZ, Kimberly Demirhan, MBA, BSN, RN, assistant director of education programs at ACCC, discusses the 5 priority areas identified at the ACORI Summit and ways to transform how we think about access to trials, especially leveraging AI and digital tools to do so.   “We looked at optimizing trial design to reflect real world patient populations ... assessing eligibility criteria to make it more reflective of the patient populations that we see out in the community.”   “[We suggest] simplifying protocols so we're not accidentally eliminating patients [due to] benign factors, and then really engaging our community providers early on in the design process.”   “It's a really important time to be addressing [AI] and looking at the opportunities we have to transform the way we think about clinical trials, how we think about the delivery and access to them.” – Kimberly Demirhan   Kimberly Demirhan, MBA, BSN, RN Assistant Director, Education Programs Association of Cancer Care Centers   Resources: 2024 ACORI Summit Just ASK: Increasing Diversity in Cancer Clinical Research Bringing Cancer Research to the Community: Strategic Approaches to Representative Oncology Clinical Trial Design  

Drs. Pemmaraju and Bose discuss the revised International Working Group criteria for anemia response in patients with myelofibrosis, outlining new definitions for transfusion status, gender-specific hemoglobin thresholds, and benchmarks for major and minor responses.

Send us a textNew cancer treatments are only one aspect of improving oncology care. Because we also need the next generation of rehab professionals who are trained, willing, & excited to lead the charge in oncology rehabilitation.In this episode of TheOncoPT Podcast, we're diving into the real-world impact of student-led research, mentorship, and global collaboration—and why this matters for you as an oncology physical therapist.We're spotlighting the award-winning international project: “Evaluation of Interprofessional Knowledge and Confidence in Oncology Rehabilitation Seminars in South Africa.”You'll hear directly from the faculty leaders and student researchers driving this work—Drs. Lori Boright, Deb Doherty, and Mary Lou Galantino, along with students Timothy Blaney, Briana Breedy, Sidney Crick, and Rachel Cook. (Dr. Sonti Pulisa, a key collaborator based in South Africa, was not present for the interview.)In this episode, we cover:Why research isn't just academic—it directly shapes clinical careHow mentorship accelerates confidence and competence in oncology rehabStudent reflections that'll re-inspire your own clinical growthWhat it takes to go from idea to implementation to national stageHow this work is influencing the next wave of PT leaders—and what's nextWhether you're a seasoned oncoPT or just starting out, this episode will challenge you to think bigger about your role in research, mentorship, and leading our profession forward.

Caregiving can be a very personal role on many levels - assisting a loved one through their cancer diagnosis, helping with daily activities, providing support and helping to make treatment decisions may all be a part of their responsibilities. When young adults are the caregiver taking care of a parent, they face many unique challenges, such as having more duties to juggle and managing their own growing relationships and careers. Harley Stuebgen was just 25 years old when her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She immediately stepped in as her caregiver and supported her throughout her entire breast cancer journey. For her mother, Kim, the support of her daughter and her greater community gave her the strength and support that she needed to keep going. Their experience highlights the powerful bond between mother and daughter and how allowing people to help can make all the difference.

This featured podcast includes a discussion with 3 experts on managing patients with hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative (HR+/HER2–) metastatic breast cancer (mBC) from a satellite symposium held in conjunction with the 42nd Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference® in March 2025. In observational studies of treatment patterns in older women with mBC, approximately half of the patients were undertreated, and only half received a CDK4/6 inhibitor (CDK4/6i)-based regimen in the first-line setting. Reasons for undertreatment include concerns about the patient's age, perceived frailty, and underlying health issues. Aging is a heterogeneous process; older patients must receive individualized treatment that is not based solely on their age but on a comprehensive assessment that objectively assesses their overall health and ability to tolerate treatment. This program is designed to help clinicians assess the fitness of older patients with HR+/HER2– mBC, review the efficacy and safety of CDK4/6i in this patient population, and individualize treatment decision-making appropriately. Acknowledgment of Educational Grant Support This activity is supported by an educational grant from Pfizer Inc. Today's faculty are: Hope S. Rugo, MD Director, Women's Cancers Program Division Chief, Breast Medical Oncology Professor, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center Duarte, CA Professor Emeritus, UCSF Disclosures: Grant/Research Support: Ambrx; AstraZeneca; Daiichi Sankyo, Inc; F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG/Genentech, Inc; Gilead Sciences, Inc; Lilly; Merck & Co., Inc; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; OBI Pharma; Pfizer; Stemline Therapeutics. Consultant: Napo Therapeutics; Puma Biotechnology; Sanofi. Honoraria: Chugai; Mylan/Viatris. Neil M. Iyengar, MD Associate Attending, Breast Medicine Service Program Lead, MSK Healthy Living Department of Medicine Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Associate Professor of Medicine Weill Cornell Medical College New York, NY Disclosures: Consultant/Adviser: Arvinas, AstraZeneca, BD Life Sciences, Daiichi Sankyo, Genentech/Roche, Gilead, Menarini-Stemline, Novartis, Pfizer, Puma, Seagen, TerSera Therapeutics. Speaker: Cardinal Health, Curio Sciences, DAVA Oncology, IntrinsiQ Health. Editorial Position: npj Breast Cancer, Oncology®. Equity/Ownership: Complement Theory, Bettering Company. Research Support (to institution): American Cancer Society, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Conquer Cancer Foundation, Kat's Ribbon of Hope, National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health. Contracted Research: Novartis, SynDevRx. Komal Jhaveri, MD, FACP Patricia and James Cayne Chair for Junior Faculty Associate Attending Physician, Breast Medicine Service and Early Drug Development Service Section Head, Endocrine Therapy Research Program Clinical Director, Early Drug Development Service Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine Weill Cornell Medical College New York, NY Disclosures: Consultant/Advisory Board: AbbVie Inc, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Blueprint Medicines, Bristol Myers Squibb, Daiichi Sankyo Inc, Eisai Inc, Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, Gilead Sciences Inc, Jounce Therapeutics, Loxo Oncology Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly & Company, Menarini Group, Novartis, Olema Oncology, Pfizer Inc, Scorpion Therapeutics, Seagen Inc, Stemline Therapeutics Inc, Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company Ltd, Taiho Oncology Inc. Research Funding: AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Debiopharm, Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, Gilead Sciences Inc, Loxo Oncology Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly & Company, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer Inc, Puma Biotechnology Inc, Scorpion Therapeutics, Zymeworks Inc. The staff of Physicians' Education Resource®, LLC, have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies. PER® mitigated all COI for faculty, staff, and planners prior to the start of this activity by using a multistep process. Off-Label Disclosure and Disclaimer This activity may or may not discuss investigational, unapproved, or off-label use of drugs. Learners are advised to consult prescribing information for any products discussed. The information provided in this accredited activity is for continuing education purposes only and is not meant to substitute for the independent clinical judgment of a health care professional relative to diagnostic, treatment, or management options for a specific patient's medical condition. The opinions expressed in the content are solely those of the individual faculty members and do not reflect those of PER® or any company that provided commercial support for this activity.

How can oncologists and healthcare professionals keep up with the ever-growing body of research to make the best decisions for patients? In this episode, I speak with Anna Forsythe, a pharmacologist, health economist, and founder of OncoScope, a groundbreaking platform delivering daily updated systematic literature reviews (SLRs) in oncology. Drawing on decades of experience in pharma and health economics, Anna shares how automation and AI are transforming the traditionally tedious SLR process—making up-to-date evidence accessible to clinicians in just a few clicks. Anna's vision is clear: democratize access to high-quality, current evidence for clinicians—and ultimately improve patient care.

In this #episode of the Longevity & Aging Series, Dr. Shubhankar Suman from the Department of Oncology at Georgetown University Medical Center joins host Dr. Evgeniy Galimov to discuss a #research paper he co-authored in Volume 17, Issue 1 of Aging (Aging-US), titled: “Senolytic agent ABT-263 mitigates low- and high-LET radiation-induced gastrointestinal cancer development in Apc1638N/+ mice.” DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206183 Corresponding author - Shubhankar Suman - ss2286@georgetown.edu Author interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClLO0ERwC0M Video short - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_WEht4vy4w Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://aging.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Faging.206183 Subscribe for free publication alerts from Aging - https://www.aging-us.com/subscribe-to-toc-alerts Keywords - aging, senescence-associated secretory phenotype, senolytic agent, carcinogenesis, inflammation, β-catenin To learn more about Aging (Aging-US), please visit our website at https://www.Aging-US.com​​ and connect with us: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AgingUS/ X - https://twitter.com/AgingJrnl Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/agingjrnl/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@AgingJournal LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/aging/ Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/aging-us.bsky.social Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/AgingUS/ Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1X4HQQgegjReaf6Mozn6Mc MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM

Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form prostate cancer. To break down the diagnosis, KCBS Radio anchor Alisa Clancy spoke with Dr. Sandy Srinvas, Professor of Oncology specializing in urology at Stanford Medicine.

Drs. Bose and Pemmaraju review secondary myelofibrosis arising from polycythemia vera or essential thrombocythemia and how it differs from primary myelofibrosis that develops de novo.

 Most cancer drugs fail. Not because the science is wrong—because we're solving the wrong problems.The cost? Over $2 billion per failure. And for the patient waiting on a miracle—there's no second chance.Behind the headlines of “precision medicine,” there's a deeper story nobody's telling. Until now. 

Dr. Evandro de Azambuja discusses the final analysis of the APHINITY Breast Cancer trial just presented at ESMO Breast 2025.

Host: Mindy McCulley, MS Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Specialist for Instructional Support, University of Kentucky  Guest: Susan Yacksan, PhD, APRN, AOCN Enterprise Director of Service Line Performance Management, UK HealthCare Cancer Conversations Episode 64 Join us on Cancer Conversations for an insightful discussion with Dr. Susan Yacksan, the Enterprise Director for Service Line Performance Management with Markey Cancer Center, as we take a look at the multifaceted world of oncology nursing. Discover the different pathways to becoming an oncology nurse, the various subspecialties such as medical, surgical, and GYN oncology, and the certification processes involved. Dr. Yacksan shares her extensive career experiences, from academic medical centers to community hospitals, emphasizing her passion for patient relationships and the scientific approach needed in cancer care. If you are considering a nursing career or want to explore oncology, learn about the impact of this specialty and the opportunities available through the Oncology Nursing Society. Yacksan Article on UKNOW Connect with the UK Markey Center Online Markey Cancer Center On Facebook @UKMarkey On X @UKMarkey

Dr. Anita Srinivasan, a surgical oncologist, discusses her journey in oncology, the challenges faced in safety net hospitals, and the importance of patient-centered care in surgical oncology. The discussion covers the pain comparison between mammograms and cosmetic treatments, the impact of fear on surgical choices, and the significance of advanced care planning and patient education in making informed decisions about breast cancer treatment.About Our Guest:Surgeon, Health Executive, Healthcare Operational Excellence and Profitability Leader | 20+ years as a surgeon, health executive, thought leader, innovator, and advocate for health equity and accessResources & Links:This episode was supported by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and features the PCORI research study here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30964385/ ‘Integrating Advance Care Planning Videos into Surgical Oncologic Care: A Randomized Clinical Trial'Chapter Codes00:00 The Pain of Mammograms vs. Cosmetic Treatments02:55 Dr. Anita Srinivasan's Journey in Oncology05:51 Understanding Safety Net Hospitals09:08 Challenges in Treating Advanced Breast Cancer12:02 Surgical Oncology: Approaches and Techniques15:08 The Importance of Patient-Centered Care17:56 Advanced Care Planning in Surgical Oncology21:07 The Role of Patient Education in Decision Making24:01 The Impact of Fear on Surgical Choices26:53 Future Directions in Surgical OncologyConnect with Us:Enjoyed this episode? Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review! Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, or Linkedin @mantacares and visit our website at mantacares.com for more episodes and updates.Listen Elsewhere: Website: https://mantacares.com/pages/podcast?srsltid=AfmBOopEP5GJ-Wd2nL-HYAInrwerIVhyJw67salKT-r9Qb_gadBvbHie YouTube: https://youtu.be/2SxvTqJht34?si=2U_98RfJJeWkTaT3 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3TR1lFLtf6em5YyKtlWy2L?si=6ma-9g_wTIWTCLmHiHF_Aw Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/navigating-cervical-cancer-screening-surgery-and/id1622669098?i=1000706666920 Disclaimer:All content and information provided in connection with Manta Cares is solely intended for informational and educational purposes only. This content and information is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.This episode was supported by an award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Tags & Keywords:oncology, breast cancer, surgical oncology, patient care, mammograms, safety net hospitals, advanced care planning, patient education, mastectomy, lumpectomy

In this week's episode, we'll learn about stopping myeloma maintenance therapy in the modern era. New research suggests that many patients in remission can discontinue lenalidomide, remaining treatment-free, without jeopardizing disease response. After that: a novel congenital neutropenia syndrome. Mutations in the COPZ1 gene impact myeloid differentiation and development of neutropenia. Researchers describe the mechanisms and propose a treatment strategy for restoring granulopoiesis. Finally, ruxolitinib maintenance therapy after allogeneic transplant. In a phase 2 study, this treatment strategy was associated with low rates of chronic graft-versus-host disease. Investigators say the use of JAK inhibitors in this context warrants further study.Featured Articles: Sustained bone marrow and imaging MRD negativity for 3 years drives discontinuation of maintenance post-ASCT in myelomaA new severe congenital neutropenia syndrome associated with autosomal recessive COPZ1 mutationsLow rates of chronic graft-versus-host disease with ruxolitinib maintenance following allogeneic HCT

In this two-part series, Dr. Erica Wood talks with Drs. Masja de Haas, Helen Savoia, and Stella Chou about their articles in the How I Treat Series on Transfusion Medicine. Topics include noninvasive prenatal testing for red blood cell and platelet antigens, transfusion cases in sickle cell disease, and pregnant patients who are alloimmunized to RBC antigens. Find the full published review series in Volume 145 Issue 20 of Blood Journal.

Good morning from Pharma and Biotech daily: the podcast that gives you only what's important to hear in Pharma and Biotech world. ## Breakthrough in Cancer TreatmentIn a groundbreaking study published in the Journal of Oncology, researchers have discovered a new combination of drugs that has shown promising results in treating pancreatic cancer. The study, which involved over 500 patients, found that the combination of drug A and drug B was able to significantly shrink tumors in over 70% of patients. This discovery has the potential to revolutionize the way we treat pancreatic cancer and could lead to improved outcomes for patients in the future.## FDA Approves New Drug for Alzheimer's DiseaseThe FDA has approved a new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, marking a major milestone in the fight against this devastating condition. The drug, which works by targeting the underlying causes of Alzheimer's, has shown promising results in clinical trials and is now available to patients across the country. This approval represents a significant step forward in our understanding of Alzheimer's disease and offers hope to the millions of people affected by this condition.## Vaccine Update: Delta VariantWith the rise of the Delta variant, there has been growing concern about the effectiveness of existing vaccines against this strain of the virus. However, recent studies have shown that current vaccines are still highly effective at preventing severe illness and hospitalization caused by the Delta variant. While breakthrough infections may occur, the vaccines are still providing robust protection against the worst outcomes of COVID-19. This is reassuring news as we continue to navigate the ongoing pandemic.## Collaboration Leads to New Drug DevelopmentA collaboration between two pharmaceutical companies has resulted in the development of a new drug for the treatment of rare genetic disorder. By pooling their resources and expertise, the two companies were able to accelerate the drug development process and bring this much-needed treatment to market sooner than would have been possible on their own. This successful collaboration serves as a model for future partnerships in the pharmaceutical industry and highlights the importance of working together to advance medical research.## ConclusionIn conclusion, these recent developments in cancer treatment, Alzheimer's disease, vaccine effectiveness, and collaborative drug development represent significant advances in the field of Pharma and Biotech. With ongoing research and innovation, we can look forward to more breakthroughs that will improve patient outcomes and change the landscape of healthcare. Thank you for listening to Pharma and Biotech daily, where we bring you the latest news and updates from the world of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

In this episode, the team from UNC Health Medical Center discusses their award-winning submission to the ASHP Best Practices. They share how their precision oncology program allowed clinicians to integrate evidence-based personalized therapies into their practice to improve patient outcomes by reducing barriers to precision oncology. The information presented during the podcast reflects solely the opinions of the presenter. The information and materials are not, and are not intended as, a comprehensive source of drug information on this topic. The contents of the podcast have not been reviewed by ASHP, and should neither be interpreted as the official policies of ASHP, nor an endorsement of any product(s), nor should they be considered as a substitute for the professional judgment of the pharmacist or physician.

In this episode of the Onc Now Podcast, host Jonathan Sackier is joined by Joan Carles, Head of Section for the Genitourinary, Central Nervous System, Sarcomas and Tumours of Unknown Origin Unit at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital. Carles discusses breakthroughs in genitourinary cancer and sarcoma treatment, including anti-angiogenic therapies, overcoming resistance, and the role of genetic polymorphisms in personalised medicine.  Timestamps:     00:00 – Introduction   01:56 – Anti-angiogenic therapies  05:03 – Treatment resistance  07:53 – Genetic polymorphisms  09:02 – Sarcoma treatments  11:16 – Novel drugs  15:22 – Oncology societies  18:00 – Carles' three wishes for healthcare 

Listen to ASCO's JCO Oncology Practice, Art of Oncology Practice article, "An Oncologist's Guide to Ensuring Your First Medical Grand Rounds Will Be Your Last” by Dr. David Johnson, who is a clinical oncologist at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. The article is followed by an interview with Johnson and host Dr. Mikkael Sekeres. Through humor and irony, Johnson critiques how overspecialization and poor presentation practices have eroded what was once internal medicine's premier educational forum. Transcript Narrator: An Oncologist's Guide to Ensuring Your First Medical Grand Rounds Will Be Your Last, by David H. Johnson, MD, MACP, FASCO   Over the past five decades, I have attended hundreds of medical conferences—some insightful and illuminating, others tedious and forgettable. Among these countless gatherings, Medical Grand Rounds (MGRs) has always held a special place. Originally conceived as a forum for discussing complex clinical cases, emerging research, and best practices in patient care, MGRs served as a unifying platform for clinicians across all specialties, along with medical students, residents, and other health care professionals. Expert speakers—whether esteemed faculty or distinguished guests—would discuss challenging cases, using them as a springboard to explore the latest advances in diagnosis and treatment. During my early years as a medical student, resident, and junior faculty member, Grand Rounds consistently attracted large, engaged audiences. However, as medicine became increasingly subspecialized, attendance began to wane. Lectures grew more technically intricate, often straying from broad clinical relevance. The patient-centered discussions that once brought together diverse medical professionals gradually gave way to hyperspecialized presentations. Subspecialists, once eager to share their insights with the wider medical community, increasingly withdrew to their own specialty-specific conferences, further fragmenting the exchange of knowledge across disciplines. As a former Chair of Internal Medicine and a veteran of numerous MGRs, I observed firsthand how these sessions shifted from dynamic educational exchanges to highly specialized, often impenetrable discussions. One of the most striking trends in recent years has been the decline in presentation quality at MGR—even among local and visiting world-renowned experts. While these speakers are often brilliant clinicians and investigators, they can also be remarkably poor lecturers, delivering some of the most uninspiring talks I have encountered. Their presentations are so consistently lackluster that one might suspect an underlying strategy at play—an unspoken method to ensure that they are never invited back. Having observed this pattern repeatedly, I am convinced that these speakers must be adhering to a set of unwritten rules to avoid future MGR presentations. To assist those unfamiliar with this apparent strategy, I have distilled the key principles that, when followed correctly, all but guarantee that a presenter will not be asked to give another MGR lecture—thus sparing them the burden of preparing one in the future. Drawing on my experience as an oncologist, I illustrate these principles using an oncology-based example although I suspect similar rules apply across other subspecialties. It will be up to my colleagues in cardiology, endocrinology, rheumatology, and beyond to identify and document their own versions—tasks for which I claim no expertise. What follows are the seven “Rules for Presenting a Bad Medical Oncology Medical Grand Rounds.” 1.  Microscopic Mayhem: Always begin with an excruciatingly detailed breakdown of the tumor's histology and molecular markers, emphasizing how these have evolved over the years (eg, PAP v prostate-specific antigen)—except, of course, when they have not (eg, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, etc). These nuances, while of limited relevance to general internists or most subspecialists (aside from oncologists), are guaranteed to induce eye-glazing boredom and quiet despair among your audience. 2. TNM Torture: Next, cover every nuance of the newest staging system … this is always a real crowd pleaser. For illustrative purposes, show a TNM chart in the smallest possible font. It is particularly helpful if you provide a lengthy review of previous versions of the staging system and painstakingly cover each and every change in the system. Importantly, this activity will allow you to disavow the relevance of all previous literature studies to which you will subsequently refer during the course of your presentation … to wit—“these data are based on the OLD staging system and therefore may not pertain …” This phrase is pure gold—use it often if you can. NB: You will know you have “captured” your audience if you observe audience members “shifting in their seats” … it occurs almost every time … but if you have failed to “move” the audience … by all means, continue reading … there is more! 3. Mechanism of Action Meltdown: Discuss in detail every drug ever used to treat the cancer under discussion; this works best if you also give a detailed description of each drug's mechanism of action (MOA). General internists and subspecialists just LOVE hearing a detailed discussion of the drug's MOA … especially if it is not at all relevant to the objectives of your talk. At this point, if you observe a wave of slack-jawed faces slowly slumping toward their desktops, you will know you are on your way to successfully crushing your audience's collective spirit. Keep going—you are almost there. 4. Dosage Deadlock: One must discuss “dose response” … there is absolutely nothing like a dose response presentation to a group of internists to induce cries of anguish. A wonderful example of how one might weave this into a lecture to generalists or a mixed audience of subspecialists is to discuss details that ONLY an oncologist would care about—such as the need to dose escalate imatinib in GIST patients with exon 9 mutations as compared with those with exon 11 mutations. This is a definite winner! 5. Criteria Catatonia: Do not forget to discuss the newest computed tomography or positron emission tomography criteria for determining response … especially if you plan to discuss an obscure malignancy that even oncologists rarely encounter (eg, esthesioneuroblastoma). Should you plan to discuss a common disease you can ensure ennui only if you will spend extra time discussing RECIST criteria. Now if you do this well, some audience members may begin fashioning their breakfast burritos into projectiles—each one aimed squarely at YOU. Be brave … soldier on! 6. Kaplan-Meier Killer: Make sure to discuss the arcane details of multiple negative phase II and III trials pertaining to the cancer under discussion. It is best to show several inconsequential and hard-to-read Kaplan-Meier plots. To make sure that you do a bad job, divide this portion of your presentation into two sections … one focused on adjuvant treatment; the second part should consist of a long boring soliloquy on the management of metastatic disease. Provide detailed information of little interest even to the most ardent fan of the disease you are discussing. This alone will almost certainly ensure that you will never, ever be asked to give Medicine Grand Rounds again. 7. Lymph Node Lobotomy: For the coup de grâce, be sure to include an exhaustive discussion of the latest surgical techniques, down to the precise number of lymph nodes required for an “adequate dissection.” To be fair, such details can be invaluable in specialized settings like a tumor board, where they send subspecialists into rapturous delight. But in the context of MGR—where the audience spans multiple disciplines—it will almost certainly induce a stultifying torpor. If dullness were an art, this would be its masterpiece—capable of lulling even the most caffeinated minds into a stupor. If you have carefully followed the above set of rules, at this point, some members of the audience should be banging their heads against the nearest hard surface. If you then hear a loud THUD … and you're still standing … you will know you have succeeded in giving the world's worst Medical Grand Rounds!   Final Thoughts I hope that these rules shed light on what makes for a truly dreadful oncology MGR presentation—which, by inverse reasoning, might just serve as a blueprint for an excellent one. At its best, an outstanding lecture defies expectations. One of the most memorable MGRs I have attended, for instance, was on prostaglandin function—not a subject typically associated with edge-of-your-seat suspense. Given by a biochemist and physician from another subspecialty, it could have easily devolved into a labyrinth of enzymatic pathways and chemical structures. Instead, the speaker took a different approach: rather than focusing on biochemical minutiae, he illustrated how prostaglandins influence nearly every major physiologic system—modulating inflammation, regulating cardiovascular function, protecting the gut, aiding reproduction, supporting renal function, and even influencing the nervous system—without a single slide depicting the prostaglandin structure. The result? A room full of clinicians—not biochemists—walked away with a far richer understanding of how prostaglandins affect their daily practice. What is even more remarkable is that the talk's clarity did not just inform—it sparked new collaborations that shaped years of NIH-funded research. Now that was an MGR masterpiece. At its core, effective scientific communication boils down to three deceptively simple principles: understanding your audience, focusing on relevance, and making complex information accessible.2 The best MGRs do not drown the audience in details, but rather illuminate why those details matter. A great lecture is not about showing how much you know, but about ensuring your audience leaves knowing something they didn't before. For those who prefer the structured wisdom of a written guide over the ramblings of a curmudgeon, an excellent review of these principles—complete with a handy checklist—is available.2 But fair warning: if you follow these principles, you may find yourself invited back to present another stellar MGRs. Perish the thought! Dr. Mikkael SekeresHello and welcome to JCO's Cancer Stories: The Art of Oncology, which features essays and personal reflections from authors exploring their experience in the oncology field. I'm your host, Mikkael Sekeres. I'm Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Hematology at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami.  What a pleasure it is today to be joined by Dr. David Johnson, clinical oncologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. In this episode, we will be discussing his Art of Oncology Practice article, "An Oncologist's Guide to Ensuring Your First Medical Grand Rounds Will Be Your Last."  Our guest's disclosures will be linked in the transcript.  David, welcome to our podcast and thanks so much for joining us. Dr. David JohnsonGreat to be here, Mikkael. Thanks for inviting me. Dr. Mikkael SekeresI was wondering if we could start with just- give us a sense about you. Can you tell us about yourself? Where are you from? And walk us through your career. Dr. David JohnsonSure. I grew up in a small rural community in Northwest Georgia about 30 miles south of Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the Appalachian Mountains. I met my wife in kindergarten. Dr. Mikkael SekeresOh my. Dr. David JohnsonThere are laws in Georgia. We didn't get married till the third grade. But we dated in high school and got married after college. And so we've literally been with one another my entire life, our entire lives. Dr. Mikkael SekeresMy word. Dr. David JohnsonI went to medical school in Georgia. I did my training in multiple sites, including my oncology training at Vanderbilt, where I completed my training. I spent the next 30 years there, where I had a wonderful career. Got an opportunity to be a Division Chief and a Deputy Director of, and the founder of, a cancer center there. And in 2010, I was recruited to UT Southwestern as the Chairman of Medicine. Not a position I had particularly aspired to, but I was interested in taking on that challenge, and it proved to be quite a challenge for me. I had to relearn internal medicine, and really all the subspecialties of medicine really became quite challenging to me. So my career has spanned sort of the entire spectrum, I suppose, as a clinical investigator, as an administrator, and now as a near end-of-my-career guy who writes ridiculous articles about grand rounds. Dr. Mikkael SekeresNot ridiculous at all. It was terrific. What was that like, having to retool? And this is a theme you cover a little bit in your essay, also, from something that's super specialized. I mean, you have had this storied career with the focus on lung cancer, and then having to expand not only to all of hematology oncology, but all of medicine. Dr. David JohnsonIt was a challenge, but it was also incredibly fun. My first few days in the chair's office, I met with a number of individuals, but perhaps the most important individuals I met with were the incoming chief residents who were, and are, brilliant men and women. And we made a pact. I promised to teach them as much as I could about oncology if they would teach me as much as they could about internal medicine. And so I spent that first year literally trying to relearn medicine. And I had great teachers. Several of those chiefs are now on the faculty here or elsewhere. And that continued on for the next several years. Every group of chief residents imparted their wisdom to me, and I gave them what little bit I could provide back to them in the oncology world. It was a lot of fun. And I have to say, I don't necessarily recommend everybody go into administration. It's not necessarily the most fun thing in the world to do. But the opportunity to deal one-on-one closely with really brilliant men and women like the chief residents was probably the highlight of my time as Chair of Medicine. Dr. Mikkael SekeresThat sounds incredible. I can imagine, just reflecting over the two decades that I've been in hematology oncology and thinking about the changes in how we diagnose and care for people over that time period, I can only imagine what the changes had been in internal medicine since I was last immersed in that, which would be my residency. Dr. David JohnsonWell, I trained in the 70s in internal medicine, and what transpired in the 70s was kind of ‘monkey see, monkey do'. We didn't really have a lot of understanding of pathophysiology except at the most basic level. Things have changed enormously, as you well know, certainly in the field of oncology and hematology, but in all the other fields as well. And so I came in with what I thought was a pretty good foundation of knowledge, and I realized it was completely worthless, what I had learned as an intern and resident. And when I say I had to relearn medicine, I mean, I had to relearn medicine. It was like being an intern. Actually, it was like being a medical student all over again. Dr. Mikkael SekeresOh, wow. Dr. David JohnsonSo it's quite challenging.  Dr. Mikkael SekeresWell, and it's just so interesting. You're so deliberate in your writing and thinking through something like grand rounds. It's not a surprise, David, that you were also deliberate in how you were going to approach relearning medicine. So I wonder if we could pivot to talking about grand rounds, because part of being a Chair of Medicine, of course, is having Department of Medicine grand rounds. And whether those are in a cancer center or a department of medicine, it's an honor to be invited to give a grand rounds talk. How do you think grand rounds have changed over the past few decades? Can you give an example of what grand rounds looked like in the 1990s compared to what they look like now? Dr. David JohnsonWell, I should all go back to the 70s and and talk about grand rounds in the 70s. And I referenced an article in my essay written by Dr. Ingelfinger, who many people remember Dr. Ingelfinger as the Ingelfinger Rule, which the New England Journal used to apply. You couldn't publish in the New England Journal if you had published or publicly presented your data prior to its presentation in the New England Journal. Anyway, Dr. Ingelfinger wrote an article which, as I say, I referenced in my essay, about the graying of grand rounds, when he talked about what grand rounds used to be like. It was a very almost sacred event where patients were presented, and then experts in the field would discuss the case and impart to the audience their wisdom and knowledge garnered over years of caring for patients with that particular problem, might- a disease like AML, or lung cancer, or adrenal insufficiency, and talk about it not just from a pathophysiologic standpoint, but from a clinician standpoint. How do these patients present? What do you do? How do you go about diagnosing and what can you do to take care of those kinds of patients? It was very patient-centric. And often times the patient, him or herself, was presented at the grand rounds. And then experts sitting in the front row would often query the speaker and put him or her under a lot of stress to answer very specific questions about the case or about the disease itself.  Over time, that evolved, and some would say devolved, but evolved into more specialized and nuanced presentations, generally without a patient present, or maybe even not even referred to, but very specifically about the molecular biology of disease, which is marvelous and wonderful to talk about, but not necessarily in a grand round setting where you've got cardiologists sitting next to endocrinologists, seated next to nephrologists, seated next to primary care physicians and, you know, an MS1 and an MS2 and et cetera. So it was very evident to me that what I had witnessed in my early years in medicine had really become more and more subspecialized. As a result, grand rounds, which used to be packed and standing room only, became echo chambers. It was like a C-SPAN presentation, you know, where local representative got up and gave a talk and the chambers were completely empty. And so we had to go to do things like force people to attend grand rounds like a Soviet Union-style rally or something, you know. You have to pay them to go. But it was really that observation that got me to thinking about it.  And by the way, I love oncology and I'm, I think there's so much exciting progress that's being made that I want the presentations to be exciting to everybody, not just to the oncologist or the hematologist, for example. And what I was witnessing was kind of a formula that, almost like a pancake formula, that everybody followed the same rules. You know, “This disease is the third most common cancer and it presents in this way and that way.” And it was very, very formulaic. It wasn't energizing and exciting as it had been when we were discussing individual patients. So, you know, it just is what it is. I mean, progress is progress and you can't stop it. And I'm not trying to make America great again, you know, by going back to the 70s, but I do think sometimes we overthink what medical grand rounds ought to be as compared to a presentation at ASH or ASCO where you're talking to subspecialists who understand the nuances and you don't have to explain the abbreviations, you know, that type of thing. Dr. Mikkael SekeresSo I wonder, you talk about the echo chamber of the grand rounds nowadays, right? It's not as well attended. It used to be a packed event, and it used to be almost a who's who of, of who's in the department. You'd see some very famous people who would attend every grand rounds and some up-and-comers, and it was a chance for the chief residents to shine as well. How do you think COVID and the use of Zoom has changed the personality and energy of grand rounds? Is it better because, frankly, more people attend—they just attend virtually. Last time I attended, I mean, I attend our Department of Medicine grand rounds weekly, and I'll often see 150, 200 people on the Zoom. Or is it worse because the interaction's limited? Dr. David JohnsonYeah, I don't want to be one of those old curmudgeons that says, you know, the way it used to be is always better. But there's no question that the convenience of Zoom or similar media, virtual events, is remarkable. I do like being able to sit in my office where I am right now and watch a conference across campus that I don't have to walk 30 minutes to get to. I like that, although I need the exercise. But at the same time, I think one of the most important aspects of coming together is lost with virtual meetings, and that's the casual conversation that takes place. I mentioned in my essay an example of the grand rounds that I attended given by someone in a different specialty who was both a physician and a PhD in biochemistry, and he was talking about prostaglandin metabolism. And talk about a yawner of a title; you almost have to prop your eyelids open with toothpicks. But it turned out to be one of the most fascinating, engaging conversations I've ever encountered. And moreover, it completely opened my eyes to an area of research that I had not been exposed to at all. And it became immediately obvious to me that it was relevant to the area of my interest, which was lung cancer. This individual happened to be just studying colon cancer. He's not an oncologist, but he was studying colon cancer. But it was really interesting what he was talking about. And he made it very relevant to every subspecialist and generalist in the audience because he talked about how prostaglandin has made a difference in various aspects of human physiology.  The other grand rounds which always sticks in my mind was presented by a long standing program director at my former institution of Vanderbilt. He's passed away many years ago, but he gave a fascinating grand rounds where he presented the case of a homeless person. I can't remember the title of his grand rounds exactly, but I think it was “Care of the Homeless” or something like that. So again, not something that necessarily had people rushing to the audience. What he did is he presented this case as a mysterious case, you know, “what is it?” And he slowly built up the presentation of this individual who repeatedly came to the emergency department for various and sundry complaints. And to make a long story short, he presented a case that turned out to be lead poisoning. Everybody was on the edge of their seat trying to figure out what it was. And he was challenging members of the audience and senior members of the audience, including the Cair, and saying, “What do you think?” And it turned out that the patient became intoxicated not by eating paint chips or drinking lead infused liquids. He was burning car batteries to stay alive and inhaling lead fumes, which itself was fascinating, you know, so it was a fabulous grand rounds. And I mean, everybody learned something about the disease that they might otherwise have ignored, you know, if it'd been a title “Lead Poisoning”, I'm not sure a lot of people would have shown up. Dr. Mikkael Sekeres That story, David, reminds me of Tracy Kidder, who's a master of the nonfiction narrative, will choose a subject and kind of just go into great depth about it, and that subject could be a person. And he wrote a book called Rough Sleepers about Jim O'Connell - and Jim O'Connell was one of my attendings when I did my residency at Mass General - and about his life and what he learned about the homeless. And it's this same kind of engaging, “Wow, I never thought about that.” And it takes you in a different direction.  And you know, in your essay, you make a really interesting comment. You reflect that subspecialists, once eager to share their insight with the wider medical community, increasingly withdraw to their own specialty specific conferences, further fragmenting the exchange of knowledge across disciplines. How do you think this affects their ability to gain new insights into their research when they hear from a broader audience and get questions that they usually don't face, as opposed to being sucked into the groupthink of other subspecialists who are similarly isolated? Dr. David Johnson That's one of the reasons I chose to illustrate that prostaglandin presentation, because again, that was not something that I specifically knew much about. And as I said, I went to the grand rounds more out of a sense of obligation than a sense of engagement. Moreover, our Chair at that institution forced us to go, so I was there, not by choice, but I'm so glad I was, because like you say, I got insight into an area that I had not really thought about and that cross pollination and fertilization is really a critical aspect. I think that you can gain at a broad conference like Medical Grand Rounds as opposed to a niche conference where you're talking about APL. You know, everybody's an APL expert, but they never thought about diabetes and how that might impact on their research. So it's not like there's an ‘aha' moment at every Grand Rounds, but I do think that those kinds of broad based audiences can sometimes bring a different perspective that even the speaker, him or herself had not thought of. Dr. Mikkael SekeresI think that's a great place to end and to thank David Johnson, who's a clinical oncologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and just penned the essay in JCO Art of Oncology Practice entitled "An Oncologist's Guide to Ensuring Your First Medical Grand Rounds Will Be Your Last."  Until next time, thank you for listening to JCO's Cancer Stories: The Art of Oncology. Don't forget to give us a rating or review, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can find all of ASCO's shows at asco.org/podcasts.  David, once again, I want to thank you for joining me today. Dr. David JohnsonThank you very much for having me. The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. Guest statements on the podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement.    Show notes: Like, share and subscribe so you never miss an episode and leave a rating or review.  Guest Bio: Dr David Johnson is a clinical oncologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.

Laurel Pointer always knew that breast cancer was a possibility, with a strong family history and a confirmed CHEK2 gene mutation. In July 2024, Laurel was diagnosed with stage 1 invasive lobular carcinoma and immediately knew that she wanted a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. Shannon Michaelson has been Laurel's co-worker and close friend for the past 6 years. As soon as Laurel got the news of an irregular mammogram, the two were immediately on the phone and Shannon has been part of Laurel's support team every step of the way. Laurel recently went through the final step of her reconstruction by getting 3D nipple tattoos, with Shannon by her side. These two are committed to supporting each other and the breast cancer community; and today they are here to talk about what the procedure was like and the emotions that have gone with it.

Host Dr. Nate Pennell and his guest, Dr. Chloe Atreya, discuss the ASCO Educational Book article, “Integrative Oncology: Incorporating Evidence-Based Approaches to Patients With GI Cancers,” highlighting the use of mind-body approaches, exercise, nutrition, acupuncture/acupressure, and natural products. Transcript Dr. Nate Pennell: Welcome to ASCO Education: By the Book, our new monthly podcast series that will feature engaging discussions between editors and authors from the ASCO Educational Book. We'll be bringing you compelling insights on key topics featured in Education Sessions at ASCO meetings and some deep dives on the approaches shaping modern oncology.  I'm Dr. Nate Pennell, director of the Cleveland Clinic Lung Cancer Medical Oncology Program as well as vice chair of clinical research for the Taussig Cancer Institute. Today, I'm delighted to welcome Dr. Chloe Atreya, a professor of Medicine in the GI Oncology Group at the University of California, San Francisco, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health, to discuss her article titled, “Integrative Oncology Incorporating Evidence-Based Approaches to Patients With GI Cancers”, which was recently published in the ASCO Educational Book. Our full disclosures are available in the transcript of this episode.  Dr. Atreya, it's great to have you on the podcast today. Thanks for joining me. Dr. Chloe Atreya: Thanks Dr. Pennell. It's a pleasure to be here. Dr. Nate Pennell: Dr. Atreya, you co-direct the UCSF Integrative Oncology Program with a goal to really help patients with cancer live as well as possible. And before we dive into the review article and guidelines, I'd love to just know a little bit about what inspired you to go into this field? Dr. Chloe Atreya: Yeah, thank you for asking. I've had a long-standing interest in different approaches to medicine from global traditions and I have a degree in pharmacology, and I continue to work on new drug therapies for patients with colorectal cancer. And one thing that I found is that developing new drugs is a long-term process and often we're not able to get the drugs to the patients in front of us. And so early on as a new faculty member at UCSF, I was trying to figure out what I could do for the patient in front of me if those new drug therapies may not be available in their lifetime. And one thing I recognized was that in some conversations the patient and their family members, even if the patient had metastatic disease, they were able to stay very present and to live well without being sidelined by what might happen in the future. And then in other encounters, people were so afraid of what might be happening in the future, or they may have regrets maybe about not getting that colonoscopy and that was eroding their ability to live well in the present.  So, I started asking the patients and family members who were able to stay present, “What's your secret? How do you do this?” And people would tell me, “It's my meditation practice,” or “It's my yoga practice.” And so, I became interested in this. And an entry point for me, and an entry point to the Osher Center at UCSF was that I took the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program to try to understand experientially the evidence for this and became very interested in it. I never thought I would be facilitating meditation for patients, but it became a growing interest. And as people are living longer with cancer and are being diagnosed at younger ages, often with young families, how one lives with cancer is becoming increasingly important.   Dr. Nate Pennell: I've always been very aware that it seemed like the patients that I treated who had the best quality of life during their life with cancer, however that ended up going, were those who were able to sort of compartmentalize it, where, when it was time to focus on discussing treatment or their scans, they were, you know, of course, had anxiety and other things that went along with that. But when they weren't in that, they were able to go back to their lives and kind of not think about cancer all the time. Whereas other people sort of adopt that as their identity almost is that they are living with cancer and that kind of consumes all of their time in between visits and really impacts how they're able to enjoy the rest of their lives. And so, I was really interested when I was reading your paper about how mindfulness seemed to be sort of like a formal way to help patients achieve that split. I'm really happy that we're able to talk about that. Dr. Chloe Atreya: Yeah, I think that's absolutely right. So, each of our patients is more than their cancer diagnosis. And the other thing I would say is that sometimes patients can use the cancer diagnosis to get to, “What is it that I really care about in life?” And that can actually heighten an experience of appreciation for the small things in life, appreciation for the people that they love, and that can have an impact beyond their lifetime. Dr. Nate Pennell: Just in general, I feel like integrative medicine has come a long way, especially over the last decade or so. So, there's now mature data supporting the incorporation of elements of integrative oncology into comprehensive cancer care. We've got collaborations with ASCO. They've published clinical practice guidelines around diet, around exercise, and around the use of cannabinoids. ASCO has worked with the Society for Integrative Oncology to address management of pain, anxiety, depression, fatigue – lots of different evidence bases now to try to help guide people, because this is certainly something our patients are incredibly interested in learning about. Can you get our listeners up to speed a little bit on the updated guidelines and resources supporting integrative oncology? Dr. Chloe Atreya: Sure. I can give a summary of some of the key findings. And these are rigorous guidelines that came together by consensus from expert panels. I had the honor of serving on the anxiety and depression panel. So, these panels will rate the quality of the evidence available to come up with a strength of recommendation. I think that people are at least superficially aware of the importance of diet and physical activity and that cannabis and cannabinoids have evidence of benefit for nausea and vomiting. They may not be aware of some of the evidence supporting these other modalities. So, for anxiety and depression, mindfulness-based interventions, which include meditation and meditative movement, have the strongest level of evidence. And the clinical practice guidelines indicate that they should be offered to any adult patient during or after treatment who is experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression. Other modalities that can help with anxiety and depression include yoga and Tai Chi or Qigong. And with the fatigue guidelines, mindfulness-based interventions are also strongly recommended, along with exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy, Tai Chi and Qigong during treatment, yoga after treatment.  And some of these recommendations also will depend on where the evidence is. So, yoga is an example of an intervention that I think can be helpful during treatment, but most of our evidence is on patients who are post-treatment. So, most of our guidelines separate out during treatment and the post-treatment phase because the quality of evidence may be different for these different phases of treatment.  With the pain guidelines, the strongest recommendation is for acupuncture, specifically for people with breast cancer who may be experiencing joint pain related to aromatase inhibitors. However, acupuncture and other therapies, including massage, can be helpful with pain as well. So those are a few of the highlights. Dr. Nate Pennell: Yeah, I was surprised at the really good level of evidence for the mindfulness-based practices because I don't think that's the first thing that jumps to mind when I think about integrative oncology. I tend to think more about physical interventions like acupuncture or supplements or whatnot. So, I think this is really fantastic that we're highlighting this.  And a lot of these interventions like the Qigong, Tai Chi, yoga, is it the physical practice of those that benefits them or is it that it gives them something to focus on, to be mindful of? Is that the most important intervention? It doesn't really matter what you're doing as long as you have something that kind of takes you out of your experience and allows you to focus on the moment. Dr. Chloe Atreya: I do think it is a mind, body and spirit integration, so that all aspects are important. We also say that the best practice is the one that you actually practice. So, part of the reason that it's important to have these different modalities is that not everybody is going to take up meditation. And there may be people for whom stationary meditation, sitting and meditating, works well, and other people for whom meditative movement practices may be what they gravitate to. And so, I think that it's important to have a variety of options. And one thing that's distinct from some of our pharmacologic therapies is that the safety of these is, you know, quite good. So, it becomes less important to say, “Overall, is Tai Chi better or is yoga better?” for instance. It really depends on what it is that someone is going to take up. Dr. Nate Pennell: And of course, something that's been really nice evidence-based for a long time, even back when I was in my training in the 2000s with Jennifer Temel at Massachusetts General Hospital, was the impact of physical activity and exercise on patients with cancer. It seems like that is pretty much a universally good recommendation for patients. Dr. Chloe Atreya: Yes, that's absolutely right. Physical activity has been associated with improved survival after a cancer diagnosis. And that's both cancer specific survival and overall survival.  The other thing I'll say about physical activity, especially the mindful movement practices like Tai Chi and Qigong and yoga, is that they induce physiologic shifts in the body that can promote relaxation, so they can dampen that stress response in a physiologic way. And these movement practices are also the best way to reduce cancer-associated fatigue. Dr. Nate Pennell: One of the things that patients are always very curious about when they talk to me, and I never really feel like I'm as well qualified as I'd like to be to advise them around dietary changes in nutrition. And can you take me a little bit through some of the evidence base for what works and what doesn't work? Dr. Chloe Atreya: Sure. I do think that it needs to be tailored to the patient's needs. Overall, a diet that is plant-based and includes whole grains is really important. And I often tell patients to eat the rainbow because all of those different phytochemicals that cause the different colors in our fruits and vegetables are supporting different gut microbiota. So that is a basis for a healthy gut microbiome. That said, you know, if someone is experiencing symptoms related to cancer or cancer therapy, it is important to tailor dietary approaches. This is where some of the mindful eating practices can help. So, sometimes actually not just focusing on what we eat, but how we eat can help with symptoms that are associated with eating. So, some of our patients have loss of appetite, and shifting one's relationship to food can help with nutrition. Sometimes ‘slow it down' practices can help both with appetite and with digestion. Dr. Nate Pennell: One of the things that you said both in the paper and just now on our podcast, talking about how individualized and personalized this is. And I really liked the emphasis that you had on flexibility and self-compassion over rigid discipline and prescriptive recommendations here. And this is perhaps one of the real benefits of having an integrative oncology team that can work with patients as opposed to them just trying to find things online. Dr. Chloe Atreya: Yes, particularly during treatment, I think that's really important. And that was borne out by our early studies we called “Being Present.” So, after I was observing the benefits anecdotally among my patients of the ability to be present, we designed these pilot studies to teach meditation and meditative practices to patients. And in these pilot studies, the original ones were pretty prescriptive in a way that mindfulness-based stress reduction is fairly prescriptive in terms of like, “This is what we're asking you to do. Just stick with the program.” And there can be benefits if you can stick with the program. It's really hard though if someone is going through treatment and with GI cancers, it may be that they're getting chemotherapy every two weeks and they have one week where they're feeling really crummy and another week where they're trying to get things done. And we realized that sometimes people were getting overwhelmed and feeling like the mindfulness practice was another thing on their to-do list and that they were failing if they didn't do this thing that was important for them. And so, we've really kind of changed our emphasis. And part of our emphasis now is on incorporating mindfulness practices into daily life. Any activity that doesn't require a lot of executive function can be done mindfully, meaning with full attention. And so, especially for some of our very busy patients, that can be a way of, again, shifting how I'm doing things rather than adding a new thing to do. Dr. Nate Pennell: And then another part I know that patients are always very curious about that I'm really happy to see that we're starting to build an evidence base for is the use of supplements and natural products. So, can you take us a little bit through where we stand in terms of evidence behind, say, cannabis and some of the other available products out there? Dr. Chloe Atreya: Yeah, I would say that is an area that requires a lot more study. It's pretty complicated because unlike mindfulness practices where there are few interactions with other treatments, there is the potential for interactions, particularly with the supplements. And the quality of the supplements matters. And then there tends to be a lot of heterogeneity among the studies both in the patients and what other treatments they may be receiving, as well as the doses of the supplements that they're receiving.  One of my earliest mentors at Yale is someone named Dr. Tommy Chang, who has applied the same rigor that that we apply to testing of biomedical compounds to traditional Chinese medicine formulas. And so, ensuring that the formulation is stable and then formally testing these formulations along with chemotherapy. And we need more funding for that type of research in order to really elevate our knowledge of these natural products. We often will direct patients to the Memorial Sloan Kettering ‘About Herbs, Botanicals, and Other Products' database as one accessible source to learn more about the supplements. We also work with our pharmacists who can provide the data that exists, but we do need to take it with a grain of salt because of the heterogeneity in the data. And then it's really important if people are going to take supplements, for them to take supplements that are of high quality. And that's something in the article that we list all of the things that one should look for on the label of a supplement to ensure that it is what it's billed to be. Dr. Nate Pennell: So, most of what we've been talking about so far has really been applying to all patients with cancer, but you of course are a GI medical oncologist, and this is a publication in the Educational Book from the ASCO GI Symposium. GI cancers obviously have an incredibly high and rising incidence rate among people under 50, representing a quarter of all cancer incidence worldwide, a third of cancer related deaths worldwide. Is there something specific that GI oncologists and patients with GI cancers can take home from your paper or is this applicable to pretty much everyone? Dr. Chloe Atreya: Yeah, so the evidence that we review is specifically for GI cancers. So, it shows both its strengths and also some of the limitations. So many of the studies have focused on other cancers, especially breast cancer. In the integrative oncology field, there are definitely gaps in studying GI cancers. At the same time, I would say that GI cancers are very much linked to lifestyle in ways that are complicated, and we don't fully understand. However, the best ways that we can protect against development of GI cancers, acknowledging that no one is to blame for developing a GI cancer and no one is fully protected, but the best things that we can do for overall health and to prevent GI cancers are a diet that is plant-based, has whole grains. There's some data about fish that especially the deep-water fish, may be protective and then engaging in physical activity.  One thing I would like for people to take away is that these things that we know that are preventative against developing cancer are also important after development of a GI cancer. Most of the data comes from studies of patients with colorectal cancer and that again, both cancer specific and overall mortality is improved with better diet and with physical activity. So, this is even after a cancer diagnosis. And I also think that, and this is hard to really prove, but we're in a pretty inflammatory environment right now. So, the things that we can do to decrease stress, improve sleep, decrease inflammation in the body, and we do know that inflammation is a risk factor for developing GI cancers. So, I think that all of the integrative modalities are important both for prevention and after diagnosis. Dr. Nate Pennell: And one of the things you just mentioned is that most of the studies looking at integrative oncology and GI cancers have focused on colorectal cancer, which of course, is the most common GI cancer. But you also have pointed out that there are gaps in research and what's going on and what needs to be done in order to broaden some of this experience to other GI cancers. Dr. Chloe Atreya: Yeah, and I will say that there are gaps even for colorectal cancer. So right now, some of the authors on the article are collaborating on a textbook chapter for the Society for Integrative Oncology. And so, we're again examining the evidence specifically for colorectal cancer and are in agreement that the level of evidence specific to colorectal cancer is not as high as it is for all patients with adult cancers. And so even colorectal cancer we need to study more.  Just as there are different phases of cancer where treatments may need to be tailored, we also may need to tailor our treatments for different cancer types. And that includes what symptoms the patients are commonly experiencing and how intense the treatment is, and also the duration of treatment. Those are factors that can influence which modalities may be most important or most applicable to a given individual. Dr. Nate Pennell: So, a lot of this sounds fantastic. It sounds like things that a lot of patients would really appreciate working into their care. Your article focused a little bit on some of the logistics of providing this type of care, including group medical visits, multidisciplinary clinics staffed by multiple types of clinicians, including APPs and psychologists, and talked about the sustainability of this in terms of increasing the uptake of guideline-based integrative oncology. Talk a little bit more about both at your institution, I guess, and the overall health system and how this might be both sustainable and perhaps how we broaden this out to patients outside of places like UCSF. Dr. Chloe Atreya: Yes, that's a major focus of our research effort. A lot of comprehensive cancer centers and other places where patients are receiving care, people may have access to dietitians, which is really important and nutritionists. In the article we also provide resources for working with exercise therapists and those are people who may be working remotely and can help people, for instance, who may be in, in rural areas. And then our focus with the mind-body practices in particular has been on group medical visits. And this grew out of, again, my ‘being present' pilot studies where we were showing some benefit. But then when the grant ends, there isn't a way to continue to deliver this care. And so, we were asking ourselves, you know, is there a way to make this sustainable? And group medical visits have been used in other settings, and they've been working really well at our institution and other institutions are now taking them up as well. And this is a way that in this case it's me and many of my colleagues who are delivering these, where I can see eight or ten patients at once. In my case, it's a series of four two-hour sessions delivered by telehealth. So, we're able to focus on the integrative practices in a way that's experiential. So, in the clinic I may be able to mention, you know, after we go over the CT scans, after we go over the labs and the molecular profiling, you know, may be able to say, “Hey, you know, meditation may be helpful for your anxiety,” but in the group medical visits we can actually practice meditation, we can practice chair yoga. And that's where people have that experience in their bodies of these different modalities. And the feedback that we're receiving is that that sticks much more to experience it then you have resources to continue it. And then the group is helpful both in terms of delivery, so timely and efficient care for patients. It's also building community and reducing the social isolation that many of our patients undergoing treatment for cancer experience. Dr. Nate Pennell: I think that makes perfect sense, and I'm glad you brought up telehealth as an option. I don't know how many trained integrative oncologists there are out there, but I'm going to guess this is not a huge number out there. And much like other specialties that really can improve patients' quality of life, like palliative medicine, for example, not everyone has access to a trained expert in their cancer center, and things like telemedicine and telehealth can really potentially broaden that. How do you think telehealth could help broaden the exposure of cancer patients and even practitioners of oncology to integrative medicine? Dr. Chloe Atreya: Yes, I think that telehealth is crucial for all patients with cancer to be able to receive comprehensive cancer care, no matter where they're receiving their chemotherapy or other cancer-directed treatments. So, we will routinely be including patients who live outside of San Francisco. Most of our patients live outside of San Francisco. There's no way that they could participate if they had to drive into the city again to access this. And in the group setting, it's not even safe for people who are receiving chemotherapy to meet in a group most times. And with symptoms, often people aren't feeling so well and they're able to join us on Zoom in a way that they wouldn't be able to make the visit if it was in person. And so, this has really allowed us to expand our catchment area and to include patients, in our case, in all of California. You also mentioned training, and that's also important. So, as someone who's involved in the [UCSF] Osher Collaborative, there are faculty scholars who are at universities all over the US, so I've been able to start training some of those physicians to deliver group medical visits at their sites as well via telehealth. Dr. Nate Pennell: I'm glad we were able to make a plug for that. We need our political leadership to continue to support reimbursement for telehealth because it really does bring access to so many important elements of health care to patients who really struggle to travel to tertiary care centers. And their local cancer center can be quite a distance away.  So, sticking to the theme of training, clinician education and resources are really crucial to continue to support the uptake of integrative oncology in comprehensive cancer care. Where do you think things stand today in terms of clinician education and professional development in integrative oncology. Dr. Chloe Atreya: It's growing. Our medical students now are receiving training in integrative medicine, and making a plug for the Educational Book, I was really happy that ASCO let us have a table that's full of hyperlinks. So that's not typical for an article. Usually, you have to go to the reference list, but I really wanted to make it practical and accessible to people, both the resources that can be shared with patients that are curated and selected that we thought were of high-quality examples for patients. At the bottom of that table also are training resources for clinicians, and some of those include: The Center for Mind-Body Medicine, where people can receive training in how to teach these mind-body practices; The Integrated Center for Group Medical Visits, where people can learn how to develop their own group medical visits; of course, there's the Society for Integrative Oncology; and then I had just mentioned the Osher Collaborative Faculty Fellowship. Dr. Nate Pennell: Oh, that is fantastic. And just looking through, I mean, this article is really a fantastic resource both of the evidence base behind all of the elements that we've discussed today. Actually, the table that you mentioned with all of the direct hyperlinks to the resources is fantastic. Even recommendations for specific dietary changes after GI cancer diagnosis. So, I highly recommend everyone read the full paper after they have listened to the podcast today.  Before we wrap up, is there anything that we didn't get a chance to discuss that you wanted to make sure our listeners are aware of? Dr. Chloe Atreya: One thing that I did want to bring up is the disparities that exist in access to high quality symptom management care. So, patients who are racial and ethnic minorities, particularly our black and Latinx patients, the evidence shows that they aren't receiving the same degree of symptom management care as non-Hispanic White patients. And that is part of what may be leading to some of the disparities in cancer outcomes. So, if symptoms are poorly managed, it's harder for patients to stay with the treatment, and integrative oncology is one way to try to, especially with telehealth, this is a way to try to improve symptom management for all of our patients to help improve both their quality of life and their cancer outcomes. Dr. Nate Pennell: Well, Dr. Atreya, it's been great speaking with you today and thank you for joining me on the ASCO Education: By the Book Podcast and thank you for all of your work in advancing integrative oncology for GI cancers and beyond. Dr. Chloe Atreya: Thank you, Dr. Pennell. It's been a pleasure speaking with you. Dr. Nate Pennell: And thank you to all of our listeners who joined us today. You'll find a link to the article discussed today in the transcript of the episode. We hope you'll join us again for more insightful views on topics you'll be hearing at the Education Sessions from ASCO meetings throughout the year and our deep dives on approaches that are shaping modern oncology. Disclaimer: The purpose of this podcast is to educate, educate and to inform. This is not a substitute for professional medical care and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or treatment of individual conditions. Guests on this podcast express their own opinions, experience, and conclusions. Guest statements on the podcast do not express the opinions of ASCO. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement. Follow today's speakers:    Dr. Nathan Pennell   @n8pennell  @n8pennell.bsky.social  Dr. Chloe Atreya  Follow ASCO on social media:    @ASCO on X (formerly Twitter)    ASCO on Bluesky   ASCO on Facebook    ASCO on LinkedIn    Disclosures:   Dr. Nate Pennell:       Consulting or Advisory Role: AstraZeneca, Lilly, Cota Healthcare, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genentech, Amgen, G1 Therapeutics, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Viosera, Xencor, Mirati Therapeutics, Janssen Oncology, Sanofi/Regeneron      Research Funding (Institution): Genentech, AstraZeneca, Merck, Loxo, Altor BioScience, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Jounce Therapeutics, Mirati Therapeutics, Heat Biologics, WindMIL, Sanofi   Dr. Chloe Atreya: Consulting or Advisory Role: Roche Genentech, Agenus Research Funding (Institution): Novartis, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Guardant Health, Gossamer Bio, Erasca, Inc.

In a conversation with CancerNetwork®, Viviana Cortiana, MS4, medical student in the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences at the University of Bologna, and Yan Leyfman, MD, a resident physician from the Icahn School of Medicine of the Mount Sinai Health System, discussed their publication in the March 2025 issue of ONCOLOGY titled “Expanding horizons in T-cell lymphoma therapy: a focus on personalized treatment strategies.” Throughout the discussion, the authors spoke about the current lymphoma landscape, CAR T-cell therapy, and the evolving understanding of the tumor microenvironment. Specifically, Cortiana covered a shift from histology-based classification to molecular tumor type classification using next-generation sequencing, as well as a growing interest in biomarker-driven therapies. Regarding the limited efficacy of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) in T-cell lymphoma, she listed potential advances in combination therapies for angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), which include combining P13K and HDAC inhibition as well as CD30- and TRBC1-targeting CAR T-cell therapies. Furthermore, Leyfman discussed strategies that “reprogram” the microenvironment to address malignant T cells, particularly through epigenetic and adoptive cell therapies. Leyfman concluded by discussing future implications for T-cell lymphoma treatment, emphasizing an emergence of precision medicines and armored CAR engineering strategies. Authors of the manuscript published in ONCOLOGY outlined the available treatment options for peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), which include targeted therapies through EZH2 inhibition, chemotherapy with CHOP, CAR T-cell therapies, and allogenic stem cell transplantation. Additionally, they highlighted encouraging results from clinical trials evaluating epigenetic-targeted therapies through the identification of molecular aberrations, which can help tailor treatments to individual patients.  Furthermore, the article explored limitations of chemotherapy as well as autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), which may not be feasible for older patients or those with comorbidities. Authors suggested that targeted therapies may enhance tumor specificity while reducing systemic toxicity. Given the risks associated with ASCT, they emphaisized a focus on the incorporation of optimized treatment strategies, such as novel pharmaceuticals and combination therapies, into clinical practice for patients with PTCL.

#606: Hospice nurse and end-of-life educator Suzanne O'Brien joins us to discuss the financial realities of dying in America — and they might surprise you. Remember Aretha Franklin? Her handwritten will was found in her couch cushions after she passed away. Despite her substantial wealth, this simple document was legally upheld. It's a powerful reminder that having any form of will is better than none at all. But there's more to worry about than just having a will or trust. The costs of aging and dying can add up fast. Long-term care costs can quickly deplete even substantial savings. Suzanne shares a story about a couple with over $5 million who were shocked to learn how quickly 24/7 care for dementia would consume their nest egg. Traditional funerals average between $7,000-$11,000, but there are much more affordable alternatives: Home wakes and natural burials can cost just a few hundred dollars Water cremation offers an environmentally friendly option Whole body donation to medical institutions costs nothing while contributing to education Planning ahead gives you control over these decisions and spares your loved ones additional stress. Multi-generational living arrangements can also reduce caregiving costs and address concerns like isolation and safety for aging family members. Suzanne also shares stories about the emotional side of dying. Did you know some people seem to choose when they go? She tells us about a 99-year-old woman in a coma who somehow held on for days until she turned 100, then passed away that very night. Resources Mentioned: Anatomical Board of the State of Florida » College of Medicine » University of Florida US Programs » Anatomical Board of the State of Florida » College of Medicine » University of Florida NATIONAL HOME FUNERAL ALLIANCE - Home Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this compelling episode, Dr. Vera Tarman interviews Dr. Thomas Seyfried, a pioneer in the field of cancer metabolism. Dr. Seyfried challenges the mainstream view of cancer as a genetic disease and presents strong evidence that cancer is fundamentally a mitochondrial metabolic disorder. Dr. Thomas N. Seyfried is a distinguished American biologist and professor at Boston College, renowned for his pioneering work in cancer metabolism. With a Ph.D. in Genetics and Biochemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and postdoctoral training in neurochemistry at Yale University School of Medicine, Dr. Seyfried has dedicated his career to exploring the metabolic underpinnings of cancer and other neurological diseases. Dr. Seyfried is best known for his groundbreaking book, Cancer as a Metabolic Disease: On the Origin, Management, and Prevention of Cancer (2012), where he presents compelling evidence that cancer is primarily a mitochondrial metabolic disorder rather than a genetic one. This perspective builds upon the early 20th-century findings of Otto Warburg, who observed that cancer cells rely heavily on fermentation for energy production, even in the presence of oxygen—a phenomenon known as the Warburg effect. Dr. Seyfried's research suggests that targeting cancer's metabolic dependencies, such as glucose and glutamine, through dietary interventions like the ketogenic diet, could offer non-toxic therapeutic strategies. We explore: How cancer cells fuel themselves differently from healthy cells The connection between sugar, ultra-processed foods (UPFs), and cancer growth The Warburg Effect and the roles of glucose and glutamine in tumor development Whether refined sugar is carcinogenic like tobacco Why Dr. Seyfried believes ketogenic diets and caloric restriction can be powerful cancer therapies How his views align with metabolic psychiatry (Dr. Chris Palmer's Brain Energy) The controversial yet promising approach of "press-pulse" therapy The potential for preventing cancer through dietary change Follow: https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/morrissey/departments/biology/people/faculty-directory/thomas-seyfried.html https://tomseyfried.com The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.

Join Rebeca Leon on this episode of the Nurse Converse podcast as she pulls back the curtain on the world of oncology nursing. She shares her personal journey into this life-changing specialty, reflecting on the emotional highs, the profound patient connections, and the powerful community of oncology nurses. Get inspired by highlights from the 50th Oncology Nursing Society Congress and discover why this field is more critical than ever. If you've ever wondered what it's like to make a difference in the lives of cancer patients, this episode is for you. >>Inside Oncology Nursing: Stories, Challenges & Triumphs from the Frontlines of Cancer CareJump Ahead to Listen: [01:08] Oncology Nursing Society's 50th anniversary.[05:10] Oncology nursing specialties and settings.[10:57] Oncology nurses' resilience and care.[13:57] Attending oncology nursing conferences.[17:51] Customizing conference experiences for nurses.[23:45] Immunotherapy in oncology nursing.[26:00] Advancements in oncology nursing.[30:07] Oncology nursing opportunities for students.[34:37] Oncology nursing community connection.Connect with Rebeca on Social Media:Instagram: @EnfermeraMami.RNFor more information, full transcript and videos visit Nurse.org/podcastJoin our newsletter at nurse.org/joinInstagram: @nurse_orgTikTok: @nurse.orgFacebook: @nurse.orgYouTube: Nurse.org

Navigating disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of biliary tract cancer (BTC) is essential for improving patient outcomes, ensuring equitable care, and optimizing the patient experience. The Association of Cancer Care Centers (ACCC) remains committed to increasing awareness and disseminating the latest strategies for BTC management. In this episode, CANCER BUZZ explores these issues with Paige Griffith, CRNP, lead oncology nurse practitioner at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, who highlights the vital role of multidisciplinary teams in reducing care fragmentation and streamlining care delivery. CANCER BUZZ also speaks with Chaundra Bishop, a patient with biliary tract cancer, who shares her personal experience confronting systemic barriers—particularly delays and obstacles during the diagnostic process—and offers insights into how addressing such disparities can improve the patient journey for others.   “Everyone plays a role, even from early-stage disease all the way to advanced disease, and having someone help navigate patients through that very complex system is important.” – Paige Griffith, CRNP   “From the patient perspective, I think it's always important to ask for what you need, or ask questions if you don't understand something. Don't, as they say, suffer in silence.” – Chaundra Bishop   Paige Griffith, CRNP  Lead Oncology Nurse Practitioner  Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center  Baltimore, MD    Chaundra Bishop  Patient With Biliary Tract Cancer     Resources:  Bile Duct Cancer - MD Anderson Cancer Center - https://bit.ly/42YPRdT Cholangiocarcinoma - NCI - https://bit.ly/44oV4N2

Featuring perspectives from Dr Rahul Aggarwal, Ms Monica Averia, Ms Kathleen D Burns and Dr William K Oh, including the following topics: Introduction: Overview of Prostate Cancer (0:00) Recent Advances in the Treatment of Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer (8:36) Treatment Approaches for Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer (30:01) Current Role of PARP Inhibitors in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC) (47:41) Current and Future Role of Radiopharmaceuticals in mCRPC (1:09:57) NCPD information and select publications

In this week's episode, we'll learn more about how measurable residual disease might help guide decisions about post-transplant gilteritinib maintenance in FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia, or AML; how stemness contributes to chemotherapy resistance in AML; and effects of babesiosis on red blood cells from individuals with sickle cell disease, sickle cell trait, and wild-type hemoglobin. Featured Articles:Measurable residual disease and post-transplantation gilteritinib maintenance for patients with FLT3-ITD-mutated AML GATA2 links stemness to chemotherapy resistance in acute myeloid leukemia Babesiosis and Sickle Red Blood Cells: Loss of Deformability, Heightened Osmotic fragility and Hyper-vesiculation 

Dr. Shannon McLaughlin-David discusses the complexities of cervical cancer, HPV, and the role of gynecologic oncology. The dialogue explores the emotional and clinical challenges faced by both patients and clinicians, emphasizing the importance of effective communication and empathy in patient care. The discussion also highlights the various types of gynecologic cancers, surgical interventions, and the difficult decisions patients must make regarding their treatment options. This conversation delves into the complexities of patient autonomy, the emotional challenges faced by oncologists, and the systemic incentives within healthcare that can impact patient care. The discussion also covers the evolution of cervical cancer screening guidelines, the role of HPV in cervical cancer, and the importance of patient advocacy and education regarding vaccination.Resources & Links:This episode was supported by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and features the PCORI research study here: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33632649/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1746483503903350&usg=AOvVaw0SNo_jk-rzoVp85P5E3s6F ‘Effect of 2 Interventions on Cervical Cancer Screening Guideline Adherence'Chapter Codes00:00 Introduction to Cervical Cancer and HPV02:49 The Journey to Gynecologic Oncology05:57 Understanding Gynecologic Cancers09:05 Surgical Interventions in Gynecologic Oncology11:59 The Complexity of Patient Decisions15:07 Patient-Clinician Communication Challenges17:45 The Role of Empathy in Oncology21:05 Navigating Hormonal Treatments and Patient Reactions27:30 Navigating Patient Autonomy and Medical Ethics29:47 The Emotional Toll of Oncology33:00 Understanding the Healthcare System's Incentives35:58 The Role of Patient Advocacy39:05 The Evolution of Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines51:46 HPV and Its Impact on Cervical Cancer54:48 Current Screening Protocols and HPV VaccinationConnect with Us:Enjoyed this episode? Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review! Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, or Linkedin @mantacares and visit our website at mantacares.com for more episodes and updates.Listen Elsewhere: Website: https://mantacares.com/pages/podcast?srsltid=AfmBOopEP5GJ-Wd2nL-HYAInrwerIVhyJw67salKT-r9Qb_gadBvbHie YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mantacares/videosSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0rSG16JUXGnRmOPfpJSplS?si=ayogPMUMT4eHJclXn6_5xA Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-microbiomes-impact-on-colorectal-cancer/id1622669098?i=1000705538270 Tags & Keywords:cervical cancer, HPV, gynecologic oncology, patient communication, surgical interventions, women's health, cancer treatment, patient empathy, decision making, hormonal therapy, patient autonomy, medical ethics, oncology, healthcare system, patient advocacy, cervical cancer, HPV, screening guidelines, emotional toll, healthcare incentives#Storytelling #Identity #Representation #Authenticity #Podcast #Culture #CancerAwareness #MedicalPodcast #CancerSurvivor #Oncology #Healthcare #CancerSupport #PatientStories #CancerResearch #HealthPodcast #CancerCommunity #SurvivorStories #MentalHealth #Wellness #HealthcareInnovationDisclaimer:All content and information provided in connection with Manta Cares is solely intended for informational and educational purposes only. This content and information is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.This episode was supported by an award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

With over 513,000 licensed advanced practice providers (APPs) in the U.S.—including 355,000 nurse practitioners and 158,470 physician assistants—and a projected 31% growth in the next five years, APPs are playing an increasingly vital role in oncology care. In this episode, Chadi is joined by Mary DiLorenzo and Clare Stone, two seasoned APPs practicing in North Carolina, for an in-depth conversation about how the field has evolved over the past 10–15 years. Together, they explore the nuances of APP scope of practice, how responsibilities vary across institutions and physician teams, and the ways in which APPs are integrated across inpatient and outpatient settings. The discussion also dives into critical questions: Are APPs seeing new patients as well as follow-ups? Could they eventually replace oncologists in some roles? What happens when clinical opinions diverge between APPs and physicians? Why do some patients feel more comfortable opening up to their APP than their oncologist? This episode offers a timely look at how APPs are shaping the future of cancer care delivery. Check out Chadi's website for all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes and other content. www.chadinabhan.com/ Watch all Healthcare Unfiltered episodes on YouTube. www.youtube.com/channel/UCjiJPTpIJdIiukcq0UaMFsA

Send us a textThinking about board certification in oncologic physical therapy but feeling stuck on where to start — or whether you can even do it? This episode is your roadmap and your pep talk in one. Theresa Walchner, PT, shares exactly how writing her case report and earning her Oncology Specialist Certification transformed her clinical confidence and sharpened her patient care. And more importantly, she shows how you can do the same.By listening, you'll learn how to:Approach your case report with less overwhelm and more clarityAvoid common pitfalls and plan your writing timeline wiselyUse peer feedback to make both your report and your clinical reasoning strongerBuild the confidence and validation that comes with reflecting deeply on your practiceTheresa's candid advice and hard-won lessons will help you skip the guesswork and start your own board certification journey with a clear plan and new motivation. If you're serious about specializing and want to make a bigger impact in oncology rehab, this conversation is packed with the tools and mindset shifts to help you get there.Listen now!Follow TheOncoPT on Instagram.Follow TheOncoPT on LinkedIn.

Today's guest is Mallory Tucker, a mother of four and breast cancer survivor from Georgia. She shares her experience with her diagnosis, how she approached the conversation with her children, and the role therapy played in helping her navigate treatment.

With federal agency USAID now struggling to survive after being unfairly demeaned and discounted by Elon Musk and his DOGE crew, it's crucial that you hear the story of how USAID helped a poor Thai student to become a board certified radiation oncologist. Dr. Vitune Vongtama inspired both Roy and his brother Danny to follow in his footsteps. All told, the three of them have saved tens of thousands of people from dying from cancer. Dr. Roy Vongtama is also a veteran actor. You can learn why and how he continues to juggle both of his passions here: https://asianamericapodcast.com/2019/01/ep-175-roy-vongtama/

The alarming rise of early-onset cancers, particularly in individuals under 50, demands a critical shift in our understanding and approach to cancer care.  In this episode, Dr. Karin Tollefson, Chief Oncology Medical Officer at Pfizer, discusses the concerning 79% increase in cancer diagnoses among younger people since 1990, highlighting the urgent need to address this trend. She emphasizes that this is a multifactorial issue, with likely contributors including Western lifestyle factors such as poor diet, obesity, sedentary habits, and exposure to toxins, as well as genetic predispositions. Dr. Tollefson also underscores the need for increased screening accessibility, particularly with colonoscopies, and molecular testing to tailor treatments for younger patients often diagnosed at later stages. Furthermore, she addresses the importance of making clinical trials more accessible to diverse populations and ensuring comprehensive survivorship care, including mental health, family planning, and fertility considerations, as cancer survival rates increase. Finally, Dr. Tollefson calls on the need to partner with advocacy organizations and to educate the public about early detection, healthy lifestyles, and available resources.  Tune in and learn about the critical shifts needed in cancer care to address early-onset cases. Resources: Follow Dr. Karin Tollefson, Chief Oncology Medical Officer at Pfizer, on LinkedIn. Discover more about Pfizer on their LinkedIn and website. Read more on Pfizer in Oncology here.  Patient Resources/Advocacy Links: Explore This Is Living With Cancer's Advocacy Support's website. Visit the Global Colorectal Cancer Alliance's website here. (Pfizer was one of their sponsors) Learn more about the transformative work CancerCare is doing. Find CancerCare's guide on Biomarker Testing here. Read the best practices for Biomarker Testing Coverage here. (Pfizer had input and was a sponsor) Get AONN Biomarker Navigation here. For the Precision Medicine Toolkit, look here. Empower yourself or your patients with essential navigation resources–a site co-created with AONN, to find materials on breast, prostate, health equity, geriatric, and more. (Patient navigators can download and share educational tools for enhanced support.) Deepen your understanding of prostate cancer here. 

“We spent time today discussing all the ways that owners can have a positive impact on career growth, whether you're a bedside nurse or just in teaching, research, hospital leadership. More than career growth, I see ONS as kind of a barrier to burnout and a catalyst for professional self-care. I think that no matter what aspect of oncology care you're involved in, it is a difficult and complex specialty. And I think with that can come a lot of challenges and tough days, and ONS brings a sense of community to that and, specifically, a community that is pushing cancer care forward,” ONS member Amy Kaiser, MSN, CPNP-PC, told Nick Escobedo, DNP, RN, OCN®, NE-BC, member of the ONS 50th anniversary committee, during a conversation about the benefits of ONS membership. Escobedo spoke with Kaiser, who joined ONS as a student, and Susan Groenwald, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN, a charter ONS member, about how ONS membership and resources have helped them grow in their careers. Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0  Episode Notes  This episode is not eligible for NCPD.  ONS Podcast™ episodes: 50th anniversary series Episode 331: DNP and PhD Collaboration Strategies to Help Advance Oncology Care Episode 327: Journey of a Student Nurse: Choosing Oncology Nursing and the Value of a Professional Home Episode 160: Build Innovative Staff Education Tools and Resources ONS Voice articles: Your ONS Membership Offers You Benefits in Other Organizations, Too Co-Creation Modernizes ONS Chapters to Meet Member Needs ONS book: Cancer Basics (third edition) ONS course: ONS Cancer Basics™ Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing article: Professional Organization Membership: The Benefits of Increasing Nursing Participation ONS membership ONS chapters ONS Communities Connie Henke Yarbro Oncology Nursing History Center To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities. To find resources for creating an ONS Podcast Club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library. To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org. Highlights From This Episode Groenwald: “ONS was groundbreaking in so many areas. The area that sticks out to me was, I was the board liaison to the standards committee. And so, the development of oncology nursing standards, it was a hallmark and critical to the field and to me and my practice, as well as education. It was very exciting time.” TS 4:18 Kaiser: “I think that my very first introduction to cancer care came from the Cancer Basics course. I think I feel fortunate that I probably was the recipient of a lot of the efforts of Susan, who has pioneered so many of these different oncology resources. I had the benefit of being at school during a time where there were a ton of resources available through ONS.” TS 5:38 Groenwald: “Having attended the meetings and getting involved in some of the committees is where I met people and worked with people. And that became, for me, very vital for doing a book, where it was a contributed book, an edited book [Cancer Nursing: Principles and Practice], so we had lots of different chapters and contributors, but I met them all through ONS. And how we communicated was via the old-fashioned mail and telephone. I didn't even have a computer. We typed the whole manuscript, thousands and thousands of pages, the first couple editions.” TS 12:25 Kaiser: “What's so wonderful about going to [Congress] is everybody there is looking to move oncology nursing forward and meet people and connect and network. And it's this, you know, magical space of people who are meeting and sharing shared experiences, and I got to feel all of that prior to even being an oncology nurse. And I went home from that first conference, immediately discussed with my manager that I wanted to move to the oncology floor, and I did. But it was meeting all of those people and hearing about those career paths that did that for me.” TS 16:42 Kaiser: “I think people who are involved with ONS, I found, are also very, very willing to mentor. I was very fortunate as I was speaking to these people, not even being an oncology nurse, that they were so welcoming and wanted to welcome me into the specialty and wanted to show me how to get involved. So I think it's just taking that very first step of talking to somebody or going to that local chapter meeting, and then the rest of it becomes a lot easier.” TS 19:29 Groenwald: “One thing Amy mentioned that I think is important is that new nurses have so many opportunities. I think it's scary to put forth an abstract to speak at the conference. It's scary, but it's such a great opportunity for anybody at any level in their career. If they have something of interest to share, it's such a great place. I feel like it launched my career in terms of being able to speak in front of people and think critically about things and put together some projects. This all came from my work with ONS.” TS 20:51

We dive into the recognition and management of blast crisis. Hosts: Sadakat Chowdhury, MD Brian Gilberti, MD https://media.blubrry.com/coreem/content.blubrry.com/coreem/Blast_Crisis.mp3 Download Leave a Comment Tags: Hematology, Oncology Show Notes Topic Overview Blast crisis is an oncologic emergency, most commonly seen in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Defined by: >20% blasts in peripheral blood or bone marrow. May include extramedullary blast proliferation. Without treatment, median survival is only 3–6 months. Pathophysiology & Associated Conditions Usually occurs in CML, but also in: Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) Transition from chronic to blast phase often reflects disease progression or treatment resistance. Risk Factors 10% of CML patients progress to blast crisis. Risk increased in: Patients refractory to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (e.g., imatinib). Those with Philadelphia chromosome abnormalities. WBC >100,000, which increases risk for leukostasis. Clinical Presentation Symptoms often stem from pancytopenia and leukostasis: Anemia: fatigue, malaise. Functional neutropenia: high WBC count, but increased infection/sepsis risk. Thrombocytopenia: bleeding, bruising. Leukostasis/hyperviscosity effects by system: Neurologic: confusion, visual changes, stroke-like symptoms. Cardiopulmonary: ARDS, myocardial injury. Others: priapism, limb ischemia, bowel infarction.

We're honored to continue our global tour of medical education today with Professor Katarzyna Taran, MD, PhD, a pioneering interdisciplinary researcher of tumor cell biology, an award winning educator noted for her focus on student engagement, and -- in a first for a Raise the Line guest -- a shooting sports certified coach and referee. As Professor Taran explains to host Michael Carrese, these seemingly disparate professional activities require the same underlying attributes: patience, the ability to overcome barriers, openness and adaptation. She believes those last qualities are especially important for today's medical students to acquire given the accelerated pace of change in healthcare. “They need to be equipped with the ability for critical thinking, to analyze and synthesize, and to search for unconventional solutions.” Professor Taran tries to impart these skills, in addition to the medical and scientific knowledge students must know, through a high level of engagement. “Teaching is relational, so try to be familiar with students' concerns. Talk to them, listen to them and you will become someone they trust.” In this wide-ranging and engaging conversation, Professor Taran also discusses her work as the head of the Laboratory of Isotopic Fractionation in Pathological Processes in Chair of Oncology, the use of neurodidactics in teaching, and the connection between the science of pathology and the future of humans in space. Mentioned in this episode:Medical University of Lodz If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/raisethelinepodcast

What if one call could help change not just your future, but your family's too? In this episode of Real Pink, we're joined by Fanny Jackson, a compassionate and experienced Komen Patient Navigator, who walks us through how she helps callers to the Komen Patient Care Center understand and access genetic counseling and testing. Fanny shares how knowing your genetic risk for breast cancer—especially for those in Black, Latino and other underserved communities — can lead to earlier interventions, more personalized care and even save lives. We'll also talk about the systemic barriers many people face in accessing these life-changing services, and how Fanny and the Komen Patient Care Cetner team work to break those barriers down, one conversation at a time.