Podcasts about rutgers cancer institute

Dr Carla Casulo from Wilmot Cancer Institute in Rochester, New York, Dr Matthew Matasar from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick and Dr Laurie H Sehn from BC Cancer Centre for Lymphoid Cancer in Vancouver discuss recent updates on available and novel treatment strategies for relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma. CME information and select publications here.

Dr Carla Casulo from Wilmot Cancer Institute in Rochester, New York, Dr Matthew Matasar from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick and Dr Laurie H Sehn from BC Cancer Centre for Lymphoid Cancer in Vancouver discuss recent updates on available and novel treatment strategies for relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma. CME information and select publications here.

Dr Carla Casulo from Wilmot Cancer Institute in Rochester, New York, Dr Matthew Matasar from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick and Dr Laurie H Sehn from BC Cancer Centre for Lymphoid Cancer in Vancouver discuss recent updates on available and novel treatment strategies for relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma. CME information and select publications here.

Steve Adubato talks with Steven K. Libutti, MD, Sr. Vice President of Oncology Services at RWJBarnabas Health and William N. Hait, Director at Rutgers Cancer Institute, about the partnership between RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute and the connection between innovation and leadership. Then, Senior Correspondent Jacqui Tricarico is joined by John Hunter, Founder of … Continue reading "Steven K. Libutti, MD; John Hunter"

Host: Charles Turck, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP Guest: Matthew Matasar, MD When treating relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma (R/R LBCL) with CAR T-cell therapy, the risk of adverse events is a key consideration. Models such as PhasED-Seq and CAR-HEMATOTOX can help clinicians assess the patient's risk and personalize care plans regarding treatment selection and location, prophylactic regimen, and early intervention strategies. Tune in to hear Dr. Charles Turck and Dr. Matthew Matasar discuss the importance of these models in identifying individual factors, which can maximize the benefits of CAR T-cell therapy and reduce toxicities. Dr. Matasar is the Chief of the Division of Blood Disorders at Rutgers Cancer Institute and a Professor of Medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

In a conversation with CancerNetwork® at the 2024 Annual Oncology Clinical Practice and Research Summit, Andrew M. Evens, DO, MBA, MSc, spoke about a session he moderated at the meeting, in which he and other panelists highlighted ongoing efforts to improve the quality of care for cancer survivors at his institution.  Evens is the deputy director for Clinical Services at Rutgers Cancer Institute and the system director of Medical Oncology and the oncology lead at RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group. He is also the associate vice chancellor for Clinical Innovation and Data Analytics at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences. Evens contextualized the presentation by describing various gaps in care for survivors of cancer, particularly among adolescent and young adult populations or those who become “lost in transition” as they switch from pediatric to adulthood survivorship. He emphasized a growing effort to mitigate the risks of post-acute or late effects following prior anti-cancer therapy, which can include cardiac disease, lung disease, or increased infections associated with chemotherapy or radiation.  As part of elevating the level of care for cancer survivors, Evens described the collaborative efforts across different departments at his institution, including medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists; pharmacists; nurses; pathologists; and members of the clinical research team. Other international research projects, including those formed in association with the National Cancer Institute, aim to elucidate the granularity of treatment-related toxicity, which may help inform better survivorship care strategies.  “Survivorship includes many factors,” Evens said. “There are physical and emotional factors, and we want to do everything we can as a comprehensive cancer program, and to do what's best for the patient in a holistic manner. [Beyond the] cancer, it also means the emotional factors and health behavior modifications. For the rest of their life, [we want to] help the patient in every way possible so they can live the most fruitful life. A high quality of life is what we strive for.” Reference Evens A, Cole P, Ligresti L, Manne S. Cancer survivorship: scale, scope, and partnerships for patient-centered care. Presented at the 2024 Annual Oncology Clinical Practice and Research Summit; November 15-16, 2024; New Brunswick, NJ.

Aubrey Reichard-Eline is a dedicated advocate and fundraiser who has turned her family's battle with cancer into a mission for change. Listen as Aubrey recounts the life-altering moments following her daughter Grace's brain tumor diagnosis and her subsequent career shift from the fashion industry to pediatric cancer research fundraising. Discover how Aubrey balances the demands of engaging deeply with cancer-related topics while ensuring her own and her family's well-being.Aubrey shares her insights on the importance of psychosocial research, the pivotal role of resilience and humor, and the urgent need for interventions focusing on survivorship and psychosocial well-being in cancer treatment. Emphasizing her work with the With Grace Initiative and excitement for new research endeavors at Rutgers Cancer Institute, Aubrey invites listeners to join her in advocating for and supporting innovative treatments for pediatric cancer.This episode will inspire anyone involved in or affected by pediatric cancer to transform adversity into opportunities, motivating them to join conversations about creating impactful change. Get ready to be moved by Aubrey's story and learn how to be a part of the transformative power of community and research.Support Cannonball Kids cancer and their mission and don't forget to like, subscribe, and share to educate for change.Connect with Dana: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danaknichols/Connect with Val: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-solomon-516b50b8/Upcoming Ckc Events: https://cannonballkidscancer.org/category/make-an-impact/events/Learn more about the Cannonball Kids cancer Foundation: https://cannonballkidscancer.org/GameOverCancer. #PediatricCancer  #CannonballKidsCancer  #CancerResearch #ChildhoodCancerAwareness

As part of Oncology On the Go, CancerNetwork® spoke with Andrew M. Evens, DO, MBA, MSc, about developments in the treatment landscape for adolescents and young adults (AYA) with lymphoma. He highlighted collaboration between adult and pediatric oncologists that may better standardize treatment for this population.  Evens is the deputy director for clinical services at the Rutgers Cancer Institute and system director of medical oncology and oncology lead at RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group. Of note, Evens discussed an effort to “harmonize” efforts between adult and pediatric oncologists in treating AYA patients who may receive different treatment regimens, despite being similar in age. Furthermore, he highlighted 2 prominent trials that illustrated collaborative efforts from both adult and pediatric oncologists: the phase 3 SWOG S1826 trial (NCT03907488) and the phase 3 AHOD2131 trial (NCT05675410). Regarding the SWOG trial, Evens highlighted the greater efficacy and tolerability of nivolumab (Opdivo) with doxorubicin hydrochloride (Adriamycin), vinblastine sulfate, and dacarbazine (AVD) vs the standard of care brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) plus AVD.  “You could say it was, generally speaking, a double winner. [The nivolumab combination] was more effective at 2 years; the progression-free survival [PFS] was greater than 90%, [which was] a remarkable output. When I say a double winner, it was also largely better tolerated. There was less neuropathy, [fewer] infections, and less sepsis [vs brentuximab vedotin plus AVD]. Surprisingly, to a certain extent, [there were] not many immune-related adverse events outside of thyroid [events],” Evens said. Furthermore, Evens discussed how collaboration between adult and pediatric oncology has impacted developments in the AYA lymphoma sphere. He placed a particular emphasis on the efforts of the Lymphoma Research Foundation, which convened multiple AYA lymphoma symposiums and established an AYA consortium. He then outlined unmet needs for this patient population, which included mitigating late toxicities following treatment and addressing inconsistencies in guidelines for lymphoma treatment in the AYA group. Evens then discussed mitigating disparities and addressing barriers to care, underscoring a need to navigate the complexities of treatment for a patient population with a myriad of stressors. He concluded by highlighting resources available to AYA lymphoma groups, which include educational, medical, and psychosocial resources to best educate patients and express to them that they are not alone.  “At the end of the day, be an advocate. Be an advocate for yourself. Be an advocate for others and know that there are [many] resources and people out there to help. We want to make sure nobody has to go through this alone, and that they have the medical and other psychosocial resources available to them,” Evens concluded.

“There is an old saying that if you ignore your teeth, they'll go away. I think that's a true, true statement. People may think they can get away without daily hygiene. I think that's kind of important, that you should at least get your teeth taken care of at least once or twice a day by brushing and flossing. I mean this has been proven. Our dental people have really taken the lead on preventive care with oral hygiene in that respect,” Raymond Scarpa, DNP, APN-C, AOCN® clinical program manager of head and neck oncology and supervisory advanced practice nurse in the department of otolaryngology at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey at University Hospital in Newark,told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BS, AOCNS®, manager of oncology nursing practice at ONS, during a conversation about the importance of oral health for patients with cancer. Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0  Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by October 25, 2026. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. Learning outcome: Learners will report an increase in knowledge related to oral care for patients with cancer. Episode Notes  Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.  Oncology Nursing Podcast™ episodes: Episode 269: Cancer Symptom Management Basics: Gastrointestinal Complications Episode 116: Screen and Manage Malnutrition in Patients With Cancer ONS Voice articles: Manage Late Effects From HPV-Positive Oropharyngeal Cancers Nursing Considerations for Head and Neck Cancer Survivorship Care Research Shows That Vaping Alters Mouth Microbes The Case of the Missing Oral Mucositis What Advanced Practice Providers Need to Know About Oral Mucositis ONS book: Clinical Manual for the Oncology Advanced Practice Nurse (Fourth Edition) ONS course: Introduction to Nutrition in Cancer Care Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles: Dental Care: Unmet Oral Needs of Patients With Cancer and Survivors HPV-Positive Oropharyngeal Cancer: The Nurse's Role in Patient Management of Treatment-Related Sequelae Low-Level Laser Therapy: A Literature Review of the Prevention and Reduction of Oral Mucositis in Patients Undergoing Stem Cell Transplantation ONS Symptom Interventions: Mucositis American Cancer Society Oral Cavity (Mouth) and Oropharyngeal (Throat) Cancer Palliative Treatment for Oral Cavity and Oropharyngeal Cancer Head and Neck Cancer Alliance To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities. To find resources for creating an Oncology Nursing 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 “Radiation, with or without a combination of chemotherapy, can lead to xerostomia, which is like a dry mouth. When this occurs, there's reduced or even absent salivary flow. When this happens, it can lead to mucositis, which is a very painful swelling of the mucous membranes in the oral cavity. This increases the risk of infection and compromises speaking, chewing, and swallowing. Certain chemotherapeutic agents can also accelerate and increase the severity of these side effects.” TS 3:54 “I think pretreatment of the oral cavity prior to starting any of these treatments is a key to managing some of the side effects that can occur. This includes a referral to the dentist for any kind of extractions and removal of any nonviable dentation, along with providing some what they call fluoride treatments. The nurses can also influence the patient by helping them with their nutrition. It's important for them to continue to try to swallow despite some of the side effects that can cause the discomfort in swallowing.” TS 6:53 “I always encourage [patients] to try to use soft-bristle toothbrushes, [water flossers] if necessary, soft foods, nonspicy foods, foods with moderate temperatures. … Try to make sure that they have enough lubrication to get the nutrition they need by including some gravies or sauces or water to help them swallow when their saliva is altered due to these side effects from the treatments.” TS 10:18 “I've been working in the head and neck cancer field for quite some time, and over the years, I've come to realize that this is probably one of the most devastating types of malignancies that someone has. … Head and neck cancer and oral cancers—they affect your basic survival needs. They affect your ability to communicate. They affect your ability to take in nutrition. They can affect your ability to breathe and certainly affect when someone looks at you. It's right there. It's staring them in the face. You can see the side effects of their treatments.” TS 22:41

CANCERBUZZ speaks with guests at the 2024 NOC Gala event about what they are looking for at the conference.    Guests:  Una Hopkins, DNP, MSN, BSN, FNP-BC, NE-BC, FACCC, RN ACCC President-Elect Director for Research and Evidence Based Practice Montefiore Medical Center Bronx, NY   Nadine Barrett, PhD, MA, MS ACCC President Senior Associate Dean, Research Equity and Community Engagement Wake Forest School of Medicine Durham, North Carolina   Russell C. Langan, MD, FACS, FSSO Director of Surgical Oncology RWJBarnabas Health and the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey Jersey City, New Jersey   Brittany McArn, OPN-CG, CPPN ACCC Advisory Committee Financial Navigation Manager, Outpatient Oncology Services FirstHealth of the Carolinas, Inc. Pinehurst, NC   Beau Palin Co-Founder & COO Colla Health    JiaJoyce Conway, DNP, CRNP, AOCNP ACCC Board of Trustees Nurse Practitioner Cancer Care Associates of York York, PA   Resources: ACCC 41st National Oncology Conference

This AI-driven incidental findings program identifies and then monitors pancreatic abnormalities to improve the quality of care to patients who are at increased risk for developing pancreatic cancer. To do so, the patient management software integrates with the electronic health record and facilitates patient identification, risk assessment, care plan tracking, patient and provider communication, outcomes recording, and registry functionality. In the 2 years following program implementation, 82 pancreatic cancers were detected from incidental findings with 65% of patients being diagnosed in earlier stages (stages I, II, and II), as well as instances of ampullary cancer, gallbladder cancer, and gastric cancer. Guest:   Russell Langan, MD, FACS, FSSO Associate Chief Surgical Officer, System Integration and Quality & Director of Surgical Oncology RWJBarnabas Health, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center Livingston, New Jersey   “There remains a knowledge gap with respect to the risk associated with pancreatic cysts. Many patients are identified to have a pancreatic cyst on an incidental scan and then told [by providers] that there's no risk. [Some] patients will then return years later with pancreatic cancer. And it's very unfortunate because we know that risk could have been addressed when it was in its precancerous state.” —Russell Langan, MD, FACS, FSSO   Hear more about this innovation at the ACCC 41st National Oncology Conference, October 9-11, 2024, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Register today.   Additional Resources: Reimagining Healthcare for Incidental Lung Nodules Oncology Capture of ED Patients with Incidental Radiologic Findings Pancreatic Cancer and Community Engagement: A Scoping Review of the Literature Let's Win Pancreatic Cancer: A Partner for Patients and Care Teams

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Matthew Matasar of Rutgers Cancer Institute, and Elizabeth Stone, who was diagnosed with… The post Patient-Doctor Perspectives: Resilience in Relapsed/Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma first appeared on The Bloodline with LLS.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Matthew Matasar of Rutgers Cancer Institute, and Elizabeth Stone, who was diagnosed with… The post Patient-Doctor Perspectives: Resilience in Relapsed/Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma first appeared on The Bloodline with LLS.

Recorded at the first “HemOnc Pulse” Live meeting, this podcast episode features a panel discussion on unanswered questions in Hodgkin lymphoma with Andrew Evens, DO, MBA, MSc, Director of the Lymphoma Program and Associate Director of Rutgers Cancer Institute; Grzegorz Nowakowski, MD, a Professor of Oncology and Medicine in Division of Hematology at the Mayo Clinic; and Jane Winter, MD, a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

In this episode of Targeted Talks, M. Michele Blackwood, MD, FACS, director of breast surgery, Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ), Barnabas Health, director of women's oncologic health, RWJ Barnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute, and head of breast surgery, Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, discusses the current landscape of breast cancer treatment and how personalized medicine with genomic testing is changing the field.

Steve Adubato and Mary Gamba sit down with Ira Robbins, CEO, Valley Bank, to talk about the importance of innovation, lifelong learning and investing in your people, as well as work-life balance and integration. Then, Steve and Mary talk with Steven K. Libutti, MD, Director, Rutgers Cancer Institute, Sr. VP, Oncology Services, RWJBarnabas Health, about … Continue reading Lessons in Leadership: Ira Robbins and Dr. Steve Libutti

Dr Andrew M Evens from the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick and Dr Sonali M Smith from the University of Chicago in Illinois discuss clinical decision-making with numerous treatment strategies for lymphoma.

Dr Andrew M Evens from the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick and Dr Sonali M Smith from the University of Chicago in Illinois discuss clinical decision-making with numerous treatment strategies for lymphoma, moderated by Dr Neil Love. Produced by Research To Practice. CME information and select publications here (https://www.researchtopractice.com/YiR2023/Lymphoma).

Salma Jabbour, MD, Professor and Vice Chair of Radiation Oncology at Rutgers Cancer Institute, provides an invaluable perspective rooted in her extensive experience and passion for radiation oncology. Dr. Jabbour delves into the transformative changes witnessed in radiation oncology over the past two decades, contrasting its trajectory with precision oncology. She shares compelling insights into the PROSPECT trial's innovative approach of omitting radiation therapy entirely for rectal cancer patients, emphasizing the "impressive" results unveiled in the study. Then, the New York Times articles characterizing radiation as "brutal" for patients in this context is considered, and Dr. Jabbour navigates the complexities, challenges, and potential paradigm shifts these findings might signal for the field. 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

ASCO: You're listening to a podcast from Cancer.Net. This cancer information website is produced by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, known as ASCO, the voice of the world's oncology professionals. 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. Guests' statements on this 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. Cancer research discussed in this podcast is ongoing, so data described here may change as research progresses. In this Meaningful Conversations podcast, Dr. Richard Lee talks to Dr. Tara Sanft and Dr. Biren Saraiya about what people with advanced cancer should know, including the value of palliative and supportive care and ways to talk with their families and healthcare teams about their health care wishes. Meaningful Conversations is a Cancer.Net blog and podcast series that describes the important discussions people may need to have with their providers, caregivers, and loved ones during cancer and offers ways to help navigate these conversations. Dr. Lee is a Clinical Professor in the Departments of Supportive Care Medicine and Medical Oncology at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center and serves as the Medical Director of the Integrative Medicine Program. He is also the 2023 Cancer.Net Associate Editor for Palliative Care. Dr. Sanft is a medical oncologist and Chief Patient Experience Officer at Smilow Cancer Hospital, the Medical Director of the Yale Survivorship Clinic, and Associate Professor of Medicine in Medical Oncology at Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Saraiya is a medical oncologist at Rutgers Cancer Institute and Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology, Solid Tumor Section at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Both Dr. Sanft and Dr. Biren are members of the 2023 Cancer.Net Advisory Panel for Palliative and Supportive Care. View disclosures for Dr. Lee, Dr. Sanft, and Dr. Saraiya at Cancer.Net. Dr. Lee: Hi, my name is Richard Lee. I'm a clinical professor here at City of Hope and also the Cherng Family Director's Chair for the Center for Integrative Oncology. I'm really happy to be here today and talking about the topic of advanced care planning. And I'll have Dr. Tara Sanft and also Dr. Biren Saraiya introduce themselves as well. Dr. Sanft: Thanks, Dr. Lee. I'm Tara Sanft. I'm a breast medical oncologist at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. I am board certified in medical oncology and hospice and palliative medicine. I do direct the survivorship clinic, which is an appropriate place for advanced care planning that we can touch on today. I'm really happy to be here. Dr. Saraiya: Hi, my name is Biren Saraiya. I'm a medical oncologist focused on GU medical oncology and also a board-certified palliative care physician. I'm at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. My focus is on decision-making. My research interest in decision-making and end-of-life planning for patients with serious medical illnesses. And I do a lot of teaching on this topic at our medical school. And I'm also glad to be here, and I do not have any relevant financial disclosures. Dr. Lee: Thank you so much for both of you for being here. I should also add, I don't have any relevant financial or disclosures, conflicts of interest. Dr. Sanft: Thank you. I'd like to add that I do not either. Thanks for the reminder. Dr. Lee: Yes. Thank you both. And so this is a really important topic that we deal with when we see patients, especially those with more advanced cancer. Could you talk about when we say advanced cancer, what does that really mean? Dr. Saraiya: When I think of advanced cancer, it is either cancer that has come back, recurred, or that is no longer curable, no longer something that we can't completely get rid of. So many times, it is what we call stage four cancer. Each cancer is a bit different. So it's a general rule of thumb, but not necessarily intelligible for every single cancer. But that's what I mean when I say advanced cancers to my patients. Dr. Lee: How about yourself, Dr. Sanft? Do you use a similar concept, or is it a little bit different? Dr. Sanft: I agree with all that's been said. Advanced cancer typically involves the spread of the cancer to other sites outside of the primary site. And the strategy tends to be a chronic long-term management strategy rather than curative treatment, although not always. And as our science becomes more advanced and sophisticated, these terms can apply to people with all different tumor types and locations of involvement, and that's really exciting. But in general, advanced cancer is very serious and can often be life-threatening and needs to be dealt with always. Dr. Lee: And that leads into the next question, which is, if it's not possible to completely cure the cancer, does that mean there's no treatment available for these patients? Dr. Sanft: Absolutely not. Does it mean that there is no treatment? Even when anti-cancer treatment may not help the situation, there is treatment. And I think as palliative care professionals, in addition to being medical oncologists, treating symptoms and treating suffering that comes with symptoms from cancer is always on the table from the time of diagnosis through the balance of life. And when a diagnosis comes through that is life-threatening or advanced or stage four, it is very common to pursue anti-cancer treatment, sometimes many different types of treatment. And it's very rare that someone with a new diagnosis of advanced cancer would not qualify for any anti-cancer treatment. Dr. Lee: Thank you. And moving along with that same concept, Dr. Saraiya, could you talk about what are the kinds of treatment options available to patients with advanced cancer? And then could you comment a little bit what Dr. Sanft was talking about, which is also there's anti-cancer treatments, but then there's also these treatments that help with quality of life and symptoms. And can they be coordinated together? Are we choosing one or the other? Dr. Saraiya: That's a great question. The way I think about this is I always want to focus on what's important for the person in front of me, what's important for the patient. And so even when there is no cure for the cancer, it is certainly treatable. And as Dr. Sanft pointed out, we have many treatments, many types of treatments. So they are delivered by someone like me or Dr. Sanft who are medical oncologists, but also by our colleagues in radiation and surgery and our colleagues in palliative medicine. So it depends on what the symptoms are; we can discuss how to best address it. And sometimes it requires radiation, short course of radiation. Sometimes that's the most effective thing. Sometimes it requires medicines that are by mouth or chemotherapy that are intravenous or by mouth or immunotherapy or different kinds of newer agents that we are using these days. So they can be delivered under the care of a medical oncologist. We can also have sometimes something that's very painful, and the surgeon can remove it. And that is also just as good of an option. So what we choose to do depends on what the objective is, what we are trying to accomplish. And to me, at any point in time I see a patient, every single person I meet with, my goal is how do I help them live better? What's important for the quality of life? And many times is what I do as a medical oncologist, many times it's just listening to them and talking to them and providing support, either myself or my staff or social work. And many times, it's my colleagues in palliative medicine who are helping me care for their symptoms such as pain, other symptoms that I may have a hard time addressing by myself. And so we call on their help when we can't address it. Dr. Lee: We've touched upon the topic of palliative care and supportive care, that terminology. And I'm wondering if you could expand on that so we have a common understanding. And how is that different than hospice care? Dr. Saraiya: This is how I explain to my patients and my students, which is to say, when I went to medicine and I asked my students this question, how many times do we actually cure cancer or cure anything, forget cancer, just anything? And the fact is that most times we don't cure many diseases. So things like high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, liver disease. We don't cure things outside cancer as well. But what we do is we help patients live long and well for long periods of time. We focus on quality of life. And in essence, we are providing palliative care. So I define palliative care anything that helps patients live better or live well. Sometimes we can cure things as well. So many cancers are curable. But let's say you have extensive surgery for a cure of the cancer, but you have pain from the surgery. We certainly help give you pain medicines. That's palliative care. And so for me, palliative care is anything that we do to help alleviate patient's symptoms. It can be delivered by the surgeon who prescribes pain medicine postop, by radiation doctor, who helps with palliative radiation, by medical oncologists like myself and Dr. Sanft, who give medicines for nausea, vomiting, or other symptoms that either the treatments or the cancer itself is causing. When we need help of our colleagues who specialize in this is specialized palliative care. And some just call it supportive care. It's just a naming terminology. As long as we are helping patients live better, any intervention we make to me is palliative and supportive care. At a time when we agree, both patients and we agree that look, our focus is just on comfort. We are not going to focus on cancer anymore. And we're going to focus on just quality of life. That can be dealt with palliative care and hospice care. Hospice care is a very specific defined insurance benefit that requires certain certification. And that's the difference. So palliative is something required from day one, I meet a patient. It doesn't matter what they have until the end of their life. And sometimes even after that, caring for their loved ones after the patient has died is also palliation. Hospice care is a very small piece of that when we are just focused on end-of-life care. Dr. Lee: I appreciate that understanding. And I think it's a great point that you make that anyone can be providing palliative and supportive care. It doesn't take necessarily specialists, but different types of oncologists and other clinicians can be providing in addition to specialists. And Dr. Sanft, could you talk a little bit about this concept about after kind of after a patient may pass through hospice? Dr. Saraiya was mentioning about emotional and spiritual support. How can we help patients find that kind of support from diagnosis through the whole journey? Dr. Sanft: Yeah. I really think of palliative care as taking care of the whole patient. So not just treating the disease, but really addressing the emotional, spiritual, and other physical aspects that cancer and its treatment can impact on a human being that's undergoing this. And then, of course, the entire family unit. So the importance of addressing all of these aspects has been shown in so many different ways. And getting palliative care involved early can really impact how that individual does with their disease course. But it can also provide the structures around that spiritual and emotional health for the patient and their family from diagnosis throughout. And as Dr. Saraiya mentioned, when the time gets short and the end-of-life time is near, palliative care and hospice care in particular can really provide a lot of that bereavement support or that anticipation of loss. And then, of course, all the grief that comes after the loss. Dr. Lee: And could you expand a little bit in terms of if patients are starting to feel some emotional spiritual needs, how do they find help? Or what should they be doing in terms of connecting with their clinical team to get that type of support? Dr. Sanft: I would like to say first that I think part of it is on the medical team ourselves to ask patients. Our culture in general is not one that often openly discusses emotions. So what I teach the medical students is, for every visit, how are you doing with all of this emotionally? And that is a very open-ended question that patients can reflect on and share what they're comfortable sharing with their providers. Now, not all of us who are practicing learned these techniques when we were going through medical school. So your doctor and medical team might not automatically ask about your emotional health. So it is within a patient's right to say, "I would like to discuss with you how this is impacting me emotionally. Could I share that with you?" And really, I think most healthcare professionals come into this profession to help. And this is a very rewarding conversation to understand how this is impacting you and your family emotionally and then trying to get the support that is needed. Most cancer teams have social workers that are highly trained in assessing and counseling and helping patients get triaged into the help that they need, whether it be a support group or a psychologist or a psychiatrist or all of the above. Usually, social workers are embedded in many cancer teams. And if it's not a social worker, it may be another trained professional who can deal with this. But certainly, the medical team is the place to start and to really raise emotional health and spiritual health issues, even though we might not routinely be asking at every visit. Dr. Lee: Great points. And as we think about the journey and we talked a little bit about hospice care and kind of the end phases, sometimes patients fear losing their capacity or ability to really think clearly and maybe even make their own decisions. How can patients in these situations who are concerned about making their wishes known, how can they make sure that's communicated if there is a situation, maybe temporary, maybe longer lasting, which they have trouble with making medical decisions on their own? Dr. Saraiya? Dr. Saraiya: So I think, hopefully, all adults, all of us, have sort of thought about what-if scenarios in our lives, right? I think the thing I tell my patients that maybe there are three or four people in the room, and it's entirely possible, I'm not the one here tomorrow morning because accidents happen. And we certainly have seen that in our daily lives that suddenly things happen. So hopefully, every adult has thought about it. I always prompt my patients to tell me what they have thoughts about, what thoughts they have had. And I ensure that they have some sort of documentation. This is what we call advanced care planning documentation. Sometimes it's a living will, healthcare proxy. Different states might have different documentation. And many of them may have had it as part of their normal will or their sort of lawyers have drawn it up. I always ask them to sort of just tell me or discuss with me what they have written down. If they have not, I encourage them to have that conversation with their loved one. And there are two points. One, at least have had that thought, and the second, have the conversation. At no point in time do I want my patients' family, their loved ones, whether it's a spouse, whether it's a child, to have to answer the question, "What do you want for your loved one?" It's always about, "What will your loved one want for themselves?" And so that is my responsibility to facilitate the conversation to make sure that the patient and the family has had that discussion. Once they've had it, document it, whether it's an advanced care planning or many states like my state of New Jersey have specific forms for-- it's called Physician Orders For Life-Sustaining Therapies [POLST]. So especially in a setting with advanced care and we know we had the conversation. We can't cure this. It's about their quality of life, how they want to live. And patients have the absolute right to tell us and guide our decisions in what kind of treatments are acceptable and not acceptable. And that can only happen if you had the conversation. We have discussed things that are important for them. Are they okay being in a situation where they are not able to communicate? And whatever the what-if scenarios are for themselves, let's help figure those things out and make sure that we value their opinion, their autonomy at every single point by completing this advanced care planning documentation, and more importantly, having the conversation with loved ones so they can ask the question, what would your loved one want in the situation? Dr. Lee: Those are really good points. And I imagine a lot of individuals, a lot of patients, may not have had that conversation. And so what suggestions do you have for patients who are maybe newly diagnosed? They're just totally surprised by the diagnosis. Unfortunately, it may be, in some cases, it's advanced. Dr. Sanft, how would you suggest patients discuss this topic with their family and friends? Are there certain types of questions to be thinking about or certain topics? Dr. Sanft: Oftentimes, in the midst of a new diagnosis, the whirlwind of having that upside-down feeling is so strong that it's very difficult to then think out into the future. However, once the treatment plan is in place, that tends to be a time where things could sort of be evaluated and the horizon might seem a little bit more stable. And I think most patients are willing to admit that the gravity and the seriousness of the situation that's facing them, yet it's very difficult to really reflect on what might happen in the future or what you might want. I think it's really important from a patient perspective to think, "What are your most important priorities?" And that could be a good framework to start to think about if you aren't able to do these priorities, then what else would you want? So if being able to walk around your yard and enjoy the garden is a very high priority, even identifying that and understanding that can give you some framework, or talking about that with your loved one can give you some framework down the line if that becomes an impossibility. If interacting and talking with your children or your grandchildren is one of the highest priorities, if that ever became impaired, then how would that influence what you would want? So again, it doesn't have to be yes/no questions that you're answering, but it can really be an understanding of what brings you joy, what are the most important parts of your life, and if those were threatened, then how would you reevaluate the quality of your life? Dr. Lee: I think that's a good way of framing the priorities and thinking through that with your loved ones. And for Dr. Saraiya, next after they've had some of these discussions, what should they be asking you and Dr. Sanft as the healthcare providers and helping to guide along these important conversations around advanced care planning? Dr. Saraiya: I will answer that question, but I just want to sort of highlight what Dr. Sanft said is so important, which is really prioritizing and framing. And I think framing is so important. And to sort of put some of the other things Dr. Sanft talked about, the emotional and spiritual support, when someone walks into our office, many times they're really scared. And I take this opportunity to really sort of ask them important questions like, "What are your worries?" Which allows for them to emote a bit about what their worries are. And sometimes it's uncomfortable, right, because they're crying. They're worried about death and dying and what it means for the family. It's hard for the family. It makes a lot of us uncomfortable. But I think it's also very important. So I do take the opportunity early in my interaction with patients just to allow them to emote and just to process their worries. And sometimes I'm acknowledging their worries. Sometimes I'm telling them that those worries are maybe not reasonable, right? Sometimes people say, "Well, I'm going to die next month." And they know that's not the expectation. So they have worries that may be unreasonable. So I can help talk and address specific worries at that point in time. So we do have to-- and again, this is why we have a team. Many times, patients are not comfortable talking to me about some of their worries, but they are much more apt to talk to my social worker or my nurse or my infusion nurse where they spend hours at times. And they will tell them things that they may not tell me. They will talk about some of the side effects that they have that they won't tell me because they worry. This is my hypothesis and what the research shows. They worry that because I hold that key to that chemotherapy or that key to that treatment, that if this is something that I may not like, I might hold it. And so patients have this natural tendency to not tell me absolutely everything. That's why we have a team. We gather all the information to make sure that we sort of make the right decisions. Sometimes we do have to help patients and families facilitate their conversations to make sure that we address their worries, their fears, their emotions. And it can be done, as I said before, just by us as the primary oncology team or our palliative care team or our social workers or nurses. All of us provide a different role for each patient. And in some patient cases, it is me, and some patients sometimes it's my nurse or sometimes it's my infusion nurse, or sometimes my social worker. And sometimes I do need the help of my palliative care and hospice colleagues. Dr. Lee: And, Dr. Saraiya, coming back in terms of just guiding patients, are there certain questions you wish your patients might ask you in terms of helping to kind of navigate these difficult conversations? Dr. Saraiya: I think many patients have this one question, that they have a hard time asking, which is, what's the treatment goal? And many times, we talk about is this something that's treatable. And the answer is yes. That was one of the first questions we're asked. Is it treatable? But many times patients have a question is it curable? And if the answer is no, then what does that mean? Or even if the answer is yes. What does that mean? I think most of us in our lives think about what-if scenarios, but it's really hard to ask those questions. So what I advise and sometimes I facilitate this, but I encourage if you're listening to this, you're a patient, ask your oncologist, "Well, what does this actually mean for me?" And if you have those questions, ask them, "What if this happens? This is my worry. Can I just tell you what my worries are and address them?" And with the worries, also come my hopes. Here's what I'm hoping for. How can I get there? How can you help me get there? And as Dr. Sanft sort of talked about before, if I have a situation where someone tells me, "This is my hope”, but I can't do it, it's not likely, I will tell them. But I will also tell them what we can accomplish, what we can do. And so I think having that honest conversation and patients and families can talk amongst themselves, but also with us as clinical teams to just make sure that we, at all points in time, address and put them and their needs in the center of focus. Dr. Lee: Great questions. And Dr. Sanft, do you have any other questions you wish your patients would ask you in terms of helping to guide these challenging conversations? Dr. Sanft: It's helpful for patients to come at questions about what to expect directly with us. I think it's most helpful when patients say, "Here's the deal. I'm feeling fine right now, and I want to keep going as long as I feel fine. And I want you to offer me every line of treatment until I don't feel like it's going to be worth it anymore. And we can continue to talk about that. And we'll do this together. I will let you know when I'm ready." And that allows me to say, "Okay. I appreciate what you're saying, and I agree with this plan, and we're on the same page. And when I see signs that things aren't going well, I will tell you." And it sort of sets these expectations upfront that we are all on the same page. We all want the same things. And we commit to each other, "You're going to tell me when this gets too hard, and I'm going to tell you when I think that this isn't helping anymore." And so it allows for this open dialogue to continue throughout. Dr. Lee: Well, this has been a great conversation, and learned a lot and think about priorities. And I think you make a very good point. This is an ongoing discussion. It's not a single discussion you have, and then it's done. It's really an ongoing process through the whole journey. Do either of you have anything else to add in terms of helping patients who are addressing advanced care planning? Dr. Saraiya: My biggest ask or sort of consideration is all of us, as Dr. Sanft said in the beginning, all of us came into this to really sort of help. And that is still our primary goal. And good communication really facilitates that. And we have, as a medical team, have to sort of do, as Dr. Sanft pointed out, sort of explore a bit more and really address the concerns. At the same time, you also have to develop a language that we can all understand, both understand, patients and doctors. And I think that's the key work. And I think it's so important to have that partnership with our patients and our families to make sure that we are doing the attentive care that they deserve and they need. So I think having an honest conversation. One thing I always reflect on is for my patients, they may start in the beginning saying what's most important for me is-- and we are in Jersey so going to the casino on the weekends in Atlantic City. And that's the most important thing for me. But there comes a time when they say, "No, I've changed my mind. Most important thing is having the Friday night dinner with my family." And a few months later, maybe, “I've changed my mind. You know what's really important? If I can just sit in the patio on my rocking chair and enjoy that. Can you help me make those things happen?” I think having those conversations, being aware that we can change our minds, I think is absolutely fine. It's encouraged. And I think that's what we expect. Dr. Lee: Dr. Sanft? Dr. Sanft: Oh, I love that. I think I love that. I'm so glad that you brought that up. And the only thing I would add to that is if there are things that you know in your heart you absolutely would not want, telling it to someone, your partner, your family, your decision-makers, and your medical team will really help make sure that that does not come to fruition. So it can be scary to voice those things, but most of us have an idea of what we would never want to have happen. And saying that out loud and making sure that someone close to you, ideally, also your medical team, but certainly someone who's close to you understands what that line is. That can help decisions that need to be made in difficult times make sure that they honor, that they know that that was not what you ever wanted to have, and we can help make sure that that doesn't happen. Dr. Lee: Well, I want to thank both Dr. Saraiya and Dr. Sanft. This has been fantastic. I learned a lot myself in terms of communication and addressing advanced care planning. And I hope all of you listening also were able to learn some pearls of wisdom from both of them. I think your patients are very lucky to have both of you. Feel free to look at Cancer.Net if there's more questions and a lot of information around advanced cancer and treatments and advanced care planning and having these discussions. So thank you both again. And stay tuned for more podcasts on these important topics. ASCO: Thank you, Dr. Lee, Dr. Sanft, and Dr. Saraiya. Find more podcasts and blog posts in the Meaningful Conversations series at www.cancer.net/meaningfulconversations. Cancer.Net Podcasts feature trusted, timely, and compassionate information for people with cancer, survivors, and their families and loved ones. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts for expert information and tips on coping with cancer, recaps of the latest research advances, and thoughtful discussions on cancer care. And check out other ASCO Podcasts to hear the latest interviews and insights from thought leaders, innovators, experts, and pioneers in oncology. Cancer.Net is supported by Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, which funds lifesaving research for every type of cancer, helping people with cancer everywhere. To help fund Cancer.Net and programs like it, donate at CONQUER.ORG/Donate.

Dr Matthew Matasar from the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New York, New York, discusses the current and future role of CD20 x CD3 bispecific antibodies in the management of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Dr Matthew Matasar from the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New York, New York, discusses the current and future role of CD20 x CD3 bispecific antibodies in the management of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. CME information and select publications here (https://www.researchtopractice.com/OncologyTodayBispecificNHL23)

Join 850+ people getting public health insights direct to their inbox: https://www.thephmillennial.com/signup/ Araba Assan, MPH, CHES is a Program Coordinator at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. She is a passionate public health researcher, evaluator, educator, health equity advocate and consultant with five years of experience working in higher education institutions and non-profit organizations. She received a Bachelor Degree in Public Health with a concentration in Community Health at Montclair State University. She then got her Master of Public Health at Montclair State University in Community Health Education. She also is a Certified Health Education Specialist.Shownotes: https://www.thephmillennial.com/episode171Connect with Araba: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arabaassan-a67b7b85/Chapters:@0:00 Episode Start@1:41 Episode overview@2:33 Araba Assan, MPH, CHES Intro@4:04 Identify & Personal Background@9:05 Maternal and Child Health@16:13 Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) @24:00 What is Public Health?@25:14 Bachelors in Public Health at Montclair State University@33:05 Research Assistant at Montclair University@35:33 Health Program Specialist at Burlington County Health Department@40:10 Undergrad takeaways@44:31 Master of Public Health at Montclair State University @49:40 Benefit of CHES@57:49 Roles during MPH@1:11:30 Mindset of unemployment after MPH@1:16:20 Research Assistant at Public Health Management Corporation@1:29:15 Program Coordinator at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey@1:37:05 Where to connect & future predictions?@1:39:48 The Furious Five@1:47:00 Support usSupport the showThanks for tuning in. Let's all work together towards a culture of health, wellbeing, and equity for all. ⭐⭐ SUBSCRIBE & Leave a 5-STAR REVIEW! ⭐⭐ Follow & Support:- Contribute to the show (one-time or monthly)- The Public Health Millennial on IG - The Public Health Millennial on LinkedIn - The Public Health Millennial Website- Omari Richins, MPH on LinkedIn- Support on The Public Health Store

“I think it's important to ensure that you consider each person uniquely. Because no matter how much I know or the nurse knows about the population, everybody is a little bit different. It's really important to personalize every approach and ask them what they know and meet them where they are,” ONS member Reneé Kurz, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, director of clinical research operations at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, AOCNS®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about increasing diversity in clinical trials. You can earn free NCPD contact hours by completing the evaluation we've linked in the episode notes. Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org by May 19, 2025. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. Learning outcome: The learner will report an increase in knowledge related to increasing diversity in clinical trials. Episode Notes Complete this evaluation for free NCPD. Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes: Episode 19: The Practical Side of Clinical Trials Episode 126: Oncology Clinical Trials and Drug Development ONS Voice articles: Overcome Inequalities in Cancer Treatment Options Across the Ages Balance Hope and Quality of Life for Phase I Clinical Trials Drug Clinical Trials Focus on Efficacy Over Quality of Life The Case of the Clinical Trials Consultation Traits That Make You a Great Nurse Also Lead to Success as a Clinical Trials PI Use ClinicalTrials.gov to Find the Right Cancer Research Studies for Your Patients Nursing Roles in Clinical Trials ONS Oncology Clinical Trials Nurse Competencies ONS Clinical Trials Huddle Card™ Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing article: Cancer Clinical Trials: Improving Awareness and Access for Minority and Medically Underserved Communities Oncology Nursing Forum article: The Role of Oncology Nurses in Discussing Clinical Trials ONS book: Manual for Clinical Trials Nursing (third edition) Citi Program ClinicalTrials.gov U.S. Food and Drug Administration Drug Development and Approval Process To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities. To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org. Highlights From Today's Episode “By ensuring access for diverse populations, we also promote trustworthiness within the diverse communities that we serve.” Timestamp (TS) 02:04 “We have a centralized education team for clinical trials, and all of the new investigators get a toolkit that they can use and get training on different informed consent processes and different resources that we have. We also have a really good relationship between research and our community outreach and engagement area. . . . And if either the research nurses or the investigators come up with any barriers to enrolling a specific population, there's an online form to request community outreach services for their patients or location.” TS 09:50 “A major step is the scientific review board going through each protocol and making sure that the catchment area is really represented and that protocols are inclusive. We also have disease-specific group meetings where the investigators and all the research staff discuss new protocols and the barriers to opening it in specific locations.” TS 12:59 “I think nurses have to step back and figure out what they know about the communities that they serve. They're used to being on the front lines and seeing patients every day. What kind of experiences have they had with the community, or what do they know about the community? And really what do the communities know about clinical trials, because a lot of it is going to be the nurse educating them.” TS 18:18 “I think it's important to ensure that you consider each person uniquely. Because no matter how much I know or the nurse knows about the population, everybody is a little bit different. It's important to personalize every approach and ask them what they know and meet them where they are.” TS 18:59

In this episode of SurgOnc Today®,  Judy Boughey, MD, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and Vice Chair of the SSO Breast Disease Site Work Group, discusses with her colleagues how they manage a missing clipped axillary lymph node. She is joined by Puneet Singh, MD, from MD Anderson Cancer Center and Firas Eladoumikdachi, MD, from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Their discussion is focused on patients with node positive breast cancer who were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Deputy Editor Dr. Salma Jabbour, Vice Chair of Clinical Research and Faculty Development and Clinical Chief in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, hosts Dr. Matthias Guckenberger, Chairman and Professor of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University Hospital Zurich and University of Zurich, discussing a new article from his European team, "Completeness of reporting oligometastatic disease characteristics in the literature and influence on oligometastatic disease classification using the ESTRO/EORTC nomenclature," and Dr. David Palma, Clinician Scientist II at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Radiation Oncologist at the London Health Sciences Center, and Associate Professor at Western University, who was the supervising author on the 5-year update of the SABR-COMET trial, " Stereotactic Radiation for the Comprehensive Treatment of Oligometastases (SABR-COMET) – Extended Long-Term Outcomes."

Rick Greene, MD, and Adam Berger, MD, discuss a shift away from nonurgent and preventative medical care due to the pandemic, related changes in presentation of melanoma patients in surgical clinics, and the likely impact on melanoma diagnoses and prognoses. Dr. Berger is author of, “COVID-19 Is Affecting the Presentation and Treatment of Melanoma Patients in the Northeastern United States.” Dr. Berger is Chief of Melanoma for the multidisciplinary Melanoma and Soft Tissue Surgical Oncology Program at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Professor of Surgery at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Listen to a blog summary of a trending research paper published by Oncotarget in Volume 13, entitled, "Real-world survival analysis by tumor mutational burden in non-small cell lung cancer: a multisite U.S. study." ___________________________________ While a high tumor mutational burden (TMB) may seem unfavorable in the midst of battling non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a higher TMB has been associated with a higher number of neoantigens. The presence of more neoantigens can potentially elicit a stronger immune response. Therefore, TMB may be a viable biomarker of tumor response to immunotherapeutic agents. However, the definitions, parameters and units used to measure high- and low-TMB have been inconsistent over the years. Today, the consensus unit for reporting TMB has shifted to mutations per megabase (mut/Mb). The common cut-off for high- vs. low-TMB from tissue samples is >10 mut/Mb in NSCLC. “Despite inconsistencies with TMB definition and reporting over time, high TMB has consistently been associated with improved clinical benefit among patients receiving immunotherapy for NSCLC [22].” Researchers—from University of Utah, University of Minnesota Duluth, Huntsman Cancer Institute, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Baptist Health Medical Group, MetroHealth Medical Center, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, University of Southern California, Saint Luke's Cancer Institute, University of Kentucky, and Bristol Myers Squibb—used the newest consensus unit and common cut-off parameters for TMB expression to measure TMB's relationship to treatment response and survival outcomes among metastatic NSCLC patients. Their trending research paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 13 on January 31, 2022, and entitled, “Real-world survival analysis by tumor mutational burden in non-small cell lung cancer: a multisite U.S. study.” “The purpose of this study is to evaluate clinical outcomes by TMB among NSCLC patients treated with immunotherapy containing regimens in the first-line setting.” Full blog - https://www.oncotarget.org/2022/04/21/trending-with-impact-analysis-of-mutational-burden-in-nsclc/ DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.28178 Correspondence to - Connor Willis - Connor.Willis@pharm.utah.edu Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://oncotarget.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Foncotarget.28178 Press release - https://www.oncotarget.com/news/pr/oncotarget-mutational-burden-in-lung-cancer-studied-in-multisite-cohort/ Keywords - lung neoplasma, tumor biomarkers, immunotherapy About Oncotarget Oncotarget is a peer-reviewed, open access biomedical journal covering research on all aspects of oncology. To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https://www.oncotarget.com and connect with us: SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/oncotarget Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/oncotarget Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/oncotargetjrnl/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/OncotargetYouTube LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/ Oncotarget is published by Impact Journals, LLC: https://www.ImpactJournals.com Media Contact MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM 18009220957

BUFFALO, NY-April 25, 2022 – A new research paper, entitled, “Real-world survival analysis by tumor mutational burden in non-small cell lung cancer: a multisite U.S. study,” was published in Oncotarget on January 31, 2022, by researchers from University of Utah, University of Minnesota Duluth, Huntsman Cancer Institute, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Baptist Health Medical Group, MetroHealth Medical Center, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, University of Southern California, Saint Luke's Cancer Institute, University of Kentucky, and Bristol Myers Squibb. This multidisciplinary research team analyzed tumor mutational burden (TMB) among a large cohort of patients who had been diagnosed with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The cohort included 667 patients recruited from nine different academic and community cancer centers across the United States. “The purpose of this study is to evaluate clinical outcomes by TMB among NSCLC patients treated with immunotherapy containing regimens in the first-line setting.” (Source, 2022) While having a high TMB may sound unfavorable, a higher TMB has been associated with a higher number of neoantigens. The presence of a greater number of neoantigens may potentiate a stronger immune response. Thus, TMB may be a viable biomarker of tumor response to immuno-oncology agents. “Based on the results in this study and prior research, TMB along with other biomarkers, such as PD-L1, may help identify patients more likely to benefit from first-line immunotherapy.” (Source, 2022) Results of the study confirmed the association between a higher TMB and smoking history. However, the study did not show an association between TMB and sex, age or tumor histology. The team found that, among patients treated with first-line immunotherapy, TMB levels greater than or equal to 10 mutations per megabase were significantly associated with improved overall survival and progression-free survival. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.28178 Corresponding author: Connor Willis – Connor.Willis@pharm.utah.edu Video: https://youtu.be/Q5JI4L6Moq0 Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article: https://oncotarget.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Foncotarget.28178 About Oncotarget: Oncotarget (a primarily oncology-focused, peer-reviewed, open access journal) aims to maximize research impact through insightful peer-review; eliminate borders between specialties by linking different fields of oncology, cancer research and biomedical sciences; and foster application of basic and clinical science. To learn more about Oncotarget, visit Oncotarget.com and connect with us on social media: Twitter – https://twitter.com/Oncotarget Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget YouTube – www.youtube.com/c/OncotargetYouTube Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/oncotargetjrnl/ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget/ Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ LabTube – https://www.labtube.tv/channel/MTY5OA SoundCloud – https://soundcloud.com/oncotarget For media inquiries, please contact media@impactjournals.com.

Cynthia lives in Lawrenceville, NJ with her husband John. She attended Rutgers University graduating with degrees in Psychology and Education. Upon graduation she secured her first teaching position and immediately fell in love with her chosen profession. Cynthia continued teaching for 28 years. Cynthia, a myeloma survivor, was forced to retire from her beloved teaching career when a stem cell transplant failed to put her cancer into remission. Now retire, she is using her passion for education to teach a new group of "students" - myeloma patients and their caregivers. Using social media to educate is her passion. Cynthia educates and advocates by tweeting @MyelomaTeacher and sharing myeloma resources, educational opportunities, and clinical trial information on her MyelomaTeacher Facebook page. She is the curriculum director of the Myeloma Crowd's HealthTree University for Myeloma- a free online myeloma education course. https://healthtree.org/myeloma/university Ms. Chmielewski is also a regular patient panelist on CureTalks Podcast. Cynthia sits on the advisory boards of the Patient Empowerment Network, the Myeloma Crowd Research Initiative, and several pharmaceutical companies. Cynthia was an invited panelist and presented posters on using social media in hematology at the annual meetings of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the European Bone Marrow Transplant (EBMT). Additionally, Cynthia is also a member of the Patient Engagement team at Patient Power-A Remedy Health Company. Ms. Chmielewski enjoys serving as a voting member on the IRB at the University of Pennsylvania, a peer reviewer for the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Division of Extramural Affairs and Department of Defense's CMCRP grant programs. Ms. Chmielewski is a patient advocate on the myeloma steering committees of the NCI and the Academic and Cancer Research United (ACCRU.) More recently Cynthia was asked to serve as a patient advocate on the Mayo Clinic's Myeloma SPORE. She is also the patient advocate on several research grants. Cynthia serves as a community member on the Rutgers-Cancer Institute of NJ's Community Cancer Action Board and Mt. Sinai's Cancer Care Accelerator Group.

This is a trailer episode for the Cancer History Project's new podcast, which will explore oral histories and interviews with the people who have shaped oncology as we know it. The Cancer History Project is a unique, collaborative, historical resource. Our contributors are cancer centers and other organizations who have had a role in shaping or recording the history of oncology. Since our launch in 2021, we have collected almost 12,000 records, and they are all available online, for free at CancerHistoryProject.com. The Cancer History Project is an initiative by The Cancer Letter, the longest-running oncology news publication, established in 1973. This is an ongoing project and would not be possible without the input and materials provided by our editorial board, our contributors, and the support of our sponsors—including Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, City of Hope, SWOG Cancer Research Network and The Hope Foundation for Cancer Research, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, and many others.

Dr Andrew Evens from the Rutgers Cancer Institute in New Jersey discusses the management of newly diagnosed and advanced Hodgkin lymphoma in younger and older patients. CME information and select publications here (http://www.researchtopractice.com/OncologyTodayHL21).

Caris Precision Oncology Alliance™ Chairman, Dr. Chadi Nabhan, sits down with Dr. Salma Jabbour, Clinical Chief of Radiation Oncology at Rutgers Cancer Institute. Together they discuss radiation oncology and its role in cancer care. For more information, please visit: www.CarisLifeSciences.com

Welcome to Difficult Conversations with Dr. Anthony Orsini.  Even though October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, breast cancer should be on our minds all year around. I can't think of anyone more qualified to talk about breast cancer and the many difficult conversations associated with this diagnosis then my special guest, Dr. Michele Blackwood. She is currently the Chief of Breast Services at RWJ/ Barnabas Health and the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.  She also serves as the Northern Medical Director of Breast Services and joined St. Barnabas Medical Center as the Medical Director of Breast Health and Disease Management in 2009.  Michele has appeared on national and local media programs, including Fox Five, “60 Minutes,” CBS's Early Show, and Good Day New York. Even with all her credentials, it is her reputation for the compassionate manner in which she practices and her ability to navigate the many difficult conversations that  that make her special. My Co-host today is Liz Poret-Christ, who is our Director of Programming at The Orsini Way and a patient of Dr. Blackwoods. Dr. Blackwood tells us about her career. She shares the many ways the breast cancer field has evolved dramatically and how survival rates are so much better. Dr. Orsini reveals some incredible statistics about breast cancer. They talk about how healing can begin when you first hear the diagnosis and how medicine is about relationships, and not about the surgery.  Liz shares how her conversation went when she found out she had breast cancer.  Michele takes us through her approach, her plan, and her thoughts on how she has the initial conversation with a patient. We learn how Michele handles each patient's situation, forms that special relationship with each person, and how she gives them options and guidance. Liz tells us more about how grateful she was with Michele letting her know the best path for her to take with her diagnosis. Michele explains more about physicians evolving in their style over time and how her style has changed.  She also explains how she addresses a lot of things with her patients so they will be in sync with her to have a better outcome after surgery.  We find out how Michele approaches her most difficult conversation with faith, comfort, and quality of life.  We end with Dr. Orsini, Michele, and Liz sharing their words of wisdom, with this being Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  If you enjoyed this podcast, please   subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Host:Dr. Anthony Orsini and Liz Poret-ChristGuests:Dr. Michele BlackwoodFor More Information:Difficult Conversations I Learned as an ICU Physician Podcast EpisodesThe Orsini WayThe Orsini Way-FacebookThe Orsini Way-LinkedinThe Orsini Way-InstagramThe Orsini Way-Twitterdrorsini@theorsiniway.comIt's All In The Delivery: Improving Healthcare Starting With A Single Conversation by Dr. Anthony OrsiniResources Mentioned:Michele Blackwood, MD-RWJ Barnabas HealthMichele Blackwood, MD-Rutgers Cancer Institute of New JerseyNational Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.

Roman Groisberg, MD, Medical Oncologist and Director of the Sarcoma Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey/RWJBarnabas Health, discusses treatment options available for different sarcomas.

Roman Groisberg, MD, Medical Oncologist and Director of the Sarcoma Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey/RWJBarnabas Health, gives an overview of sarcomas.

In this episode, CancerNetwork spoke with 2 experts on the topic of biosimilars, Howard Hochster, MD, FACP, Associate Director for Clinical Research at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the Rutgers School of Medicine, and Michael Kane, RPh, BCOP, Executive Director of Oncology Pharmacy Services for RWJBarnabas Health and Director of Pharmacy Services and the Research Pharmacy at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. The episode dives into the background of biosimilars, including the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) passed by the United States Congress in 2009 and subsequent 4-letter suffix rule used to identify biologics products without confusion. The conversation also analyzed some of the unintended consequences of these actions regarding biosimilars, and what Hochster and Kane would do to improve the system that's currently in place.

Aaron Price sat down with Dr. Steve Libutti, Director, Rutgers Cancer Institute of NJ & SVP, Oncology Services, RWJBarnabas Health at the TechUnited:BetterWellness Innovation Summit on June 15, 2021. Listen to hear their candid conversation about the importance of understanding and leveraging our DNA and genetics to create better treatments and live healthier lives. Watch this segment and others from the Innovation Summit online at techunited.co/wellness-summit2021 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techunited/message

This week, "Oncology Peer Review On-The-Go" discussed an article from the May issue of the journal ONCOLOGY titled “Molecular Profiling Practices in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Academic vs Community Physicians.” CancerNetwork spoke with Christine Chung, DO, from the HCA Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colorado, about the molecular profiling patterns she and her colleagues observed in this retrospective review. The authors found that both academic and community physicians ordered profiling about 50% of the time, which was contrary to previous reports that suggest academic centers perform molecular profiling more often. The perspective for this article comes from Roman Groisberg, MD, a medical oncologist and director of the Sarcoma Medical Oncology Program at the Rutgers Cancer Institute. Groisberg discussed the role of profiling in pancreatic adenocarcinoma, his thoughts on the retrospective review, and the future of profiling for this cohort of patients. Don't forget to subscribe to the "Oncology Peer Review On-The-Go" podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere podcasts are available.

ONS member Jennifer Wolfe, MSN, RN, OCN®, director of the pediatric hematology and oncology unit at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick and member of the New York City ONS Chapter, joins Stephanie Jardine, BSN, RN, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, to discuss innovative training tools, strategies, and resources for oncology nurse staff education. Music Credit: "Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org by June 18, 2023. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. Episode Notes Check out these resources from today's episode: Complete this evaluation for free NCPD. Oncology Nursing Podcast Episode 125: Oncology Academy Orients Experienced RNs to Cancer Care ONS Communities thread on Wolfe's staff education resource ONS book: Standards of Oncology Nursing Education ONS course: Developing a Culture of Quality ONS journal club toolkit for staff education ONS learning libraries ONS resources for nurse educators ONS Standard for Educating Nurses Who Administer Chemotherapy and Biotherapy MD Anderson Cancer Center conferences To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities. To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org.

Nachum Segal presents great Jewish music, the latest news from Israel, Morning Chizuk with Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser and interviews with Dr. Jeffrey Rosenfeld of the Rutgers Cancer Institute, Touro's Dr. Rivka Molinsky and Dr. Aimee Baron of JOWMA.

Construction fencing is up around the former Saint Peter's High School across the street, meaning work is underway on the new 12-story, 510,000 sq. ft. cancer pavilion that will be the flagship cancer hospital of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ), Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, and RWJBarnabas Health. This week, Dr. Steven Libutti, Director of Rutgers CINJ and Senior Vice President of Oncology Services for RWJBH, sits down with Dr. Jim Salwitz and Chris Hoenig to discuss how this building will be more than just a hospital, offering a wide array of services to cancer patients throughout the area.

March is coming, which is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. And several recent journal articles highlight the steady rise in early-onset colorectal cancer among the African-American community. But will last year's death of SAG Award-winning actor Chadwick Boseman help raise awareness and lead to an increase in early screening? Colorectal surgeon Dr. Nell Maloney Patel and oncologist Dr. Kristen Spencer from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) join Dr. Jim Salwitz and Chris Hoenig to discuss. Then, a recent video from the RWJUH Foundation highlights how exceptional work and advanced procedures that are done at a fraction of hospitals nationally feel like everyday life here at RWJUH. Dr. Leonard Lee, Chief of Surgery and star of the new "A Day In The Life Of A Cardiac Surgeon" video, and Zoey Kramer, the Manager of Events and Communication at the RWJUH Foundation, join the program to share their experiences in creating the video.

Nur Zeinomar, PhD is a cancer epidemiologist who is an Instructor of Medicine in the Section of Cancer Epidemiology and Health Outcomes at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. She and I talk about how it does take a village to raise kids with two parents with demanding careers, and how she found that village in New York City. She also wanted to talk about her need for safe spaces to express her religion and culture, and her ultimate acceptance of her own unique qualities a Muslim Arab American. Nur tells me about her life as the default parent, her love of Syrian cooking, her "resting nice face", and much more!

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) and our partners at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey have been at the forefront of research to understand the disease, including studies on inpatient therapies and one of the largest surveillance study of healthcare workers in the country. This week, Dr. Jim Salwitz --- in his last podcast as RWJUH Medical Staff President --- and Chris Hoenig look at additional research being done into COVID-19. First, Dr. Jeffrey Carson joins the program to discuss his TriACT study, which is looking into a three-drug combination therapy for asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients, in hopes of reducing viral load and, potentially, the spread of COVID-19. Dr. Bruce Haffty, Associate Vice Chancellor for Cancer Programs and Chair, Radiation Oncology, Rutgers Cancer Institute and Dr. Andrew Evens, Associate Director for Clinical Services, Rutgers Cancer Institute and Medical Director, Oncology Service Line, RWJBarnabas Health join the show to discuss their studies on surface contamination with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19 --- important research for cancer patients and hospital staff, alike.

Recording on 11/09/2020 at the East Brunswick Public Library Explains hereditary and lifestyle risk factors for cancer. Learn how and why cancer forms in cells, methods to identify your personal cancer risk, and information on genetic testing and genetic risk assessment. Presenter: Daniel Pearson, Community Control Specialist at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey

Recorded on 11/05/2020 at the East Brunswick Public Library. 如何健康饮食促进身体健康 Learn how to portion your plate with cancer-fighting foods and the different food groups can promote your health. 预防癌症应该远离哪些食物 Learn which foods you should avoid for optimal health. Presenter for English session: Michelle Jansen, Community Control Specialist at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey Presenter for Chinese session: Nannan Wang, Community Liaison at the Center for Asian Health at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, RWJBarnabas Health

Recorded on 11/05/2020 at the East Brunswick Public Library Learn how to portion your plate with cancer-fighting foods and the different food groups can promote your health. Learn which foods you should avoid for optimal health. Presenter for English session: Michelle Jansen, Community Control Specialist at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey Presenter for Chinese session: Nannan Wang, Community Liaison at the Center for Asian Health at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, RWJBarnabas Health

Recorded on 11/04/2020 at the East Brunswick Public Library. 解释遗传基因和生活方式所带来的不同患癌风险Explains hereditary and lifestyle risk factors for cancer. 介绍癌症如何/为何在细胞中生成，怎样确定患癌风险，以及基因检测和基因风险评估 Learn how and why cancer forms in cells, methods to identify your personal cancer risk, and information on genetic testing and genetic risk assessment. Presenter for English session: Daniel Pearson, Community Control Specialist at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey Presenter for Chinese session: Nannan Wang, Community Liaison at the Center for Asian Health at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, RWJBarnabas Health

Recorded on 11/02/2020 at the East Brunswick Public Library Part 1 of 4 in the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the Center for Asian Health at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, RWJBarnabas Health series. Vision care, mental health and physical well-being during COVID-19 新冠期间的视力保护和身心健康 Presenters: Dr. Eleanor Lillian Cheng, Opthalmologist Dr. Pei-Chen Hsu, NY/NJ Licensed Psychologist, PhD in Counseling Psychology Dr. Kate Bellucci, Physical Therapist, Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Center at RWJBarnabas Health (interpreted in Chinese session by Nannan Wang, Community Liaison at the Center for Asian Health at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, RWJBarnabas Health)

Recorded on 11/03/2020 at the East Brunswick Public Library. 合理的饮食习惯和均衡的营养如何有效预防肠癌 Learn about foods that can help maintain good colorectal health and act to prevent cancer. 常见的肠癌筛检方法介绍 Also learn about current cancer screening guidelines for colorectal health. Presenter for English session: Michelle Jansen, Community Control Specialist at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey Presenter for Chinese session: Nannan Wang, Community Liaison at the Center for Asian Health at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, RWJBarnabas Health

Recorded on 11/02/2020 at the East Brunswick Public Library. Part 1 of 4 in the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the Center for Asian Health at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, RWJBarnabas Health series. Presenters for English and Chinese sessions: Dr. Eleanor Lillian Cheng, Opthalmologist Dr. Pei-Chen Hsu, NY/NJ Licensed Psychologist, PhD in Counseling Psychology Dr. Kate Bellucci, Physical Therapist, Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Center at RWJBarnabas Health (interpreted in Chinese session by Nannan Wang, Community Liaison at the Center for Asian Health at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, RWJBarnabas Health)

In the latest episode of "Oncology Peer Review On-The-Go," CancerNetwork examines a Q&A piece in the August issue of the journal ONCOLOGY discussing next-generation sequencing for gastrointestinal cancers. The article is titled “Ushering in the Era of Precision Medicine” and it focuses on a conversation with Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona.    For a responding perspective, CancerNetwork spoke with Howard Hochster, MD, of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Dr. Hochster discussed his feelings regarding next-generation sequencing, and suggests alternative ways to treat patients with GI cancers.   Don't forget to subscribe to the "Oncology Peer Review On-The-Go" podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere podcasts are available.

Dr. Pennell and Dr. Jennifer Tsui discuss the processes that lead to suboptimal EOL care within Medicaid populations and among racial/ethnic minority groups.     Hello, and welcome to the latest JCO Oncology Practice podcast, brought to you by the ASCO Podcast Network, a collection of nine programs covering a range of educational and scientific content and offering enriching insight into the world of cancer care. You can find all recordings, including this one, at podcast.asco.org. My name is Dr. Nate Pennell, medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic and consultant editor for the JCO OP. I have no conflicts of interest related to this podcast, and a complete list of disclosures is available at the end of the podcast. Aggressive care at the end of life for cancer patients is widely recognized as poor-quality care. And by aggressive care, I don't mean aggressive supportive care or hospice, but rather inappropriate interventions, like chemotherapy or hospital and ICU admissions, near the end of life that rarely improve outcomes and often actually worsen quality of life. Efforts are being made to educate physicians and cancer patients to try to minimize aggressive treatments near the end of life and to help as many patients as possible benefit from things like hospice benefits and appropriate end-of-life care. However, not all patients receive high-quality end-of-life care, and there may be differences in end-of-life care in various populations. For example, how do race and things like Medicaid status impact aggressive care at the end of life? With me today to discuss this topic is Dr. Jennifer Tsui, Assistant Professor in the Division of Population Science at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. We'll be discussing her paper "Racial Disparities in Health Care Utilization at the End of Life Among New Jersey Medicaid Beneficiaries With Advanced Cancer," currently in press for the JCO OP. Welcome, Dr. Tsui, and thank you for joining me on the podcast. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me. I have no conflicts of interest with this study whatsoever. Dr. Tsui, can you please tell me a little bit about what exactly constitutes high or low-quality end-of-life care? Sure. I mean, I think that, in this study in particular, we wanted to focus on guideline-related end-of-life care. So we wanted to see if it was possible to take a look at patterns at the end of life for breast and colorectal cancer and stage cancer cases and see sort of what the patterns were in relation to adherence to guideline adherence and what they should be receiving at the end of life. And so that included a set of measures around aggressive care related to hospitalization in the last 30 days, emergency department visits in the last 30 days of life, an ICU admission in the last 30 days of life, and chemotherapy in the last 14 days of life. These are guidelines that have been discussed and published by national organizations. And we also looked at hospice enrollment. So we looked at whether there was any hospice enrollment and whether there was hospice enrollment in the last 30 days of life, I'm sorry. Are there already data existing for various disparities in end-of-life care among different racial groups or patients of different socioeconomic status? There are. So there have been a few prior publications before our study that have shown that Medicaid patients frequently-- not just for end-of-life care, but cancer care in general-- that Medicaid patients receive lower quality of care. And there were studies done prior to ours that did show, I think, in New York, for example, that Medicaid patients had lower-quality end-of-life care compared to Medicaid and privately insured patients. We have seen other studies also mentioning disparities by race in terms of quality of end-of-life care. However, I don't think-- some of these studies have focused on different populations and cancer sites. So some of the studies I mentioned looked at AYA, adolescent and young adult cancer survivors. Other studies have focused on other cancer sites. And also, these were studies that were conducted in earlier time period. And what we know is that, given all that's happened since the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion in several states, sort of the Medicaid population has changed, but sort of health care delivery has been redesigned in different ways. And so that was really why we wanted to look at this issue sort of in more recent years and during a period that spanned Medicaid expansion within New Jersey. You know, that's helpful to understand what sort of prompted you to do this. So why don't you tell our listeners basically how you designed your study. Sure. So this was a large data linkage that we established within the state of New Jersey to better understand cancer care quality for breast and colorectal cancer patients in general, so beyond just the stage IV cancer patients, the patient's diagnosis at stage IV, but breast and colorectal cancer patients in general. So we worked with our New Jersey State Cancer Registry, identified all our breast and colorectal cancer cases that were diagnosed between 2011 and 2015, and then we linked those with our New Jersey Medicaid enrollment and claims files. So this was a study that was done in partnership with our Rutgers Center for State Health Policy. It was conducted sort of with ongoing input and feedback from both our State Cancer Registry as well as our Medicaid program. They've seen sort of findings related to this and other research questions we've had throughout the process. And what we really ended up with was a very rich data set that not only gave us all the tumor characteristics that are available in the cancer registry, but also the health care utilization patterns and Medicaid enrollment characteristics that are available on the Medicaid claims and Medicaid program data side. And how well did this database capture all of these measures of aggressive end-of-life care, so ED visits and chemotherapy and such? Since we did focus on those who were continuously enrolled in our state Medicaid program, we were able to go through our claims data and be able to, using billing codes, identify things like ED visits, et cetera. This data set only includes cancer cases up to age 64. So we didn't include people who may be dual enrolled in Medicare or have Medicare claims. We also tried to create some other restrictions so that we can get at just the people where we had a definitive diagnosis month and year and follow them through their death. And so we did use the prior studies that I mentioned earlier to see what kind of codes were used there. We have quite a multidisciplinary team of collaborators. I worked with quite closely the first author here, Annie Yang. Soon-to-be Dr. Annie Yang is in medical school here at the New Jersey Medical School. And so we did try to be as comprehensive as we could with the codes we used to identify those utilization patterns. OK, so why don't you tell us some of your findings? So I would say that the overall finding is that 62% of these stage IV breast and colorectal cancer patients received at least one measure of aggressive end-of-life care. So out of those four individual measures, 2/3 received at least one, which seems quite high. They ranged from 27% having at least one hospitalization to 34% receiving chemotherapy within the last 14 days of life. What we found is alarming, and it's sort of a call to action for addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health care, is that we found that our non-Hispanic Black patients had a higher odds of receiving any one of those aggressive end-of-life care measures after controlling for other factors. So we did find this racial/ethnic disparity in non-Hispanic Black patients having more aggressive end-of-life care compared to our non-Hispanic white patients, even though these are all the same Medicaid program. This is within one state. And so it did point to some need to better understand what is going on within the health care system, within the health care encounter between patients and physicians towards the end of life and what needs to be done to address these disproportionate rates in end-of-life care among racial/ethnic minority patients. When you talk about these numbers, like 2/3 of patients having aggressive end-of-life care and 39% enrolling in hospice, how does that compare to what would be considered a more appropriate level, say, the private insured patients? So we didn't compare it to privately insured in our state, but we did look at what was published in other states. In New York, for example, I think we had a slightly higher proportion of Medicaid enrollees with stage IV breast and colorectal cancer having more aggressive care. So we did see higher rates. So while we can't compare within our state alone, we do see that the rates are slightly higher than other published studies. Well, I guess I'm just trying to figure out, is aggressive end-of-life care something that commonly happens to all Americans in general, or is this vastly more in this population than what we would expect? In the general population? Yeah, in the general-- You know, I don't-- yeah, I don't have those rates and what our bar should be at baseline, to be honest. I do think that what we see in the end-of-life hospice literature is that there is suboptimal use of hospice care. And what we found was, again, here also sort of suboptimal use of hospice care in this diverse, low-income, Medicaid population. No, clearly, clearly, definitely so. What are some reasons why Medicaid patients would be more likely to have aggressive end-of-life care, do you think? I think Medicaid patients sort of broadly often have higher rates of comorbid conditions when they're diagnosed with cancer. There are complex social factors related to the Medicaid population in terms of being low-income, in terms of other social determinants of health and social needs that increase barriers to care or barriers to high-quality care or continuity of care. In another paper that we published that focuses on this data linkage in the population and this data linkage, there was a lack of primary care utilization prior to cancer diagnosis as well as a lot of the cancer patients in Medicaid enrolling in Medicaid upon diagnosis, right? So I think that there are sort of just several multi-level factors that contribute to why there may be higher rates of aggressive end-of-life care. I think, from a patient perspective, there is a literature out there on the need for communication tools and sort of interaction and inclusion of caregivers that are a part of the decision-making in end-of-life care. Certainly, we've seen in the literature for a while the issue of providers and providers not only being sort of culturally competent or racial and ethnic concordant, but having the tools that they need, both for the physician or the health care team, to have these end-of-life discussions. So I think it's very multi-level and certainly not just either on the patient or the physician. Even within the Medicaid population, so independent just of the, say, the financial pressures that would lead one to enroll in Medicaid, what you showed was that non-Hispanic Black patients had a much higher rate of aggressive end-of-life care even than the overall Medicaid population. And why do you think that would be true? Yeah, so after we finished the analysis for this, we definitely did reach out to other colleagues who have worked in the communities more closely within New Jersey, within the non-Hispanic Black population across New Jersey. We've also talked to our state Medicaid program to, one, think of sort of action items for how to better understand what we're seeing in the quantitative administrative data here, and then two, how to engage communities to understand what to do next about this. So from the literature and from sort of racial/ethnic disparities literature, we do know that there is often mistrust of the medical system. There's underutilization of preventive screenings, and there are physician biases and structural biases that occur along the way, so again, the multi-level factors that impact why there may be disproportionate aggressive end-of-life care in the non-Hispanic Black population. You know, we can't answer those questions with Medicaid claims and enrollment files. We can identify these patterns. And I think what our research team has been in communication with our state Medicaid program to do next is then figure out, how do we talk with some of these communities across the state to figure out what the appropriate community-level education tools might be needed to improve an understanding of what end-of-life options are, but also to focus on the hospitals and health care systems that may be disproportionately seeing some of the-- that may be seeing higher proportions of non-Hispanic Black patients, and how can we engage the health care teams within those settings to figure out what can be done at the health care delivery level? Do you think we have enough information to make interventions now? I mean, are there-- how do you think, aside from further study and trying to understand it better, we might, in the short term, improve rates of quality end-of-life care in these high-risk patients? We've seen-- and we've talked about this, I think, in this field somewhat-- is, one, there are guidelines. And just having health care teams, providers, hospitals understand where they are, sort of tracking where they are in rates of aggressive end-of-life care and in hospice enrollment, and having that feedback and audit loop to kind of look introspectively within the health care delivery setting, I think is one option that we've seen in terms of trying to increase quality and increase adherence to guidelines for other things. And then I certainly think that there might be a need for community-level interventions around, what are the barriers to hospice enrollment? Or where is the lack of awareness and knowledge around end-of-life care options? And what does it mean to reduce interventional care, right? And what does it mean for communities? I think that targeting those aspects and having a dialogue that is responsive to the community-level needs are probably ways that we can start. I think that makes sense. I mean, as an oncologist, a city with a high minority population, I think improving the cultural competence and being able to establish a level of trust with patients who may have an inherent distrust of the medical system, especially when you're talking about something like that's as counterintuitive as trying to recommend not doing more aggressive care, it's certainly a complex conversation and definitely would require a level of trust and communication in order to do that properly. So I completely agree with you that I think, on the community level, the interventions will have to involve that if it's going to be effective. So Dr. Tsui, thanks so much for joining me on the podcast today. Thank you for having me. And until next time, thank you to our listeners for listening to this JCO Oncology Practice podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard today, don't forget to give us a rating or a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. While you're there, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. JCO OP podcasts are just one of ASCO's many podcasts programs. You can find all the recordings at podcast.asco.org. The full text of this paper will be available online at ascopubs.org/journal/op. This is Dr. Nate Pennell for the JCO Oncology Practice, signing off.   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. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity, or therapy should not be construed as an ASCO endorsement. For more original research, editorials, and review articles, please visit us online at jco.org. This production is copyrighted to the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Thank you for listening.

In this episode, Eileen White, Chief Scientific Officer at the Rutgers Cancer Institute, describes the fundamental role of autophagy in the maintenance of health and prevention of neurodegeneration, cancer, and other diseases. She also goes into detail about the paradoxical finding that autophagy may benefit an existing cancer cell and help it to survive—a discovery leading to new possibilities in cancer therapy. We also discuss fasting (and molecules that induce autophagy) and the critical need to decode the proper fasting “dose” in order to improve human health. We discuss:   Eileen’s discovery that a specific oncogene blocks apoptosis [3:40]; Defining apoptosis and its role in cancer prevention [10:00]; How cancer cells use the autophagy pathway to survive [17:20]; Stressors that induce autophagy [29:15]; The importance of autophagy in the brain and liver [32:45]; The mechanisms that can trigger autophagy to support longevity [40:00]; Evidence for cancer treatment by blocking autophagy [42:30]; Types of cancer that are most autophagy-dependent [46:45]; The autophagy paradox [52:40]; Finding a molecular signal for autophagy [59:15]; Current knowledge gaps around fasting as a tool for longevity [1:13:00]; Rapamycin, metformin, and other molecules that may induce autophagy [1:22:15]; How to study fasting and exercise as longevity tools [1:32:50]; The Nobel Prize for autophagy research [1:36:45]; Eileen’s future areas of research [1:38:25]; A fasting strategy for Alzheimer’s Disease prevention[1:49:25]; Future study of metabolism and autophagy [1:51:30]; and More.  Learn more: https://peterattiamd.com/ Show notes page for this episode: https://peterattiamd.com/eileenwhite  Subscribe to receive exclusive subscriber-only content: https://peterattiamd.com/subscribe/ Sign up to receive Peter's email newsletter: https://peterattiamd.com/newsletter/ Connect with Peter on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Podcast Notes Apoptosis and Its Role in Cancer Prevention We’re barely scratching the surface of how autophagy impacts metabolismContext of autophagy is very important – autophagy protects person from getting cancer but once someone has cancer it appears autophagy benefits cancer cell instead of healthy cellsFasting is one of the most potent stimulators of autophagyWe have a critical need to study and identify the proper dose of fasting to improve human health “The key to living longer is delaying the onset of chronic disease…not living longer with the chronic disease” – Dr. Peter Attia“Fasting is probably protective against all chronic diseases.” – Dr. Peter Attiaeval(ez_write_tag([[728,90],'podcastnotes_org-medrectangle-3','ezslot_0',122,'0','0']));Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org In this episode, Eileen White, Chief Scientific Officer at the Rutgers Cancer Institute, describes the fundamental role of autophagy in the maintenance of health and prevention of neurodegeneration, cancer, and other diseases. She also goes into detail about the paradoxical finding that autophagy may benefit an existing cancer cell and help it to survive—a discovery leading to new possibilities in cancer therapy. We also discuss fasting (and molecules that induce autophagy) and the critical need to decode the proper fasting “dose” in order to improve human health. We discuss:   Eileen’s discovery that a specific oncogene blocks apoptosis [3:40]; Defining apoptosis and its role in cancer prevention [10:00]; How cancer cells use the autophagy pathway to survive [17:20]; Stressors that induce autophagy [29:15]; The importance of autophagy in the brain and liver [32:45]; The mechanisms that can trigger autophagy to support longevity [40:00]; Evidence for cancer treatment by blocking autophagy [42:30]; Types of cancer that are most autophagy-dependent [46:45]; The autophagy paradox [52:40]; Finding a molecular signal for autophagy [59:15]; Current knowledge gaps around fasting as a tool for longevity [1:13:00]; Rapamycin, metformin, and other molecules that may induce autophagy [1:22:15]; How to study fasting and exercise as longevity tools [1:32:50]; The Nobel Prize for autophagy research [1:36:45]; Eileen’s future areas of research [1:38:25]; A fasting strategy for Alzheimer’s Disease prevention[1:49:25]; Future study of metabolism and autophagy [1:51:30]; and More.  Learn more: https://peterattiamd.com/ Show notes page for this episode: https://peterattiamd.com/eileenwhite  Subscribe to receive exclusive subscriber-only content: https://peterattiamd.com/subscribe/ Sign up to receive Peter's email newsletter: https://peterattiamd.com/newsletter/ Connect with Peter on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Ammie and I met via Instagram and I found myself compelled to invite her to have a call and get to know more about each other. We got on a call and before we knew it an hour had passed and we couldn’t stop sharing our combined experiences! This episode touches on teenage pregnancy, manifesting the life you want, the “mother wound”, and building resilience. Ammie Salom has dedicated her career to healthcare, with 15 years of experience and over 7 years in administrative leadership positions at top healthcare organizations in the tri-state area, including Rutgers’Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Englewood Hospital, Montefiore, and Columbia Medical Center. She holds a B.A. in Business Administration and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration with a concentration in Community Health Education. The daughter of Dominican immigrants, Ammie was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She possesses a strong commitment and dedication to the economic empowerment, health, and wellbeing of women and young girls. She is passionate about helping women break through glass ceilings in the workplace, in education, and at home. Ammie has worked with community organizations to assist in fundraising efforts in support of young women and is also the founder of Femmenominal Women, a collaborative community organization dedicated to encouraging women to live productive, healthy, and fulfilling lives. Through this growing platform, she hosts local events bringing women together to share insight about health, careers, family life, as well as connecting them to a network of sisterhood and positive support. A supportive partner to her husband, Gabriel Rodriguez an elected official serving the town of West New York as the Commissioner of Public Safety, Ammie is also a mother of two girls and works hard to model ambition, community volunteerism, healthy lifestyle, and work-life balance for her daughters. Ammi serves on the board of the LUPE Fund, Inc. which is a 501c3 organization whose mission is to Educate, Empower, and Engage Latinas to Promote Leadership and Civic Engagement. She encourages anyone who wants to learn more, to please visit, www.Lupenj.org. They offer scholarships, amazing networking opportunities, and are now hosting several webinars to help keep much-needed conversations going! Ammie is supportive of collaborations with women who want to empower our young girls and WOMEN who are seeking growth, connection, and all things FEMMENOMINAL! You can contact her at Femmenominalwomen@gmail.com. ___________________________________________________________________________ What did you think of this episode? Want more like it? Have an amazing story you’d like to share? Want to be featured on the Vida de Madre podcast? Email Hello@marivega.me or visit www.marivega.me to learn more. Please support and subscribe! To follow the Mari Vega brand visit me on IG @Mari_Vega. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/marivega/message

Today we talk with Susan Goodin, Head of Pharmacy Practice, Patient and Investigator Engagement, and the Innovation Strategy Lead in Biotherapeutics Development for Janssen Research and Development.  Our focus is to talk about her experiences during her 25-year career while at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in managing drug shortages and discussing ethical considerations in prioritizing care and lessons learned from the oncology perspective. 

The past few weeks were filled with incredible mobilizations in order to protect the Lincoln Annex School in New Brunswick, which is at risk of being sold to Robert Wood Johnson in order to expand the Rutgers Cancer Institute. If the plan goes through, students could end up at a warehouse school outside of the fifth and sixth wards. But it’s also important to remember that the fight to protect New Brunswick schools did not begin with the threats to Lincoln Annex, nor will it end there, regardless of what the end result may be. For many longtime community members, the controversy over the Lincoln Annex is reminiscent of what happened with the Redshaw School, where students were put in the warehouse school for nearly 10 years while the new facility faced significant delays in construction. In addition, for years, courageous parents throughout the city have been working to ensure that school facilities in New Brunswick have adequate air conditioning, which remains an ongoing problem. Parents in Unidos por Escuelas Dignas have put pressure on the Board of Education to retrofit school buildings with air conditioning, and they’ve made major strides in making sure that New Brunswick kids have access to comfortable and healthy learning environments. Today we are joined by Jenifer Garcia, a Rutgers student and an alumnus of the New Brunswick School system. Jennifer spent time in the warehouse school while Redshaw was under construction. We are also joined by Yolanda Moncada, president and founder Unidos por Escuelas Dignas, someone who has helped get the group off the ground and is an active member of the new coalition to defend the Lincoln Annex.

New Brunswick's Lincoln Annex School, serving roughly 750 children in grades 4-8, may be shut down by the city and sold to Robert Wood Johnson to build a new Rutgers Cancer Institute building. Residents from across the community have expressed concerns about what the future could bring. At this point, the city has announced no contingency plan for the closing of the school. Students could very likely end up in a building over 2 miles away and outside of the fifth ward, in what has become locally known as the warehouse school, a rented warehouse structure that the school district has put to use during school renovations and other projects. If not the warehouse school, Lincoln Annex students could be relocated to the original Lincoln School, a building constructed in 1910 with no central air conditioning, limited technological capacities, and a school that is currently housing just four grade levels. James Boyle sits down with Charlie Kratovil of the Fifth and Sixth Ward Neighborhood Association to discuss how this fight over Lincoln Annex is situated against a larger backdrop of neoliberal redevelopment, the rise of an anti-democratic urban regime, and the strained relationships between the city's largest institutions and its most vulnerable community members.

Episode 11 features Dr. Thomas Knackstedt's conversation with Dr. Ravi Chokshi, Chief of Surgical Oncology at Rutgers Cancer Institute and Associate Professor of Surgery at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Chokshi discusses the article, Cost Effectiveness of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy for Head and Neck Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma, published in The Journal of Surgical Research.

Dennis Cooper, MD, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ Recorded live at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Symposium on CAR T-cell Therapy on June 28, 2019

​In episode 11 of the Princeton Spine & Joint Center podcast, Dr. Zinovy Meyler, Co-Director of the Interventional Spine Program at Princeton Spine and Joint Center, had a great conversation with Simon Hanft, M.D., who is the Director of Minimally Invasive Brain Tumor Surgery, the Surgical Director of the Pituitary Tumor Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Their conversation ranged from spine tumors, the way they present, what type of spine tumors exist in general scope, what type of treatments Dr. Hanft employs for those tumors and how he diagnoses and approaches a patient that may or may not need surgery. They also talked about the different aspects of non- oncological surgeries, how does someone with minimally invasive therapeutic background approach some of the more common degenerative entities like spinal stenosis and herniated disc, what type of surgeries are available and what's on the horizon in the surgical world. They also talked about when its appropriate not to do surgery and some of the other considerations dealing with psychosomatics and personality types. They also talked about the nature of medicine in the US and how the mentality is somewhat different from Europe. So this is an in depth, wide ranging, long but very rewarding conversation with an expert in the field who has a tremendous background. Enjoy! Simon Hanft, MD Director, Minimally Invasive Brain Tumor Surgery Surgical Director, Pituitary Tumor Program Neurosurgeon I developed a focus on the treatment of brain and spine tumors while a resident at Columbia University in New York City. I then transitioned to a dedicated surgical neuro-oncology fellowship at the University of Miami, where I gained significant experience in treating malignant brain tumors, developing clinical trials, and delivering minimally invasive therapies for both primary and metastatic tumors of the central nervous system. Prior to my surgical training, I received my undergraduate degree from Yale University, a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge in England, and a medical degree from Stanford University. While at Stanford, I was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) fellowship award for research into the effects of inflammation and radiation on neural stem cells. The results from this research were published in a high impact journal on stem cell repair. Honors Jackson Hospital Systems Quality Improvement (QI) Grant for founding the Jackson Brain Tumor Bank, 2014 Council of State Neurosurgical Societies (CSNS) Socioeconomic Fellowship, 2011 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Research Training Fellowship, 2005 William B. Bean Research Award, American Osler Society, 2005 Stanford Medical Scientist Fellowship, 2004 Stanford Arts & Humanities Medical Scholars Grant, 2002 New York Arthritis Foundation Fellowship, 2001 Lupus Foundation of America Fellowship, 1997 Dr. Zinovy Meyler is a board certified, fellowship trained physician specializing in the non-operative care of spine, joint, muscle and nerve pain. After graduating from New York University and receiving his medical degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Meyler performed his specialty training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, The University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, where he was honored to serve as Chief Resident. Following residency, Dr. Meyler received additional training in ultrasound guidance at the Mayo Clinic and completed his fellowship training in interventional spine and joint medicine at the prestigious Beth Israel Spine Institute in Manhattan. Dr. Meyler is the author of multiple medical chapters and peer-reviewed papers. He serves as a reviewer for medical journals and lectures widely. Dr. Meyler’s expert medical opinion has been sought in newspapers and on radio shows, as well as on this podcast.

Robert Figlin, MD, Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology-Oncology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Howard Hochster, MD, Professor of Medicine Associate Director for Clinical Research and Director, GI Oncology, Rutgers Cancer Institute, discuss gastric/GE junction cancer clinical highlights from ASCO 2019.

Air Date: 10/7//2018 Duration: 30 min Guest: Bruce Haffty,MD - Chair of Radiation Oncology at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.  Dr. Haffty manages the care of breast cancer patients in the Stacy Goldstein Breast Cancer Center at Rutgers Cancer Institute.   Topic: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Dr. Haffty discusses early detection, treatment modalities, risks and side effects of treatment. He also talks about the newest changes in practice guidelines that reduces the duration of whole breast radiation treatment from a 6-7 week cycle to about 3 weeks. Dr. Haffty was on the panel that reviewed the guidelines and implemented that change. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

034 - Women's Cancers: The Importance of Knowing Your Body with Dr. Noah Goldman "It's about knowing yourself and knowing what's normal for you... taking the initiative to seek help if there's something that just doesn't seem right to you." --Dr. Noah Goldman   Today Dr. Goldman and I talked about: The Importance of listening to your body ALWAYS have abnormal bleeding checked by a doctor. It probably isn't cancer, but it's a sign something isn't right. Why you should have your screenings, even as you get older. Why to do monthly breast self-exam. How often to have mammogram and pap screenings. Symptoms of women's cancers - (Many times there aren't any symptoms.) Cervical: Abnormal bleeding, abnormal vaginal discharge Uterine: Abnormal bleeding Ovarian: Abdominal pain and bloating, urinating more frequently, abnormal bleeding. Often there are no symptoms. See your doctor if you believe there might be a problem, that's why they're there. New cancer treatments including biologic treatments We talked about more, listen to find out the rest.   Who is Dr. Noah Goldman? Dr. Goldman is a board certified and fellowship trained Gynecologic Oncologist and serves in the role of Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health, and the Associate Division Director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Previously, Dr. Goldman served as the Subspecialty Director of Gynecologic Oncology at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, New Jersey. He previously held academic and teaching positions at the New York University School of Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. Goldman treats women with preinvasive and invasive disease of the female genital tract including cervix, uterine, ovarian, vulvar, and vaginal cancers. He has a special interest in the use of minimally-invasive surgery to treat women with gynecologic malignancies as well as complex gynecologic issues, including the use of the DaVinci® Robotics System. He has taught on this subject at national and international meetings and published in peer-reviewed literature. Dr. Goldman earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - New Jersey Medical School and an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Rochester. He also completed an internship and residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, where he also served as the Administrative Chief Resident. Dr. Goldman completed his fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York. Dr. Goldman's advice to women: Know yourself and know what's normal for you. Take the initiative to seek help if there's something that just doesn't seem right to you. Go to the doctor and have your screenings. Dr. Goldman's superpower: The ability to help people feel calm. Patients walk into his office anxious because of the word cancer, but leave knowing they'll be taken care of. Where to find good information about women's cancer: Society of Gynecologic Oncology: sgo.org - And - To learn more or connect with the Foundation for Women's Cancer (FWC), please visit their website at foundationforwomenscancer.org or follow the FWC on: Facebook: facebook.com/foundationforwomenscancer Instagram: instagram.com/foundationforwomenscancer Twitter: twitter.com/GYNCancer Want to connect? You can find me (Jen): Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejenhardy/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjenhardy Chronically Positive Moms Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/chronicallypositivemoms/   Thank you for joining me today!  Want more? Go to HardyMom.com and you'll find ways to live well, grow, and enjoy your life again -with any health challenges. I'd love to hear what you think about this episode! Send me a message at HardyMom.com/contact Have a blessed week, Jen   p.s. Why am I interviewing someone who isn't a woman or a mom with a chronic illness? Listen until the end and find out! Like the show? It would be great if you could help out by subscribing and rating it on your favorite podcast app. Our music is "A New Day," by Scott Holmes

Dr. Amanda Laird, MD is an endocrine surgeon and Chief of Endocrine Surgery at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is currently licensed to practice medicine in New Jersey and New York. She is affiliated with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Hospital. In this interview, Dr. Laird reflects on a decade of treating papillary thyroid cancer patients and reports none have died.  In this interview we also explore these questions: Prognosis and what will happen in the long run and quality of life. Surgery complications. Levothyroxine side-effects, including weight gain.  Life after surgery and RAI. What causes thyroid cancer. What time of day to take thyroid replacement medication. What blood tests should be ordered and is fasting necessary prior to thyroid lab work. NOTES Amanda Laird, MD American Thyroid Association   

Dr. Celeste Nelson is an Associate Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering, as well as Molecular Biology at Princeton University. She is also a Member of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the Breast Cancer Research and Cancer Metabolism and Growth Programs. Celeste received her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and conducted postdoctoral research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory before joining the faculty at Princeton. Celeste is the recipient of many awards and honors during her career. She has received the Princeton School of Engineering and Applied Science Distinguished Teacher Award, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the Allan P. Colburn Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Technology Review TR35 Young Innovator Award, and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in Molecular Biology. She is with us today to tell us all about her journey through life and science.