November 12, 2010

Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven Celebrates Anniversary

It's hard to believe that the first patient was seen in the radiation oncology unit of Smilow Cancer Hospital a little over a year ago.

We will continue to transition the remaining cancer services to Smilow Cancer Hospital over the next several months.

Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital will continue to partner together to strengthen the cancer services available to our patients as we strive to make Smilow Cancer Hospital a top tier cancer hospital in the country.

External Scientific Advisory Board (ESAB) Meeting

Yale Cancer Center will host 14 members of our scientific advisory board on Thursday, November 18th and Friday, November 19th at Smilow Cancer Hospital.  In addition to an update from the Yale Cancer Center, Yale-New Haven Hospital, and Yale School of Medicine leadership, board members will hear presentations on each of the cancer center research programs.  A review of clinical trial operations and an overview of shared resources available to Yale Cancer Center membership will also be presented.

Yale-New Haven Hospital Listed by Becker's Hospital Review for Oncology Programs

Becker's Hospital Review

included Yale-New Haven Hospital on their list of the top 30 hospitals in the country with great oncology programs.

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Yale Hosts International Thymic Malignancies Interest Group (ITMIG)

On November 16-17, Yale will host dozens of researchers and clinicians who are interested in working together to create practice standards, a thymic malignancy staging system, and a prospective ITMIG database.

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Yale Faculty Participate in ASH Annual Meeting

Several faculty members from Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven will be in attendance and presenting their research at the upcoming Annual Society of Hematology meeting.  Congratulations to the following faculty members for their participation:

Dr. Herbert Yu

was recently awarded a $6.98 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to fund a five-year 

epidemiologic study of hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States.

Dr. Michelle Sowden

, the 4th Norma Lies Mitchell Breast Fellow funded by the Breast Cancer Alliance, recently received first prize from the Connecticut Chapter of the American College of Surgeons for her presentation at the annual Connecticut American Cancer Society Chapter meeting.  Her presentation was on the Accuracy of Intraoperative Assessment of Sentinel Lymph Nodes in Breast Cancer over 7 Years and Dr. Brigid Killelea mentored her for the project.

Dr. Nita J. Maihle

presented a plenary lecture at this week's 9th Annual AACR International Conference in Cancer Prevention Research.  The title of her presentation was

The EGFR Conundrum: EGFR-based Diagnostics in the Era of Personalized Medicine

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Dr. Jason Wilken will be presenting an invited lecture on the topic sEGFR Is an Alternate Target of EGFR-directed Therapeutic Antibodies during the 2010 Ovarian Cancer Research Symposium, to be held in Seattle, WA.   He also has been invited to present an informal lecture to patient advocates as part of this year's symposium.

Drs. Anees Chagpar

and Mark Faries presented at the Western Surgical Association Annual Meeting last weekend.

Lymph Node Ratio Improves Axillary Staging in Breast Cancer Patients

and Dr. Faries spoke on the topic, Are the Popliteal and Inguinal Basins Functionally Separate in Melanoma?

Exercise is Associated with Reduced Risk of Endometrial Cancer

Women who routinely perform moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise for 2.5 hours or more weekly have a significantly reduced risk of endometrial cancer, new research by the Yale School of Public Health has discovered. 

The study examined hundreds of women and found that those who exercised at least 150 minutes weekly-which could be something as simple as moderate-paced walking-had a 34 percent reduced risk of endometrial cancer compared with their sedentary peers.

Landon Foundation-AACR INNOVATOR Award for Cancer Prevention Research
Open to junior faculty who have completed postdoctoral or clinical research fellowships on or after July 2, 2007 and hold a full-time faculty appointment.  Proposed research projects may be in any discipline of cancer prevention research and must describe novel and innovative research that, if successful, will have strong potential for high impact in the cancer prevention field.

Landon Foundation-AACR INNOVATOR Award for Research in Personalized Cancer Medicine
Open to independent investigators, this grant is designed to accelerate progress in the area of personalized cancer medicine by providing support for a researcher conducting meritorious studies that hold promise for near-patient benefit. Research projects may be in any discipline of clinical or translational cancer research, provided they will have an impact on the field of personalized cancer medicine.

Landon Foundation-AACR INNOVATOR Award for International Collaboration in Cancer Research
Open to two or more independent investigators working within an established international cancer research collaboration involving institutes in multiple countries.  Collaborative research projects can be in any discipline of basic, clinical, translational, or epidemiological cancer research. Applications must demonstrate the collaboration's utilization of unique populations and environments, shared resources, specialized expertise, new concepts and perspectives, innovative methodologies, and/or emerging technologies within a cancer research project.

AACR Calls for SU2C Innovative Research Grant Letters of Intent

The American Association for Cancer Research calls upon the cancer research community to submit Letters of Intent for Stand Up To Cancer's Innovative Research Grants (IRG), which support the next generation of extraordinary cancer research leaders in their quest to conquer cancer.

The grants will provide funding of up to $750,000 over a three-year period.

IRGs offer financial support to scientists pursuing novel, high-risk, but potentially high-reward cancer research proposals that have significant potential for translational application and hold great promise for advancing SU2C's overarching goal of improving and saving lives. Proposals may focus on any discipline within basic, translational or clinical research, provided that these criteria are met.

Sidney Kimmel Foundation Translational Science Award

The foundation provides these awards specifically for physicians engaged in translational science. Applicants must demonstrate a significant personal involvement in the laboratory component of the translational project described. The translational research may involve primarily animal studies but must include reasonable application to subsequent human investigation.

Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research Scholars Award

Each year the Kimmel Foundation expects to select up to ten grant recipients for the Scholars Award who will receive $100,000 per year for two years. Qualified applicants must hold an MD, PhD, or equivalent graduate degree and must perform research in an American not-for-profit institution during the period of Kimmel Foundation support.

The Kimmel Foundation is seeking accomplished young investigators dedicated to a career in cancer research. Applications are limited to those who achieved the equivalent rank of Assistant Professor on or after July, 2007.

To meet the growing demands of cancer researchers, NDRI is expanding its efforts to increase the availability of cancer samples from surgical donors.  This new initiative permits rapid sample procurement (within ~1 hour) and shipment, so researchers can receive their samples within 24 hours of the surgery.  Detailed donor information, including a pathology report with tumor diagnosis, is provided with each sample.  Listed below are representative samples from this program.