HEADLINES

Cancer News

NEW PEDIATRIC CANCER TRIAL TO TEST IMMUNOTHERAPY COMBINATION

A new prospective treatment for two rare childhood cancers, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and recurrent neuroblastoma, will be tested in a new human clinical trial led by pediatric oncology teams at the University of Florida and Atrium Health Levine Children’s in Charlotte, N.C.

The trial will test an innovative combination of molecular-guided therapy and personalized immunotherapy. The treatments use the unique genetic information of an individual child’s cancer to design a three-pronged approach: a specifically tailored drug treatment, a cancer vaccine containing dendritic cells and adoptive T cell therapy.

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VITAL SIGNS: LEVERAGING DATA FOR BETTER HEALTH OUTCOMES

Azra Bihorac says one of the most important collaborations for doctors and nurses in the future will be with the computer at a patient’s bedside.

That next step is on the way in the form of GatorTron™, a first-of-its-kind technology designed to mine electronic health records in a new way, says William Hogan, the director of biomedical informatics and data science in the UF College of Medicine.

Big data and health care marry well is no surprise to Betsy Shenkman, who was a big data scientist before the term “big data” was popular.
Early in her career, she mined data from insurance companies to find commonalities in the records that would yield insights for health care. She had mentors who tried to talk her out of this line of research and mentors who encouraged it.

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DR. CHATZKEL ON THE EMERGENCE OF NOVEL THERAPIES IN METASTATIC UROTHELIAL CANCER

Jonathan A. Chatzkel, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, discusses the emergence of novel therapies in relapsed/refractory locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer.

Novel therapies, including the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) enfortumab vedotin-ejfv (Padcev), the ADC sacituzumab govitecan-hziy (Trodelvy), and the FGFR inhibitor erdafitinib (Balversa), have been welcome additions to the treatment of patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma. 

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THYROID CANCER OVERDIAGNOSIS MIGHT BE ADDRESSED THROUGH BETTER PATIENT-DOCTOR CONVERSATIONS

It can be a disquieting moment for a patient. A lump or bump is found on their neck. It’s a thyroid nodule. Is it cancer? Many of those patients will probably want to get a biopsy as soon as they can. The number of people diagnosed with thyroid cancer has tripled in the last 40 years as imaging technology has become more common and nodules are often discovered incidentally in patients without symptoms.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE: CANCER CAREGIVERS NEED TO CARE FOR THEMSELVES, TOO

For Danna Wessels of Austin, Texas, it all began with two itchy patches of skin on her abdomen. In 2007, Wessels, now 63, received a diagnosis of stage 1a mycosis fungoides, a form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

At the time, her then-partner and now wife of nine years, Nancy Noble, made one request: “I asked her not to look at the (internet) when she got the diagnosis,” Noble says. “Because I did.”

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FLORIDA SCIENTISTS BRING HOPE TO BREAST CANCER PATIENTS THROUGH GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH

Physicians and researchers across Florida are exploring innovative ways to make a diagnosis of breast cancer less formidable and frequent, especially for underserved populations such as Black women and prison inmates.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and combined with the Oct. 4 announcement that Florida’s First Lady, Casey DeSantis, was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 41, many are looking for more information on the disease.

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Announcements

CANCER POLICY INTERNSHIP

The Cancer Center is seeking 1-2 UF graduate students to serve as interns with the Federal Relations team in the University’s Washington DC office in Spring 2022. The intern(s) focus primarily on legislative support related to cancer policy and will gain unique exposure to the inner workings of the U.S. Government in the advancement of the University’s education and research missions.

This internship is an integral part of the team charged with proactively supporting the University of Florida’s agenda on a national level and ensuring UF is a leading expert voice on important issues.
To learn more about this opportunity, please visit our website. The application deadline is November 3, 2021. 

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PANERA GOES PINK

 Throughout October, 20 cents from the sale of every Pink Ribbon Bagel sold in Panera’s cafes in Gainesville, Ocala and The Villages will go directly to support breast cancer research at UF Health. This month-long initiative is in honor of Panera’s national 20th anniversary celebration of the Pink Ribbon Bagel. 

You can pre-order your bagels at www.paneraflorida.com, allowing Panera to fulfill the demand for Pink Ribbon Bagels while maximizing the amount raised UF Health Cancer Center breast cancer research.

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