UP FRONT
University in New York, he returned
to the University of Tokyo where he
established his research group in 1988.
Since 2009, he has been a professor at
the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
The concept of autophagy
emerged in the 1960s but was not well
understood until Dr. Ohsumi’s pioneering
experiments in the 1990s, where he
used baker’s yeast to identify genes and
metabolic pathways that are essential
for autophagy. He went on to detail the
underlying mechanism for autophagy in
yeast, showing that similar sophisticated
machinery is used in the body’s cells.
“Dr. Ohsumi’s discoveries led to a
new paradigm in our understanding of
how the cell recycles its content,” the
Nobel Prize Committee wrote in the
award announcement. “His discoveries
opened the path to understanding the
fundamental importance of autophagy
in many physiological processes, such
as in the adaptation to starvation or
response to infection. Mutations in
autophagy genes can cause disease, and
the autophagic process is involved in
several conditions, including cancer and
neurological disease.”
Source: Nobel Prize press release, October 3, 2016.
Jeffrey Gordon Appointed
President of Connecticut
State Medical Society
Jeffrey A. Gordon, MD, was sworn in as
the 178th president of the Connecticut
State Medical Society (CSMS) during its
224th Annual Meeting in September. He
is an actively practicing
hematologist/oncologist at the New London
Cancer Center in Connecticut.
Dr. Gordon previously
served
in a number
Jeffrey A. Gordon,
MD
of leadership roles at
CSMS, including Bylaws
Committee chair, a former councilor from
Windham County, and a past president
of the Windham County Medical Association. Dr. Gordon has also held academic appointments at the University
of Connecticut School of Medicine and
the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Gordon held a number of
leadership positions at Day Kimball Hospital, where he was the medical director
of Hematology−Oncology Services from
2003 to 2011.
established two funds at the University
of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) to assist
both patients with cancer and the nurses
who care for them.
The Sikora Pediatric Cancer and Blood
Disease Outreach Fund will provide
specialized continuing education for
nursing staff and education for patients
and families, as well as resources for
nurses and nurse practitioners from
UNM’s Department of Pediatrics Division
of Hematology & Oncology to travel and
provide outreach to families and medical
care professionals.
The Pediatric Hematology Oncology
Nurses Professional Development Fund
will support professional development
for nurses caring for UNMH pediatric
oncology, hematologic, and hemophilia
patients under the care of the Division
of Hematology and Oncology within the
Department of Pediatrics.
Source: University of New Mexico Hospital news release, October 3, 2016.
E. John Wherry Receives
Cancer Research Institute
Award for New Discoveries
on Exhausted T Cells
E. John Wherry, PhD, a professor of
microbiology, director of the Institute
for Immunology, and co-director of the
Parker Institute for
Cancer Immunotherapy
at the Perelman School
of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania,
has been awarded the
2016 Frederick W. Alt
E. John Wherry, PhD
Award for New Discoveries in Immunology
from the Cancer Research Institute (CRI).
Dr. Wherry’s discoveries include
insights into how changes in gene expression affect T-cell exhaustion, or a loss of
immune function that occurs as a result of
chronic viral infection and cancer. His work
has contributed to the development of
immunotherapies for human cancer that
work in part by reversing T-cell exhaustion.
ASH Presents at Guidelines International Network
Conference 2016
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) presented research at the
Guidelines International Network Conference 2016 that focuses on
individualized guidelines and clinical performance measurements in
the era of personalized medicine. Starr Webb, MPH, clinical quality
projects manager at ASH, presented a poster on “Implementation
of Sickle Cell Disease Guidelines: A Multistakeholder Meeting.” Ms.
Webb collaborated with Alexis Thompson, MD, MPH, Northwestern
University Feinberg School of Medicine, and John J. Strouse, MD, PhD,
Duke University School of Medicine Division of Hematology.
Robert R. Kunkle, MA, senior manager of practice guidelines at
ASH, presented two oral talks on aspects of ASH’s process for managing conflicts of interest during development of clinical practice guidelines. The first presentation was about making judgments about which
financial interests should count as conflicts for a guideline development project, giving consideration to magnitude, timing, relevance,
and directness. The second presentation was about ensuring transparency of disclosures of interests by guideline panelists and judgments
by ASH about which interests are conflicts. ASH members who collaborated on these presentations included Adam Cuker, MD, MS, University
of Pennsylvania; Julie A. Panepinto, MD, MSPH, Medical College of
Wisconsin; Anita Rajasekhar, MD, University of Florida Health; and
Holger Schünemann, MD, MSc, PhD, McMaster University.
Kendall Alexander, MPH, clinical quality projects specialist at ASH,
presented a poster that addressed the process ASH used to recruit
22 patient representatives to serve on 11 ASH guideline panels. Ms.
Alexander collaborated with Dr. Cuker, Mr. Kunkle, Dr. Panepinto, Dr.
Rajasekhar, Dr. Schünemann, Ms. Webb, and Robert M. Plovnick, MD,
MS, director, quality improvement programs at ASH.
Lastly, Patrick C. Irelan, MA, MPM, quality improvement manager
at ASH, gave a talk on “Assessing First-Time User Experiences of the
ASH Pocket Guides App to Enhance User Adoption and Retention.” His
presentation focused on how ASH leveraged the volume and diversity
of attendees at the annual meeting to gather data on first-time user
experience of the (then) newly introduced ASH Pocket Guides app. Mr.
Irelan collaborated with Dr. Plovnick and Mr. Kunkle. ●
Source: G-I-N conference homepage.
Source: Cancer Research Institute press release, July 28, 2016.
Source: Connecticut State Medical Society press release, September 28, 2016.
Former Nurses Establish
Funds at the University of
New Mexico Hospital to Help
Care for Cancer Patients
Retired Air Force Major Timothy S.
Sikora, BSN, and his wife, Roseann M.
Sikora, BSN – both former nurses –
ASHClinicalNews.org
Starr Webb, MPH, presenting at the conference.
ASH Clinical News
17