P U B L I C AT I O N S
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UAB MEDICINE NEWS
NCCN Taps UAB for Affiliate Research
trials, continuing medical education for nurses and oncologists,
The NCCN Affiliate Research Project (ARP) has qualified its
and access to the latest education about advancements in the
first seven sites, naming community-based affiliates from the
treatment and detection of cancer.
UAB Cancer Care Network, Fox Chase Cancer Center, and
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. The qualified UAB Cancer Care
Network member is Medical Center of Central Georgia, in
Macon. ARP was developed by the NCCN Oncology Research
Program, which has received more than $36 million in research
grants from pharmaceutical and biotech companies to support
investigator-initiated trials. Affiliate sites will have access to new
and innovative cancer drugs for their patients in collaboration
with NCCN member institutions, and principal investigators of
NCCN-funded studies will have access to these community sites.
Huh Receives Cancer Society QOL Award
Gynecologic oncologist Warner Huh, MD, was awarded the
American Cancer Society’s 2012 Lane W. Adams Quality of
Life Award at its annual board meeting in May. The award
recognizes those whose innovation, leadership, and consistent
excellence provide compassionate, skilled care and counsel
to cancer patients and their families. Huh, chair of the robotic
surgery program at UAB, has played a major role in the
development of the first proven cervical cancer vaccine. He is on
the steering committee of the Johns Hopkins/UAB/University of
Colorado SPORE in Cervical Cancer.
Cancer Care: Looking at Cost
With a $15 million Health Care Innovation Challenge Grant
from CMS, UAB’s Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) will
deploy its Deep South Cancer Navigation Network in a program
to find upwards of $50 million in cancer care costs savings over
3 years. The initiative will help cancer patients facing advanced
stages of disease and their physicians make the most appropriate
choices for treatment, reduce the use of ineffective therapies, and
maximize the appropriate use of health care resources.
UAB Awarded $19 Million Disparities Grant
A 5-year, $19-million NIH award has renewed the partnership
of UAB’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, Morehouse School of
Medicine (MSM) in Atlanta, and Tuskegee University (TU) in
Alabama. It seeks to understand cancer disparities and determine
methods to solve them. UAB pathologist Upender Manne,
PhD, is lead principal investigator. The initial grant trained 81
scholars to increase the number of minorities engaged in cancerrelated research. The schools all saw substantial increases in
cancer research funding, MSM established a 30-member cancer
research program, and TU increased its cancer research capacity
with new trainees and cancer-related courses. The National
UAB Cancer Care Network Expands Further
Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at TU was
UAB’s Cancer Care Network, established in June 2011 to
established as a national resource. In addition, UAB recruited 6
enhance oncology services in the region by joining forces
faculty engaged in cancer-health disparities.
with community cancer centers, has added 2 more centers and
now serves 8 communities in 3 states. The affiliation program
added Marshall Medical Centers in Guntersville and Boaz,
Alabama, and Fort Walton Beach Medical Center in Florida.
“With these affiliations, our 350
linicians,
cancer scientists, clinicians,
f
and a large array of
services are linked to
n
local oncologists in
nd
communities around the
South, so patients can
receive benefit of the
he
UAB Comprehensive Cancer
ive
Center’s expertise without leaving their hometown
area,” says Edward Partridge, MD, director of the UAB
d
Comprehensive Cancer Center. The affiliations provide access
ancer
to UAB’s best practices in cancer care, broader access to clinical
ctices
Cardan Wins Award From American Association of
Physicists in Medicine
Beriwal S, Demanes DJ, Erickson
B, Jones E, De Los Santos JF,
Cormack RA, Yashar C, Rownd
JJ, Viswanathan AN. “American
Brachytherapy Society consensus
guidelines for interstitial
brachytherapy for vaginal cancer.”
Brachytherapy. 2012 Jan;11(1):68-75.
Heath CH, Sorace AG, Knowles
JA, Rosenthal E, Hoyt K.
“Microbubble therapy enhances
anti-tumor properties of cisplatin
and cetuximab in vitro and in vivo.”
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2012
Jun;146:938-945.
Kim KH, Dmitriev I, O’Malley
JP, Wang M, Saddekni S, You Z,
Preuss MA, Harris RD, Aurigemma
R, Siegal GP, Zinn KR, Curiel DT,
Alvarez RD. “A phase I clinical
trial of Ad5.SSTR/TK.RGD, a novel
infectivity-enhanced bicistronic
adenovirus, in patients with
recurrent gynecologic cancer.” Clin
Cancer Res. 2012 Apr 17. [Epub
ahead of print].
Hung J, Shen S, De Los Santos
JF, Kim RY. “Image-Based 3D
Treatment Planning for Vaginal
Cylinder Brachytherapy: Dosimetric
Effects of Bladder Filling on Organs
at Risk.” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys.
2012 Jul 1;83(3):980-5.
Warram JM, Sorace AG, Saini
R, Borovjagin AV, Hoyt K, Zinn
KR. “Systemic delivery of a breast
cancer-detecting adenovirus using
targeted microbubbles.” Cancer
Gene Ther. 2012 Aug;19(8):545-52.
Rex Cardan, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of
Radiation Oncology, won the Young Investigator Award for
work presented at the 2012 annual meeting of the
th
F E AT U R E D
CLINICAL TRIAL
A
American Associatio of Physicists in Medicine, July
American Association
2012, in Charlotte, Nort Carolina. The work was “Fast
No
North
and Accurate Patien Specific Collision Detection
Accurate Patient
u
for Radiation Th
R
Radiation Therapy.” He and his team created
a fast system that makes radiation therapy
th
treatments safe by detecting and avoiding
safer
potential collisio that can occur between the
collisions
patient and the accelerator.
Study of Whole-Brain Radiotherapy in
Combination with Concurrent Lapatinib in
Patients with Brain Metastasis From HER2Positive Breast Cancer – A Collaborative
Study of RTOG and KROG. RTOG 1119. This
randomized phase 2 trial in patients with HER2+
stage IV breast cancer and MRI evidence of
brain metastasis will evaluate randomized
patients receiving whole-brain radiation alone
versus patients receiving whole-brain radiation
therapy plus a concurrent dosage of lapatinib.
NCT01622868. PI: Jennifer De Los Santos, MD.
Contact: Anna Messer, research coordinator,
205.975.2880.
MOR E INF OR M AT ION: uabmedicine.org /physician
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