| Medical Advisory Board Members in The News! |
DOUGLAS J. SCHWARTZENTRUBER, MD, FACS, member of the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation Medical Advisory Board, has the distinction of being named to the 2010 TIME 100, the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, earlier this year. Dr. Schwartzentruber is a surgical oncologist and medical director of the Center for Cancer Care, Goshen, Indiana.
TIME reported on Dr. Schwartzentruber's work in 2009, following the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting's announcement of his highly successful melanoma vaccine clinical trial. Schwartzentruber was lead author and principal investigator on this study. "One of the first studies to prove vaccines might have a medical benefit against cancer, Schwartzentruber's study results found the new therapeutic cancer vaccine, given in combination with an existing melanoma treatment called Interleukin-2, doubled the response rate for tumor shrinkage as well as delayed the progression of cancer in patients with metastatic melanoma." (www.goshenhealth.org)
Dr. Schwartzentruber attended medical school and completed a general surgery residency at the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis. Dr. Schwartzentruber completed an Immunotherapy Fellowship in 1988 and a Surgical Oncology Fellowship in 1990 at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and he served as Senior Investigator in the Surgery Branch of The National Cancer Institute for 13 years.
GEORGE W. SLEDGE, Jr, MD, member of the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation Medical Advisory Board, was named President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) for 2010-2011, during the 2010 Annual Business Meeting of the organization in Chicago, IL. Dr. Sledge is Ballve-Lantero Professor of Oncology and Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Indiana University Simon Cancer Center. Dr. Sledge and colleagues are actively involved in the breast cancer advocacy community and as an National Cancer Institute designated cancer center, provide state of the art care for those with challenging diagnosis'.
Dr. Sledge received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsn and medical degree from Tulane University. He completed his residency at St. Louis University and fellowship at the University of Texas, San Antonio. Dr. Sledge has received numerous awards for his outstanding clinical and research work. The breast cancer advocacy community recognizes and appreciates the education, encouragement, and support Dr. Sledge continues to provide.
Congratulations to both Dr. Sledge and Dr. Schwartzentruber on these accomplishments! The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation appreciates that you share your expertise and time as members of our Medical Advisory Board.
7th Annual
IBC Bowling Day
The family of Julie Bigoski is hard work getting ready for the 7th Annual IBC Bowling Day to be held August 21, 2010, in Norristown, PA. This event is now sold out! Our own Ginny Mason, Executive Director of the IBC Research Foundation will attend again this year. Thank you to the Bigoski Famnily and all who help make IBC Bowling Day such an awesome event. Thanks to you, we are able to focus on research and education, knowing we've got folks like you to support the work.
|
| Upcoming Events |
August 17 - Teleconference: Managing Weight After Breast Cancer; 12 pm to 1:15 pm Click here.
August 21 - 7th Annual IBC Bowling Day,
Sept. 13-15 - caBIG Annual Meeting: Building a Collaborative Biomedical Network; Washington DC Click here.
November 13 - Conference: News You Can Use: Breast Cancer Updates for Living Well; 9 am - 6 pm; Philadelphia, PA Click here. |
|
 Quick Links for IBC Patients and Caregivers
| |
1-877-STOP-IBC
1-877-786-7422
email:
|
|
|
|
The 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Did you know there are currently 11 million cancer survivors? As one of those fortunate survivors, I owe a debt of gratitude to those tireless researchers and clinicians who have dedicated their lives to unlocking the secrets of cancer and developing more effective treatments. Being a part of a huge scientific conference like the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting gives you the opportunity to learn about cutting edge research and talk to those actively involved.
It is impossible to visit all 6000 posters or hear all 700 speakers, but we did our best to see and hear as much as possible! The opening plenary session was a highlight as speakers stressed the importance of tandem new drug development and biomarker validation while revamping the way clinical trials are designed and implemented. Dr. Martine J. Piccart-Gebhart said, "progress in treatment tailoring is unacceptably slow" and we need to "translate science into trials, not the other way around." This theme was echoed in other presentations as well.
This year there was no special session devoted to inflammatory breast cancer. Both ASCO and AACR had posters that were specific to inflammatory breast cancer but there didn't appear to be anything "new" to report. One of our Medical Advisory Board members shared that there "wasn't anything practice changing at either meeting this year" in relation to inflammatory breast cancer.
AACR is a great time to meet with researchers and Owen and I were able to sit down with a number of folks to discuss potential projects and explore collaborations. It was also good to meet new advocates and reconnect with old friends. AACR is a rather technical meeting since it is geared to 'bench research', however it was interesting to see more sessions devoted to translational science and how the "bench and bedside" can be more closely connected in the development of therapeutics. For more information on the American Association for Cancer Research: www.aacr.org. What a Program!
By, Owen Johnson
President, ibcRF
The annual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) was held April 17-21 this year at the Washington D.C. Convention Center. I was honored to be accepted to participate as a patient advocate in their 12th Annual Scientist↔Survivor Program (SSP). "The AACR Scientist↔Survivor Program is designed to build enduring partnerships among the leaders of the scientific and cancer survivor and patient advocacy communities worldwide. The program exposes advocates to special lay-language lectures, small group discussions and other interactions that provide a solid background in cancer research." Click here to learn more about the program.
Divided into 6 working groups there were 38 advocate participants, 20 scientific mentors, 8 advocate mentors, including our own Executive Director, Ginny Mason, and an amazing group of people from AACR/SSP to help us, teach us, and to get to meetings on time; oh, and to feed us like royalty.
A great deal is learned from fellow advocate participants about their organizations and their programs of education and involvement in research. Each of us prepare a poster presentation and respond to questions. My poster, of course, was about Inflammatory Breast Cancer, and in addition to my verbal presentation I handed out brochures and bookmarks, and responded to many questions. To complete this introduction, I encourage any advocate, survivor or not, to apply to this educational and inspiring program.
The mentors are a valuable resource to answer questions, to provide guidance while selecting which Annual Meeting sessions to attend, and to help the working groups prepare their final presentation at the Closing Session and Celebration.
We had the opportunity to hear presentations from many well known successful cancer researchers, in a small groups of 25 or more of us, where each presenter encouraged us to ask questions at anytime, and reminded us that "there are no dumb questions." Here are some of the things I learned:
The tools used to study the biology of cancers have dramatically changed in the last decade, most rely on computers, and recently the data collected in one sample is measured in gigabytes. One presenter described this as a "tsunami of information/data." Computer and information specialists are now a common part of the "research team" so the vast amounts of data are properly collected, and saved in a digital form for research analysis.
You've probably seen pictures of the double helix DNA that make up our chromosomes; amazingly, if a one of the two strands of each chromosome were uncoiled and made straight it's length would approximate three miles!
Antibodies, angiogenesis, infection, inflammation, blastocycts, and telomeres were subjects of one or more presentations.
There are four pounds of flora in the gut and intestines; in one milliliter of sea water there are one million bacteria.
Dr. Donald Coffey of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine told of a disease survey done in rural China, helped by some from Johns Hopkins, before relations between China and the United States were improved in 1972. Surprisingly the survey found no incidence of prostate cancer. This prompted an investigation by Dr. Coffey and others at Johns Hopkins. They reviewed required autopsy reports of zoo mammals that die while in a zoo, and found no incidence of prostate cancer in male mammals. Only in human males and dogs did they find male prostate cancer. It was concluded that burned meat was a differentiating factor between the two male mammals that may develop prostate cancer and all other male mammals.
There are so many things that participants learn at AACR/SSP that reinforce the basics, inform what is "happening now," and current research "hot topics" that allow the participants to better educate their organization and improve their ability to advocate for cancer research.
Again, I encourage any advocate, survivor or not, to apply to this educational and inspiring program. |
 46 Annual Meeting
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
For the sixth year, the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation (ibcRF) was a part of the ASCO Sponsored Patient Advocacy Exhibit. Organizations have the opportunity to apply and then twenty cancer advocacy organizations are chosen to exhibit in the booth area. Each group is assigned a section where they typically display literature and other materials. Volunteers are on hand to talk with those who stop by. A poster showing various physical presentations of IBC always gets attention at the ibcRF booth, along with a poster listing the typical signs and symptoms. A basket of fireballs reminds visitors to the booth that inflammatory breast cancer is "hot and aggressive". The basket had to be refilled frequently!
The ASCO meeting also provides opportunities to visit with members of our Medical Advisory Board, set up meetings with researchers and clinicians in attendance, and network with other cancer patients/advocates. Afternoon patient advocate education sessions provide highlights of the day's presentations. It is a huge international meeting with many concurrent sessions making it difficult to attend everything one would like.
This year the meeting was held at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL, June 4-8. Those staffing the ibcRF booth were: Gayla Little, Carol McWilliams, Pam Haschke and Ginny Mason. Volunteers Gayla and Carol were asked to share their thoughts on the meeting experience. There submissions are below.
CAROL McWILLIAMS: It is an honor and awesome responsibility to be part of the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation presence at ASCO. Surrounded by many of the world's most knowledgeable cancer clinicians and researchers, it becomes clear how much more I need to know to become an effective advocate for women (and men) with IBC. It was especially exciting was to see IBC mentioned in posters and presentations.
One memory that will stay will me forever is that of a young woman who started to walk briskly by our booth, but stopped cold at our photos. I watched her scan the information and could see that she was furiously processing what she was seeing and reading. Then she began to speak, describing the symptoms her sister had been having for much too long, her repeated courses of antibiotics with no improvement. We spoke quietly together for several minutes, and when she left she was planning a phone call to her sister with suggestions for steps to take to rule out IBC. One woman, one sister, but a new world of information that she will surely share.
TIMES HAVE CHANGED - GAYLA LITTLE: The role of the Inflammatory Breast Cancer RESEARCH Foundation seems to have changed in the five years that I have worked our booth at ASCO. I remember how nervous I was the first time I went. My first one was in Chicago at the enormous McCormick Place. It seemed like I spent the first few days trying my hardest not to get lost.
When oncologists and researchers would come to the booth, we wanted to make sure they were familiar with inflammatory breast cancer and the differences in the protocol for treatment. Since our victory three years ago with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, telling doctors about IBC doesn't seem as necessary now that IBC has been determined to be its own type of cancer, separate from other forms of invasive breast cancer. Now, we are talking to folks about RESEARCH.
We are now approached by researchers asking about our BioBank and Clinical Database. They want to know how to access these precious samples of cancerous tissue that so many of you have given exclusively for the research of inflammatory breast cancer. I am always so proud to tell them the names of the members of our Medical Advisory Board who review the applications. One of the members, Dr. George Sledge, is currently serving as the President of ASCO.
I was in a session at an informational meeting given by Genentech. They were telling us about the T-DM1 trials. I pointed out that there have been many IBC patients participating in the T-DM1 trials and I wanted to know if the data for IBC patients was being separated out from the other breast cancer patients. I told them that I am on the Board of Directors of the Inflammatory Breast Cancer RESEARCH Foundation and I wanted to talk about how we could help them make separating out that data happen. The representatives agreed that it would be important to know how IBC patients respond, as a group, to T-DM1. You could tell that they take us seriously.
In the last five years, I have gone from feeling like a total novice to an old hand at chatting up researchers. We are no longer the new kids on the block. Research on IBC is being done at facilities all across the country. It won't be long before we know what causes this awful disease. I really do believe that the day will come when it is gone from our lives forever.
For more information on ASCO and to view abstracts from the Annual Meeting visit: www.asco.org.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
