Category: Oncology
Fellows Match to the Department of Medicine
While the pandemic made this year particularly challenging for fellowship recruitment efforts and interviews, a series of videos showing each program’s strengths was a creative solution, introducing viewers to faculty and current fellows, with a brief glimpse into what it might be like to join the program. And although it was impossible to replicate the experience of visiting in- … Read more
Obesity Rates Significantly Higher in Black Women With Breast Cancer
Physician’s Weekly featured a recently published retrospective review by Kristen Nyrop, PhD, assistant professor of oncology, on racial disparities in the prevalence of comorbidities in general and obesity-related comorbidities in Black and White women with early stage, hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Read the article here.
Study Illustrates How Obesity-Related Comorbidities May Contribute to 40% Mortality Gap Between Black and White Women with Early Breast Cancer
Obesity is a known risk factor for various cancers, and its rise over the past few decades has contributed to a rise in hormone receptor positive breast cancer rates that is greater in Black women than White women. At the same time, as overall breast cancer mortality rates have declined, the decline has been less pronounced in Black women, producing a 40% mortality gap. In an ana … Read more
Precision Treatment Advances Improve Survival in Women With Aggressive HER2+ Breast Cancer
Women with a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, known as HER2-positive disease, now have unique options that can help tailor their treatment more effectively. Based on results from a phase III clinical trial that followed women for seven years and was conducted at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and other cancer centers nationwide, a new therapeutic roa … Read more
Reeder-Hayes Will Co-Lead Study Funded By ACS/Pfizer to Address Racial Disparities in Breast Cancer
Katherine Reeder-Hayes, MD, MSc, MBA, associate professor and chief of breast oncology in the Department of Medicine and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Stephanie Wheeler, PhD, MPH, professor of health policy and management at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and associate director of Community Outreach and Engagement at UNC Lineberger, are head … Read more
Cancer Patients Report Real Time Symptoms in New Study
Ethan Basch, MD, lead researcher and chief of oncology, and Arlene Chung, MD, assistant professor in general medicine, conducted a survey to find out whether outpatient cancer patients who reported their symptoms in real-time to their medical team would benefit from the near-immediate contact. Learn more.
Department of Medicine Grants & Funding: October 1 – October 31, 2020
Division of General Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology The Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), in partnership with the Center for Health Equity Research at UNC-Chapel Hill and Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, has received an $80 million award to serve as the coordinating and data collection center for a four-year program that will overcome barriers and increase upta … Read more
The Power in Our Hands: Addressing Racism in the Workplace
An essay written by Marjory Charlot, MD, MPH, MSc, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, recounts a recent experience with racism directed towards her from a patient on the inpatient oncology service. The incident occurred during morning rounds while she was supervising two medical interns. Charlot writes how she was “caught off guard” when her white elderly patient, wit … Read more
Carey Named One of Top Breast Cancer Experts in the U.S.
Lisa Carey, MD, is one of the top 10 breast cancer experts in the country, ranked by Expertscape, which is an online database that accesses the expertise and contributions of physicians and medical institutions worldwide. She is the only physician ranked in North Carolina. Carey is the L. Richardson and Marilyn Jacobs Preyer Distinguished Professor for Breast Cancer Research in t … Read more
Sanoff Talks About Grief As the Pandemic Continues
The Associated Press interviewed Hanna Sanoff, MD, MPH, about grief, an “inescapable” part of the job for oncologists, and she explained how mourning “the lost of the human connection helps her help others grieve.” Sanoff also said she has “learned from patients how to deliver bad news in person and share in their grief ‘without losing'” herself, but finds herself “wholly unprepa … Read more
Jolly Co-Authors JAMA Article Advocating For Programs to Help Cancer Patients Stop Using Tobacco
Trevor Jolly, MBBS, Adam Goldstein, MD, MPH, and Kimberly Shoenbill, MD, PhD, are co-authors of an editorial published in JAMA calling for more funding and better reimbursement for smoking cessation counseling for cancer patients who smoke. The article asserts that programs designed to help cancer patients stop using tobacco should be considered as important and impactful as prov … Read more
New Vulnerability Found in Lung Squamous Cancer May Facilitate Drug Targeting at Cellular Level
New research by scientists at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and colleagues shows the potential for targeting a specific circular RNA, known as CDR1as, to attack lung squamous cell cancer. The UNC work was led by Chad Pecot, MD, associate professor of medicine in the division of oncology, and Emily Harrison, PhD. Lung squamous cell cancers comprise up to 30% of all lu … Read more