News | DirectConnect | 2010 | 2010-03-19

March 19, 2010

March 19, 2010

Announcements

Howard Hochster Joins Yale

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Howard Hochster will join Yale Cancer Center on July 1 as a Professor of Medicine, Medical Oncology. Howard will also serve as Medical Director for Gastrointestinal Oncology and Associate Director for Clinical Research.

Howard's clinical and leadership experience and national reputation in gastrointestinal oncology will greatly benefit patients at Smilow Cancer Hospital. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, I am grateful for his expertise in the role of Associate Director of Clinical Research as we continue to increase clinical trial opportunities for our patients.

New Location for Grand Rounds

Beginning on Tuesday, March 23rd, Yale Cancer Center Grand Rounds will be held in the new auditorium at 55 Park Street, adjacent to Smilow Cancer Hospital. I hope you will continue to benefit from the weekly presentations and welcome your suggestions for future speakers.

Retreat Agenda Posted

Please join us for Yale Cancer Center's Annual Scientific Retreat on Monday, May 10th at Yale's West Campus. The agenda includes a broad range of basic, translational, and population research and will provide us with an opportunity to interact with the entire cancer center membership.

Genitourinary Oncology Coverage

In preparation for Dr. Kevin Kelly's April departure, all patients under care for genitourinary malignancies in medical oncology will be transitioned to the care of Drs. Hari Deshpande, Leonard Farber, and Arthur Levy. Hari, Leonard, and Art all have extensive experience caring for patients with GU cancers and will ensure there is a seamless transition for each of Dr. Kelly's patients.

Smilow Update

As of last Tuesday, Smilow is a 24/7 hospital. The Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) moved into the 9th floor with a total of 28 patient beds and the 10th floor Step-Down Unit opened with 28 patient beds available. The Healing Garden is already in use by patients, and staff and patients now feed the fish in the pediatric area on the 7th floor. The bridge connection to Air Rights Garage on the 4th floor, and the bridge connections to the West Pavilion on floors 7, 8, 9 & 10 are now open.

On Monday, the remainder of the medical oncology and infusion services will move to Smilow Cancer Hospital and begin seeing their patients on the 4th, 7th, and 8th floors. This includes patients seen through the Brain Tumor Program and Thoracic Oncology Program, as well as all medical oncology services for the Head and Neck Cancers Program, Gastrointestinal Cancer Program, Melanoma Program, and Prostate and Urologic Cancers Program. The Palliative Care Service will also transition to the 8th floor of the building.

Notables

Dr. Michael DiGiovanna

received a $50,000 grant from the Connecticut Breast Health Initiative to support his research proposal, "Combination Targeting of IGF-I receptor and HER2 in Breast Cancer."

Grant Opportunities

YCCI Pilot Grant Awards The Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI) is pleased to announce the 3rd round of pilot grant awards. The YCCI pilot program is aimed at stimulating: 1) the development of new translational and clinical interdisciplinary research teams that cut across the traditional boundaries of categorical disease centers; 2) the development of new technologies; 3) the promotion of collaborative research in all phases from basic to community-based research; and 4) the use of core resources.

YCCI invites proposals in the following areas:

Promotion of basic science collaboration
Pilot projects in translational and interdisciplinary research
Pilot projects for the promotion of T2 and T3 research
Development of novel clinical and translational methodologies
Just-in-time small pilot utilizing core technologies
Pilot projects utilizing imaging core technologies

Learn More >>

Tina Brozman Foundation Ovarian Cancer Grants

The Yale School of Public Health is pleased to announce a call for applications for ovarian cancer research grants. This award is made possible by a generous gift from the Tina Brozman Foundation. The award is to provide funding for pilot projects in ovarian cancer prevention, detection, and survivorship research, which would ultimately lead to national peer-reviewed grants.

One-year grants of up to $25,000 each will be awarded and will commence on July 1, 2010. Further information may be obtained from Yong Zhu, PhD

Learn More >>

COPPER

The Cancer Outcomes Policy and Effectiveness Research (COPPER) Center is a growing group of clinicians and researchers at Yale Schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing who are interested in generating and disseminating new information that can improve the care and outcomes of people with cancer. Led by Cary Gross, MD, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, and Xiaomei Ma, PhD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, the group includes faculty from a broad spectrum of clinical specialties, and incorporates investigators with a diverse array of research skills.

By partnering together on research projects, and training and engaging clinicians and researchers who are interested in outcomes research, the team plans to continue to build on already successful outcomes and translational research underway at Yale. There are currently over 15 investigators who share an interest in cancer outcomes at Yale. The COPPER center members are seeking to identify additional faculty who share this interest, in order to further develop this collaborative interdisciplinary program of research.

For more information, please contact Cary Grossor
Xiaomei Ma

Recent Publications

Ablation of IL-17A abrogates progression of spontaneous intestinal tumorigenesis.

Chae WJ, Gibson TF, Zelterman D, Hao L, Henegariu O, Bothwell AL.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Mar 8.
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Medullary Thyroid Cancer: Are Practice Patterns in the United States Discordant From American Thyroid Association Guidelines?

Panigrahi B, Roman SA, Sosa JA.
Ann Surg Oncol. 2010 Mar 12.
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Changes in Gleason Scores for Prostate Cancer: What Should We Expect From a Measurement?

Ramos J, Uchio E, Aslan M, Concato J.
J Investig Med. 2010 Mar 10.
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Patterns of symptoms in women after gynecologic surgery.

Liu S, Ercolano E, Siefert ML, McCorkle R.
Oncol Nurs Forum. 2010 Mar;37(2):E133-40.
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Use of tissue microarray to facilitate oncology research.

Gouveris P, Weinberger PM, Psyrri A.
Methods Mol Biol. 2010;632:239-50.
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Chromogranin A-Biological Function and Clinical Utility in Neuro Endocrine Tumor Disease.

Modlin IM, Gustafsson BI, Moss SF, Pavel M, Tsolakis AV, Kidd M.
Ann Surg Oncol. 2010 Mar 9.
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Activation of Wnt Signaling Pathway by Human Papillomavirus E6 and E7 Oncogenes in HPV16-Positive Oropharyngeal Squamous Carcinoma Cells.

Rampias T, Boutati E, Pectasides E, Sasaki C, Kountourakis P, Weinberger P, Psyrri A.
Mol Cancer Res. 2010 Mar 9.
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Management of Skin Toxicities of Anti-EGFR Agents in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer and Other GI Tumors by Using Electronic Communication: Effective and Convenient.

Saif MW, Kaley K, Lamb L, Pecerillo J, Hotchkiss S, Steven L, Brennan M, Penney R, Gillespie C, Shaib W.
JOP. 2010 Mar 5;11(2):176-82.
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Regional Variation in Total Cost per Radical Prostatectomy in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample Database.

Makarov DV, Loeb S, Landman AB, Nielsen ME, Gross CP, Leslie DL, Penson DF, Desai RA.
J Urol. 2010 Feb 19.
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Validation of the partin nomogram for prostate cancer in a national sample.

Yu JB, Makarov DV, Sharma R, Peschel RE, Partin AW, Gross CP.
J Urol. 2010 Jan;183(1):105-11.
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