As we honor kidney cancer awareness month, what do you want our patients and families to pause and remember?
We need to remember that much progress has been made in recent years in the care of patients with kidney cancer. We have a lot to be grateful for, but we still have work to do.
How do you collaborate with other specialties at Smilow Cancer Hospital to care for your patients?
With improved systemic therapies (i.e., therapies given by mouth or by IV that act against cancer cells in various different sites), we are now able to be more creative with shrinking tumors prior to surgery, making the surgeries simpler and more effective. We are also working with our radiation oncology colleagues on combinations of radiation and immunotherapies, particularly for metastases to bones.
What inspires you to work as a medical oncologist?
The biology of kidney cancer is fascinating, and the understanding of tumor and immune cell activity in kidney tumors is evolving rapidly. Being able to translate knowledge to the clinic and study some of the clinical observations in the lab is the biggest privilege one can have as a clinician and as a scientist. Medical oncologists are uniquely positioned to do this type of work.
What advances have made the biggest impact in the treatment of patients with kidney cancer over the last 5 years, and what is the outlook for kidney cancer in the next five years?
The advent of immunotherapy has prolonged survival substantially. We hope to continue to refine our treatments and regimens to further improve the outlook.
What are some of the biggest challenges you face when treating patients with kidney cancer?
It is hard to accept that not all our patients do well. We still have room for improvement.