February 3, 2012

Smilow Update

Smilow Cancer Hospital Resource Center Receives Grant

Team Continuum has awarded the department of social work a grant to enable the Resource Center to be staffed 8 hours a week by Social Work.

Team Continuum funds and supports cancer patients and programs through participation in endurance sports that mirror the challenges, commitment, hope and strength required to endure living with cancer.

The position will be shared by Michele Ryan, LCSW and Steven Hoffler, LCSW. Both have experience in Oncology Social Work and are skilled clinicians in both individual and group interventions. The focus of their work will be to facilitate support groups and lead educational classes, as well as providing connections for patients and families.

Notables

Narendra Wajapeyee, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology and a member of the Yale Cancer Center Signal Transduction Research Program, has received a grant award from the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation for $100,000 for one year to support his project entitled, "Pre-Clinical Evaluation of IGFBP7 as a Lung Cancer Therapeutic."

Cathy Lyons has announced the promotion of Maureen McGlennon, RN to Patient Services Manager, Smilow Cancer Hospital, NP 7. Maureen will have operational responsibility for the Hematology/BMT clinics, the NP 7 Infusion Center, and the Day Hospital, as well as management of the BMT coordinators.

Michelle Wilson has hired two new staff members for the Clinical Operations Team at Smilow Cancer Hospital. Lisa McGuiness has accepted a position as a Front Desk Receptionist on Smilow 7 and Thelma Maldonado has joined the Prostate and Urologic Cancers Program as a Clinical Secretary.

Development Update

Jeremiah Bogert, of Bedford Hills, NY, recently joined the Yale Cancer Center Director's Advisory Board. A 1962 graduate of Yale, Jerry is a managing director and portfolio manager of equity and fixed-income portfolios at Silvercrest Asset Management in New York City. He was previously chair and CEO of James C. Edwards Asset Management. Jerry is also chair of the Milbank Foundation for Rehabilitation, vice president of the JM Foundation, board member of the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction, and former board member at the International Center for the Disabled and the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences. As an undergraduate, Jerry was a resident of Davenport College and majored in English. He was also a member of the Yale Political Union and edited a student publication called Moderator Magazine. Jerry and his wife Margot are also Yale parents. Their son Jeremiah, Jr., graduated in 1989.

Employee Profile: David Vinas

The Employee Profile recognizes the diverse contributions made by Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital staff have to meet our patient care, research, education, and outreach goals. The staff profiled are examples of the great work being done here, and the dedication and values we possess. To suggest someone to be profiled, please contact Emily Fenton.

When Smilow Cancer Hospital officially opened in October of 2009, the smooth transition for patients and their families was due in large part to David Vinas, Manager of Operations for Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven. He was responsible for all of the logistics and operations that went into the opening of Smilow and he continues to be the point person for facilities and operations issues.

"After being in the hospital industry for over 10 years, I had the unique opportunity to be a part of the creation of a new care model with Smilow, soon to be one of the foremost centers in the country," said David. "And I continue to work to maintain that level of excellence every day."

Most recently, David was a member of the team that was responsible for the integration of the Smilow Cancer Hospital Cancer Care Centers, where community doctors joined the Smilow team in order to bring the full expertise of cancer care into the community. Planning for this initiative began over a year and a half ago and to make sure everything was executed in an organized fashion, David opened and led a command center to handle any issues in an efficient and timely manner. This command center resolved over 500 open issues in a 2 week period, ensuring a smooth transition in a very complex process.

David also oversees The Boutique at Smilow Cancer Hospital, the Patient Resource Center, and the Complementary Services Program, among other things. He leads initiatives to improve patient throughput and makes sure everything is running smoothly so that patients have an exceptional experience.

Catherine Lyons, RN, MS, Clinical Program Director of Smilow Cancer Hospital, commented, "David Vinas has a largely "behind the scenes" job where most of the time people are coming to him with issues that need to be resolved and problems that need to be solved. He does an outstanding job of handling these situations so that there is little disruption to the physicians, staff or the patients. You cannot have great organizations without people like him."

Abe Lopman, Vice President and Executive Director of Smilow Cancer Hospital, also commented, "David represents the best in Smilow leadership. He is tireless in his efforts to assure a positive experience for our patients, visitors and staff."

Yale Pink Zones

Yale Women's Basketball, Gymnastics, and Squash teams are holding their sixth annual "Yale Pink Zones" fundraiser on Saturday and Sunday, February 11-12 to benefit the Closer to Free Fund and breast cancer research and treatment. Each game will serve as a "zone" promoting the cause "Bulldogs Fighting Against Breast Cancer." T-shirts specially designed for this event are being sold at each game during the weekend. All funds raised will go to support research and treatment of breast cancer at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital.

The weekend begins at 1PM with the Gymnastics team hosting the Bulldog Invitational with Bridgeport, Rhode Island College and Springfield in Payne Whitney Gym. At 7PM, Women's Basketball hosts Columbia in the John Lee Amphitheater. Dr. Anees Chagpar, Director of the Breast Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital will be the featured half-time guest. Sunday, at 1PM both Women's and Men's Squash teams host Harvard in the Lanman Center. Attendees wearing pink to any game will gain free admission.

Learn More >>

Funding Opportunities

Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation Grants - Re-Programming the Cancer Cell

Applications are being accepted for the 2012 Grants from the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation. Yale Cancer Center can send one application for review. If interested, please send a copy of your CV and a two-page description of your proposed project on the topic "Reprogramming the Cancer Cell" by email to Jan Zulkeski in Dr. Daniel DiMaio's office by 5:00 PM on Friday, February 24.

Learn More >>

Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Grants

Clinical Translational Research Award

Eligibility: Investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent).

Key Mechanism Elements:

• Supports the acceleration of research with a high potential for direct clinical translation that will result in significant improvements over current approaches to breast cancer prevention and/or therapy.
• Applications will be supported in two stages. Stage I will enable completion of preclinical translational studies and Food and Drug Administration approvals (if needed). Stage II will initiate and execute the prospective clinical trial.
• Preliminary data are required.
• Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
• Maximum funding of $12M for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
• Period of performance not to exceed 5 years.

Era of Hope Scholar Award

Eligibility: Independent, non-mentored investigators within 6 years of their last mentored position as of the application submission deadline.

Key Mechanism Elements:

• Supports exceptionally talented, creative early-career scientists who have demonstrated that they are the "best and brightest" in their fields.
• Individuals should exhibit strong potential for leadership in the breast cancer community.
• Maximum funding of $2.5M for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
• Period of performance not to exceed 5 years.

Idea Award

Eligibility: Investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent).

Key Mechanism Elements:

• Supports innovative, high-risk/high-reward research ideas that have extraordinary potential to yield highly impactful data.
• Innovation and Impact are the most important review criteria.
• Preliminary data are allowed, but not required.
• Partnering Principal Investigator (PI) Option supports combining expertise of two PIs to more effectively address a research question.
• Preproposal is required; limit of one preproposal per PI; application submission is by invitation only.
• Maximum funding of $375K for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
• Period of performance not to exceed 2 years.

Impact Award

Eligibility: Investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent).

Key Mechanism Elements:

• Supports unique research projects that focus on scientific and clinical breast cancer issues, which, if successfully addressed, could ultimately have a major impact on the understanding, prevention, and/or treatment of breast cancer.
• Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
• Maximum funding of $2M for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
• Period of performance not to exceed 5 years.

Innovator Award

Eligibility: Associate Professor or above (or equivalent).

Key Mechanism Elements:

• Supports visionary individuals who have demonstrated creativity, innovative work, and leadership in any field.
• Provides opportunity to pursue novel, visionary, high-risk ideas that could ultimately lead to the end of breast cancer.
• Nomination is required and self-nominations are accepted; application submission is by invitation only.
• Maximum funding of $5M for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
• Period of performance not to exceed 5 years.

Postdoctoral Fellowship Award

Eligibility: Principal Investigator: Doctoral graduates (Ph.D. or M.D.). Clinical investigators are eligible to apply. Must have no more than 2 years experience in the proposed research setting and no more than 4 years of postdoctoral research experience as of the application deadline.

Mentor or formal co-mentor must have breast cancer research experience, including current funding and publications.

Key Mechanism Elements:

• Supports the training of exceptionally talented recent doctoral graduates.
• Individualized training program and mentorship should prepare the PI for an independent career at the forefront of breast cancer research.
• Proposed research should address a critical problem in breast cancer research.
• Maximum funding of $300K for direct costs ($100K per year; plus indirect costs).
• Period of performance not to exceed 3 years.

Transformative Vision Award

Eligibility: Independent investigators at any academic level (or equivalent).

Key Mechanism Elements:

• Supports a research effort to realize a vision for dramatically affecting the prevention or treatment of breast cancer as quickly as possible.
• Teams must include consumer advocates who will be integrated into the planning and implementation of the research project.
• Applications with multiple PIs are allowed; however, PIs should have demonstrated experience in successfully leading large, focused projects.
• Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
• Period of performance not to exceed 5 years.

Learn More >>

PCF-Honorable A. David Mazzone Special Challenge Award Research Program 2012

Proposals must be from teams capable of providing unique scientific expertise to the solution of a significant problem in prostate cancer research. A team may be assembled from one institution, or several institutions, from across the globe. These awards focus on funding Treatment Sciences: Investigations of new ideas in man or laboratory support of a high impact clinical investigation.

Treatment Sciences research with a high probability of near-term patient benefit is required in the following topic areas:

1) Translational research in metabolism/adiposity/nutrition/survivorship

Application Deadline: March 16, 2012

Learn More >>

Call for Abstracts

The Virtual Physiological Human Network of Excellence

Integrative Approaches to Computational Biomedicine Conference to be held in London, September 18-20, 2012

Deadline for Submission: February 29, 2012

Learn More >>

Unmet Challenges in the Use of Novel Agents in Locally Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.