Investigating Breast Cancer: Recent Episodes
BCRF
Every October, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) celebrates groundbreaking advancements in breast cancer research at its annual Symposium and Awards Luncheon in New York City.
This special bonus podcast features a panel discussion from this year’s event, focused on prevention and treatment, with BCRF investigators Dr. Abenaa Brewster, Dr. Lisa Carey, and Dr. Robert Vonderheide.
Co-moderated by BCRF's Dr. Larry Norton and Dr. Judy E. Garber, who received the Jill Rose Award for Scientific Excellence, this inspiring conversation highlights the progress being made toward ending breast cancer.
Can we prevent breast cancer before it even starts? While treatments have made great strides in curing and slowing cancer, researchers are now focusing on strengthening the immune system to stop cancer in its tracks.
In this episode, Dr. Robert Vonderheide, director of the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, shares his groundbreaking work on how the immune system interacts with cancer. As a leader in cancer immunology, Dr. Vonderheide explores how boosting our body’s natural defenses could lead to new ways to prevent, treat, and even cure breast cancer.
Differences in treatment delivery and receipt are estimated to account for about 50 percent of the racial disparities seen in breast cancer-associated mortality.
In this latest episode of Investigating Breast Cancer, Dr. Lola Fayanju discusses her work to understand how to close this gap. BCRF investigator since 2023, Dr. Fayanju, is an associate professor in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and chief of the division of breast surgery for the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
In this latest episode, Dr. Jose Pablo Leone discusses the need for a better understanding of male breast cancer to improve treatment options.
Dr. Leone is a medical oncologist and clinical investigator in the Breast Oncology Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he also serves as the director of the Program for Breast Cancer in Men. Dr. Leone’s research focuses on brain metastases, male breast cancer, and research involving large databases, and he has been a BCRF investigator since 2023.
Dr. Shelley Hwang––BCRF investigator since 2016–– is an experienced clinical trialist with an interest in both the biology and treatment of early-stage breast cancer. In this episode, she discusses the urgent need to better understand Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) and the work she and her team are doing to uncover better treatment options for patients with DCIS.
In the latest episode of Investigating Breast Cancer, Dr. Adrian Lee discusses collaboration, strategies to improve treatment for ILC, and more. A BCRF investigator since 2013, he is the Pittsburgh Foundation chair and director of the Institute for Precision Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC
In the latest episode, Dr. Rachel Jimenez discusses a new strategy of delivering radiation called proton beam radiation that could reduce treatment time and minimize its damaging effects on the heart. Unlike traditional radiation, proton therapy radiation can target cancer cells specifically, sparing other healthy tissues from potential damage.
Dr. Jimenez is an assistant professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School and the chair for quality and safety in the department of radiation oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Laura Esserman talks about her current research that examines how fiber shapes the gut microbiome, potentially improving the response to immune agents in women newly diagnosed with breast cancer.
Her prior research looked at how immune cells in tumors influence tumor response to immune drugs, and she believes the gut microbiome plays a key role in this complex system.
A BCRF investigator since 1998, Dr. Esserman is an internationally recognized breast surgeon, breast oncology specialist, and personalized medicine visionary.
In October, BCRF holds its annual New York Symposium and Awards Luncheon. The event recognizes BCRF-supported investigators for their devotion to ending breast cancer and announces the Foundation’s research investment for the coming year.
In this special episode of Investigating Breast Cancer, you’ll hear this year’s extraordinary symposium, co-moderated by BCRF Founding Scientific Director Dr. Larry Norton and BCRF Scientific Director Dr. Judy Garber, that included Drs. Seema Khan, Constance D. Lehman, and Olufunmilayo I. Olopade.
Breast cancer is a profoundly personal disease, and blanket approaches may not work for all patients. In fact, some can avoid particular therapies or treatments altogether. BCRF investigators have played a significant role in developing precision medicine and individualized therapies, improving treatment efficacy and limiting side effects.
This is the area where Dr. Roisin Connolly’s work is centered. In this latest episode Dr. Connolly discusses her work to uncover more personalized treatments for breast cancer patients with triple-negative breast cancer. A BCRF investigator since 2022, Dr. Connolly is the Director and Professor Gerald O’Sullivan Chair in cancer research at University of College Cork and Cork University Hospital in Ireland.
Since Evelyn H. Lauder and Dr. Larry Norton launched BCRF in 1993 remarkable advances in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and metastasis have been made. But there is still critical work to be done. The Foundation is moving faster and closer than ever to achieving its mission to prevent and cure breast cancer by advancing the world’s most promising research.
We spoke with BCRF co-founder and Founding Scientific Director, Dr. Larry Norton to discuss the progress BCRF has made and what advances are on the horizon. Dr. Norton is Senior Vice President in the Office of the President and Medical Director of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is also a Professor of Medicine, Weill-Cornell Medical College. Dr. Norton has dedicated his life to the eradication of cancer through his work in medical care, laboratory and clinical research, advocacy, and government.
In this latest episode of Investigating Breast Cancer, Dr. Nora Disis talks about prevention, treatment, breast cancer vaccine research, and more. Her research focuses on identifying ways to boost the immune response in breast cancer patients to improve chemotherapy outcomes. She is working on discovering new molecular immunologic targets in solid tumors to develop vaccines and cellular therapy for treating and preventing breast cancer.
Dr. Disis, a BCRF investigator since 2016, is the Athena Distinguished Professor of Breast Cancer Research and the associate dean for Translational Health Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She is also the editor-in-chief of JAMA Oncology.
There are some technologies that enhance human efforts and abilities and other technologies that make such a drastic impact–– they revolutionize protocol and entire ways of thinking. AI in the healthcare field is one such technology. Scientists like BCRF Investigator, Dr. Regina Barzilay, are working on ways to harness AI to improve how medical professionals interpret mammograms, and finesse and better personalize existing risk prediction models, and tackle disparities in screening and risk assessment.
Dr. Barzilay, a BCRF investigator since 2022, is a School of Engineering Distinguished Professor for AI and Health in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT.
Why have so many individuals who carry BRCA mutations not undergone genetic testing and counseling? How do we eliminate barriers to this lifesaving care?
Dr. Susan Domchek talks about her work to tackle these issues and more in the latest episode of BCRF's official podcast, Investigating Breast Cancer.
What elements of our environment are carcinogenic? What role do factors like age, diet, and genetics play? And because cancer is biological in nature, many of us tend to think about the individual and their body as an obvious point of focus. What about, though, the larger, societal picture?
That’s what Dr. Scarlett Gomez and the field of social epidemiology are working to uncover and what you’ll hear about in this latest episode.
In the latest episode of Investigating Breast Cancer, Dr. Ian Krop discusses his team’s work to advance clinical trials through—including one to test immunotherapy in HER2-positive breast cancer. A BCRF investigator since 2017, Dr. Krop is the chief clinical research officer and associate cancer center director for clinical research at the Yale Cancer Center.
Dr. Krop also currently serves as chief scientific officer for the BCRF-supported Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium.
The complexities of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) can sometimes make it hard to understand. It’s an aggressive form of breast cancer that is more likely to spread to other tissues––a process called metastasis.
BCRF Investigator since 2005, Dr. Jill Bargonetti’s research works to break down some of the complexities of TNBC. Her research has put her at the forefront of how we might develop novel strategies to accurately identify and kill these cells. In this latest episode of Investigating Breast Cancer Dr. Bargonetti uses dance and other techniques to explain molecular biology, genomics, and much more.
Why are Black women 40 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than white women? And why is it such a challenge to make clinical trials reflect everyone who faces breast cancer?
That’s what Dr. Sonya Reid and her team are working to uncover by addressing disparities in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment through research. Dr. Reid is an assistant professor of hematology/oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her three-year Conquer Cancer–BCRF grant was made possible by The Estée Lauder Companies' Charitable Foundation Awards.
Each October, BCRF holds its annual New York Symposium and Awards Luncheon. The event recognizes BCRF-supported investigators for their devotion to ending breast cancer and announces the Foundation’s research investment for the coming year.
This year’s program included an extraordinary symposium, co-moderated by BCRF Founding Scientific Director Dr. Larry Norton and BCRF Scientific Director Dr. Judy Garber, that included Drs. Lisa Newman, Andrew Tutt, and Maria Jasin, who discussed novel breast cancer therapies, disparities, and what’s on the horizon in research.
We’re proud to make their discussion available in a special episode of Investigating Breast Cancer.
What are dormant cancer cells and how they lead to a clearer understanding of the cancer in remission? Why do particular cancerous cells behave differently than others? BCRF Investigator since 2017, Dr. Angela DeMichele, discusses her work to uncover the answer to these questions and more.
About 30 percent of people diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer will experience a recurrence and develop metastatic disease. Dr. Christina Curtis and her colleagues are working to uncover why recurrence (when breast cancer comes back) and metastasis (when it spreads to other areas of the body beyond the breast and lymph nodes) happens.
A BCRF investigator since 2011, Dr. Christina Curtis is an endowed professor of medicine and genetics at Stanford University, where she leads the Cancer Computational and Systems Biology group and serves as the director of Breast Cancer Translational Research and co-director of the Molecular Tumor Board at the Stanford Cancer Institute.
About 30 percent of people diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer will experience a recurrence and develop metastatic disease. Dr. Christina Curtis and her colleagues are working to uncover why recurrence (when breast cancer comes back) and metastasis (when it spreads to other areas of the body beyond the breast and lymph nodes) happens.
A BCRF investigator since 2011, Dr. Christina Curtis is an endowed professor of medicine and genetics at Stanford University, where she leads the Cancer Computational and Systems Biology group and serves as the director of Breast Cancer Translational Research and co-director of the Molecular Tumor Board at the Stanford Cancer Institute.
In the latest episode of BCRF’s official podcast, Investigating Breast Cancer, Dr. Hyman Muss explores the need for more research in the geriatric oncology field. Thanks to Dr. Muss and others, much has been learned about breast cancer in elderly people—but there’s still much more to uncover. A BCRF investigator since 2000, Dr. Muss is professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and director of the Geriatric Oncology Program at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
What is triple-negative breast cancer and how is it identified? How can triple-negative breast cancers escape the immune system? And how can determining whether circulating tumor DNA in blood samples be used to predict metastatic breast cancer or treatment resistance in patients with aggressive disease?
BCRF investigator since 2007, Dr. Hope Rugo answers these questions and many more on the latest episode of Investigating Breast Cancer.
Many extraordinary new treatments, diagnostic tests, and procedures for breast cancer patients have been introduced in the past decade—and more are needed and sure to come. But researchers are still exploring ways to improve health disparities in cancer care delivery, quality of care, and quality of life for patients and thrivers.
In this latest episode, we spoke to BCRF Investigator since 2008, Dr. Dawn Hershman, on ways to shrink these gaps in care.
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) makes up about 15 percent of all the breast cancers diagnosed. And, better therapeutic strategies are urgently needed to treat this breast cancer subtype. BCRF Investigator, Dr. Elisa Port is working to combat drug resistance in TNBC by developing a drug for the protein PRKCQ—a promising therapeutic target that may make TNBC more responsive to chemotherapy.
Can cancers resulting from lifestyle choices be preventable? What foods should you be eating to reduce your risk of breast cancer? And what non-lifestyle decisions should be considered when looking to reduce their risk?
Dr. Graham Colditz, a BCRF investigator since 2004, has spent decades diving into these questions and more. Dr. Colditz is an internationally recognized leader in cancer prevention. As an epidemiologist and public health expert, he has a longstanding interest in the preventable causes of chronic disease, particularly among women. He is also interested in strategies to speed translation of research findings to prevention strategies that work.
BCRF’s annual Boston Hot Pink Luncheon and Symposium convenes the Foundation’s dedicated New England–based supporters to honor the area’s investigators and raise additional funds for lifesaving breast cancer research.
This year’s virtual program included an outstanding expert panel of BCRF investigators, moderated by BCRF Scientific Director Dr. Judy Garber. The panelists discussed novel breast cancer therapies and what’s on the horizon in research. The symposium panelists included Dr. Melinda Irwin, Dr. Elizabeth Mittendorf, and Dr. Dennis Sgroi.
We’re proud to make their discussion available in this special episode of Investigating Breast Cancer.
Effective medicine has always relied on clear and verifiable diagnoses. Of course, for patients, the wait and uncertainty of diagnostics can be especially trying.
BCRF investigator since 2019, Dr. Connie Lehman, is among the scientists and practitioners trying to change that. And she’s doing it in myriad ways to drastically reduce wait times and detect cancers earlier. Dr. Lehman is a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, and chief of Breast Imaging and co-director of the Avon Comprehensive Breast Evaluation Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Can breast cancer be found with a blood test? What role do genes and proteins play in developing cancer? What, exactly, are personalized diagnostics? We spoke with BCRF investigator Dr. Joshua LaBaer to answer these questions and more.
Dr. LaBaer is one of the country’s foremost investigators in personalized medicine. He serves as executive director of the Biodesign Institute, director of the Biodesign Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics, and the Dalton Endowed Chair of Cancer Research at Arizona State University. Dr. LaBaer's research involves discovering and validating biomarkers to detect cancer and other diseases early.
While academic and medical research has led to incredible breakthroughs in breast cancer care—including new treatments and screening methods—these advances have not reached every patient in every corner of the globe. With breast cancer now the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world, it’s critical that lifesaving advances are deployed more equitably and universally—especially to women and men in lower-income and -resource countries. Dr. Fadelu discussed his work that lies at the intersection of breast cancer and global health services research
Each year, BCRF underwrites several grants to breast cancer researchers in partnership with Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation. Dr. Temidayo Fadelu recently received the Career Development Award for Diversity, Inclusion and Breast Cancer Disparities. His BCRF-supported project aims to improve adherence to endocrine therapies among patients in Rwanda and Haiti.
How can genetic testing data encourage prevention and agency without amplifying personal fear? What can research reveal about genetic markers of risk and predisposition? Or, put differently, how can understanding one’s inherited risk improve approaches to precision prevention?
Dr. Ephrat Levy-Lahad is on the forefront of this research, focusing on breast cancer–associated genetic mutations among various populations, including Arab and Ashkenazi Jewish women. She is a professor of internal medicine and medical genetics at Hebrew University and director of the Medical Genetics Institute at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
While breast cancer is not typically caused by inherited factors, as many as 10-15 percent of people diagnosed with breast cancer carry a known genetic mutation. The most well-known mutations are in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. But these only account for 5-10 percent of inherited breast cancers, so what about the many other gene mutations that increase a person’s risk of breast cancer? Also, what does this mean not only for genetic testing—but also how we should consider results? More significantly, what effect might this have on the personalization of risk?
We talk with BCRF investigator and cancer geneticist Dr. Katherine Nathanson to answer these questions.
There are many challenges in managing breast cancer. Top among them is the fact that initial breast conserving surgeries often miss vestiges of a patient’s tumor. In fact, up to 40 percent of women require another procedure following lumpectomy. Not only can additional surgery, of course, increase a patient’s anxiety and be physically taxing, but it can cause delays in critical subsequent treatments like chemotherapy and radiation.
So, why is that rate so high? Why is properly identifying the tumor so difficult? Most importantly: What can be done to reduce repeat surgeries? Dr. Mehra Golshan is working to uncover answers to these questions.
A BCRF investigator since 2014, Dr. Golshan is the deputy chief medical officer for surgical services and director of the Breast Cancer Program for the Yale Cancer Center, Smilow Cancer Hospital, and Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Centers.
How do you measure quality of life? As researchers across fields discover new drug therapies or disease prevention—in breast cancer as well as other fields—science finds innumerable ways to measure physical results. But what about the social, behavioral, and psychological aspects of cancer care? And how should medical providers discuss such realties with patients?
This is just one area of extraordinary impact that Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield has made in medicine. Dame Lesley is professor of psycho-oncology at Brighton & Sussex Medical School at the University of Sussex where she is director of the Sussex Health Outcomes Research & Education in Cancer group.
She has been a BCRF Investigator since 2016—the same year she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for services to psycho-oncology.
For so many breast cancer patients, radiation therapy can bring extraordinary benefits—top among them improved survival rates and reduced recurrence. But there are also challenges and questions: Why do some people experience a recurrence after treatment? How can we reduce side effects? How can we ensure the right patients receive radiation therapy—and that the treatment works as well as possible?
These are among the many medical mysteries to which Dr. Lori Pierce, BCRF investigator since 2003, has dedicated her career to answering.
Women with breast cancer who are overweight or obese experience inferior outcomes compared to those with normal weight despite receiving optimal therapies. Dr. Vered Stearns discusses researching ways to reduce breast cancer recurrence through effective weight-loss interventions and why we need to bring more discoveries from the lab to the clinic. Dr. Stearns is a member of the BCRF Scientific Advisory Board and has been a BCRF Investigator since 2003.
Each October, BCRF-funded investigators are honored at the Foundation’s Symposium & Awards Luncheon in New York City. This year, the program was held virtually, without the lunch—but with all of the important conversations and ideas.
The annual event announces the Foundation’s grant investment for the coming year and recognizes BCRF investigators for their trailblazing scientific inquiry. This year’s program included an extraordinary symposium, moderated by BCRF Scientific Director Dr. Judy Garber, that included Dr. Angela DeMichele, Dr. William G. Kaelin Jr. and Dr. Lori J. Pierce.
We’re proud to make their discussion available in a special episode of Investigating Breast Cancer.
Women of African descent are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive breast cancers than white women and are more likely to die from their disease regardless of its type or stage. For those living in remote or low-resource areas, limited access to screening and genetic testing make improving outcomes even more challenging.
In this episode of our podcast, Dr. Funmi Olopade, talks about her work in Africa and Chicago, the critical importance of precision medicine, and why she’s “impatient” about eliminating barriers to breast cancer care around the world. Dr. Olopade, a BCRF investigator since 2001, serves as the founding director of the Cancer Risk and Prevention Clinic and associate dean for global health, both at the University of Chicago.
The immune system plays a critical role in tumor growth by attacking cancer cells with white blood cells. Cancer cells that survive this immune attack can become invasive and metastatic (a process called immune escape). In this episode of Investigating Breast Cancer, Dr. Kornelia Polyak shares the impact of understanding breast cancer at a molecular level. Dr. Polyak, a BCRF investigator since 2008, is an internationally recognized leader in the breast cancer research field.
While genetic testing and counseling for breast cancer has been available in the U.S. for many years, accessing these services in Mexico and the rest of Latin America is more challenging due to limited resources. Leading genetics researcher and oncologist, Dr. Jeffrey Weitzel, has devoted his career to decreasing these barriers. Dr. Weitzel, a BCRF investigator since 2013, is director of the Clinical Cancer Genetics Program and professor of oncology and population sciences at the Beckman Research Institute at City of Hope.
Research shows that when chemotherapy is delayed, a patient’s chance of survival falls significantly. Dr. Mariana Chavez MacGregor, a BCRF investigator since 2018, joined our podcast to talk about her work with underserved and underinsured patients—those who are most likely to experience delays—to develop personalized ways to improve healthcare access and, ultimately, outcomes.
Dr. MacGregor is an associate professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, holding a primary appointment in the Health Services Research Department and a joint appointment in the Breast Medical Oncology Department.
One key goal in developing precision vaccines and immune therapies is to reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence. Yet currently, there is only one FDA-approved immunotherapy drug for breast cancer, and it benefits just a small subset of women.
In this episode of Investigating Breast Cancer, we talk with Dr. Karen Anderson about vaccines, harnessing the power of a person’s immune system, and reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence. And of course, we’d all like to know: What’s the progress? And how has COVID-19 impacted this research?
Advances in cancer therapy have dramatically contributed to the decline in breast cancer deaths over the last three decades. But even with these advances, drug resistance—when tumors stop responding to anti-cancer drugs—remains a serious clinical challenge. Dr. Sarat Chandarlapaty talks about the strategies to prevent cancer cells from evading the drugs designed to kill them.
Dr. Chandarlapaty is a laboratory head at the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He's also a BCRF Scientific Advisory Board member and has been a BCRF researcher since 2015.
In the fight to understand and solve breast cancer, “it takes a village.” In this case, the village is more like a globally connected series of research labs, scientists, patients, funders and more. In other words, something that looks a lot like the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC). The TBCRC is a collaborative group founded in 2005 to conduct innovative and high-impact clinical trials for breast cancer led by Dr. Antonio Wolff. Dr. Wolff, a BCRF investigator since 2007, is the Chief Operating Officer for the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC).
Breast cancer—and any cancer—can be incredibly stressful under the best of circumstances for patients, survivors, and their families. In this time of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), concerns can feel like they’re rising exponentially. So, what do we all need to know? With tons of new information bombarding us at once, what should cancer patients and families consider? Are there practical tactics or is there tangible guidance to stay safe?
In this special episode of Investigating Breast Cancer, we talk to Dr. Judy Garber for the answers. Dr. Garber is BCRF’s scientific director and chief of the Division of Cancer Genetics and Prevention at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
Dr. Mark Robson talks about how he’s working to help identify the right tests for the right person at the right age
How can researchers provide more precise risk estimates so that individuals with inherited risks can make informed decisions about their health, so that the right women are getting the right tests at the right age? Dr. Robson is conducting studies that employ advanced technologies that incorporate information from genetic tests to enhance the precision of genetic risk assessment in women with mutations in the BRCA gene.
Dr. Martine Piccart talks to us about the power of collaboration in metastatic breast cancer research
Metastasis, the spread of cancer cells from the breast to other sites in the body, is responsible for nearly all breast cancer deaths. Approximately 150,000 men and women are diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer each year. Today, BCRF is the largest private funder of this critical area of research.
Dr. Martine Piccart is passionate about metastasis research and the vital role that international collaboration plays in her work. A BCRF investigator since 2004, Dr. Piccart’s research aims to better understand the origins of metastatic breast cancer and how it evolves. Through the Breast International Group (BIG), she oversees the AURORA-EU study, the Belgium-based arm of the Evelyn H. Lauder Founder’s Fund for Metastatic Breast Cancer Research. Named for BCRF’s founder, the Founder’s Fund is a multi-year, international collaboration. In 2019, AURORA-EU presented findings on the molecular differences between metastatic cells and other tumor cells, revealing a new avenue of research including the potential for targeted treatments.
Dr. Piccart is Professor of Oncology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, and Director of Medicine at the Institut Jules Bordet. She is also the co-founder and chair of BIG, which unites 55 academic research groups from around the world, running over 30 trials, and developing numerous research programs.
For young women, a breast cancer diagnosis presents a unique set of challenges not only due to age, but the biology of the disease as well. While a diagnosis under the age of 40 is rare, the disease tends to behave more aggressively. Compared to older breast cancer patients, young women treated for the disease tend to have an increased risk of experiencing emotional distress, treatment-induced sexual dysfunction, and concerns about future pregnancies. This is where Dr. Ann Partridge steps in. Her BCRF-supported research seeks to understand the complex issues young women with breast cancer face. Dr. Partridge studies the biology behind their breast cancers as well as focusing on how young women make their way through their experiences – whether it’s physical or emotional. A BCRF researcher since 2016, Dr. Partridge is co-founder and director of the Young and Strong Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer, and serves as the Director of the Adult Survivorship Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Partridge is Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
Every October, BCRF-funded researchers are honored at the annual Symposium & Awards Luncheon in New York City. This is when BCRF makes its formal announcement of research grants for the upcoming year and recognizes its investigators for their devotion to ending breast cancer with their trailblazing scientific inquiry. The event provides a unique opportunity for BCRF researchers to convene, share ideas and collaborate with fellow colleagues from around the world. This year’s program began with a symposium featuring an expert panel of BCRF investigators. They discussed current breaking topics in breast cancer research, ranging from prevention and diagnosis to treatment and survivorship. We’re proud to share that discussion here in this special bonus podcast.
Metastasis, when cancer cells leave the breast and spread to other sites in the body, is the major cause of mortality from breast cancer. The brain is one of the most common organs breast cancer invades, occurring in more than one third of patients with advanced breast cancer, up to 300,000 patients a year. The prognosis of cancer patients who develop brain metastasis is poor, with only 20 percent of patients surviving at one year.
For Dr. Priscilla Brastianos, a BCRF investigator since 2017, this cause hits close to home. Both her mother and grandmother died of metastatic breast cancer. That’s why she has dedicated her career to better understanding brain metastasis. As the Director of the Central Nervous System Metastasis Program & Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms driving metastatic disease to the brain. She is currently conducting studies to characterize the genetic and molecular profiles of brain metastasis compared to primary breast cancer with the goal of identifying potential targets for therapy and strategies to improve response to existing therapies.
How should we – patients, family, doctors – consider the careful balance in identifying patients who might benefit from less rigorous course of treatment?
Dr. Eric Winer, a BCRF investigator since 2003, studies this concept. Known as “de-escalation of therapy,” this form of personalized medicine challenges the “one-size-fits-all” approach to breast cancer treatment. His current BCRF-supported study aims to improve quality of life by reducing post-surgery chemotherapy in carefully selected patients with early-stage HER2 positive breast cancer and an excellent prognosis.
Dr. Winer is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief, Division of Women's Cancers and the Thompson Senior Investigator in Breast Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is also the recipient of BCRF’s 2019 Jill Rose Award for scientific excellence and the Westchester Women’s Award in honor of Marla Mehlman.
“What should I eat?” It’s a question that Dr. Walter Willett thinks about every day as a researcher focused on the intersection of diet, lifestyle and health. Dr. Willett, a BCRF investigator since 2001, is widely considered a global leader on nutrition research. His research aims to characterize the impact of diet and lifestyle on health outcomes, especially in relation to breast cancer risk. As the most cited nutritionist worldwide, his work has influenced numerous health recommendations and continues to inform preventive strategies for breast cancer. Dr. Willett is Chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health.
Did you ever think you’d end up working in Africa?Neither did Dr. Lawrence Shulman. But then we never had Paul Farmer as our intern. Dr. Shulman – an oncologist who specializes in breast cancer – did.Farmer, if you don’t know, is the American anthropologist and doctor who in 1987 co-founded Partners in Health, an international non-profit that, in its own words, brings “health care to the world’s poorest families.” That means in places like Haiti and Rwanda.Which is why some eight years ago, Shulman found himself in Rwanda, as he wrote, walking “through hospital wards filled with patients with advanced cancers, who had never had a biopsy or diagnosis, and had no options for treatment.” He continued: “I knew that many of these patients would survive if they had access to the types of treatments available in the United States, and I was determined to help bring these treatment options to patients in Rwanda.”And that’s what Shulman has done. He has helped establish cancer programs there and in Haiti, and now has branched out to Botswana – places where, historically, because of delayed and late-stage breast cancer diagnoses, the chance for a successful outcome was greatly diminished.Shulman and colleagues have now trained nearly 200 rural health center nurses in clinical breast exams and evaluation, nearly 2000 community health workers in the basics of breast awareness and patient education, and multiple district hospital clinicians in breast ultrasound. As you’ll hear, the work is remarkable, and the results outstanding.More on Shulman: He is Deputy Director for Clinical Services, and Director, Center for Global Cancer Medicine in the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn. He is the former Chair of American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Quality of Care Committee, and currently is a member of ASCO’s Global Oncology Leadership Task Force and International Affairs Committee.
You likely know the expression, Pay It Forward. It’s an important concept for any kind of social awareness, but it can carry special meaning as well in the breast cancer world, particularly in research.That’s because so much of today’s important breakthroughs are built not only on yesterday’s participation of other patients, but, of course, the work of other researchers. It’s a sentiment Dr. Luca Gianni not only knows well, but also puts into practice every day.As you’ll hear, in this important and engaging conversation, Dr. Gianni remains grateful to his mentor – Dr. Gianni Bonadonna – who brought him into the National Institute for the Study and Treatment of Cancer in Milan, Italy some 40 years ago. Based on what he learned there, Dr. Gianni has since delivered numerous breakthroughs in cancer research.Onea main treatment – particularly in women with locally advanced or inflammatory HER2-positive breast cancer.Now he is taking that same mindset – focus on early treatment – to drive his research in an important different direction: To help identify triple negative breast cancer patients most likely to benefit from checkpoint inhibitor therapy before beginning the treatment and those who will do well with chemotherapy alone. Not only would this help find patients with greater likelihood for an improved outcome, of course, but it also could help reduce the extreme costs and toxicity side effects for patients unlikely to benefit.More about Dr. Gianni: He is Director of the Department of Medical Oncology and the head of the Project of Development of New Drugs and Innovative Therapies in Solid Tumors at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan. He is also Cofounder and President of the Michelangelo Foundation, a non-profit organization designed to advance research in oncology, and chairman of the Michelangelo Breast Cancer Study Group. Dr. Gianni has received several grants and research support, and was awarded the “Gianni Bonadonna Award and Fellowship” by the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 2011 – yes, an award named after his mentor. He also has been a BCRF Investigator since 2018.I connected with Dr. Gianni in his lab in Italy, which left me envious of course that the conversation occurred, as you’ll hear, via computer, rather than in person – say, in a local Milan cafe… Well, we can’t have everything
Can life change with a single letter in the mail? For my guest today, it did, and subsequently, so did the lives of millions of people with various forms of cancer, including breast cancer.
The letter in question came from the National Cancer Institute in 1977. The recipient was Dr. Susan Horwitz. The result: The creation of one of the most important cancer drugs that come from a natural product: Taxol, which is isolated from the yew plant. Today it is given to over a million patients.
As you’ll hear, Dr. Horwitz work – indeed, her incredible curiosity – didn’t end there. She has continued to investigate new cancer treatments that leverage natural products. Why?
Take triple negative breast cancer. By definition, it’s among the most challenging cancers to treat, comprising some 15-20 percent of all breast cancers. These aggressive tumors are treated with a cocktail of chemotherapy drugs. And although many patients have excellent survival following treatment, some patients with specific types of triple negative breast cancer have an incomplete response or even a relapse after a period of remission.
Making them even more difficult: Triple negative breast cancer tumors are frequently resistant – or become resistant – to a variety of drugs, increasing their potential to spread to other tissues – a process called metastasis.
To address these challenges, some scientists have screened novel chemotherapy drugs against triple negative cells to identify those with superior activity and less toxicity than conventional therapy. The goal: Find new therapeutic options -- new drug candidates – that they hope may lead to targeted therapies and new combination approaches to counter drug resistance and improve outcomes for patients with aggressive breast cancer.
How does this process work? What progress has been made? How hopeful do the outcomes seem?Dr. Horwitz is the one to ask.
Dr. Horwitz is a Distinguished University Professor and the Rose C. Falkenstein Chair in Cancer Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Among her many honors: The Warren Alpert Foundation Prize from Harvard Medical School; American Cancer Society's Medal of Honor; the American Association for Cancer Research Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research. Most recently, Dr. Horwitz earned the 2019 Canada Gairdner Award, the country’s highest scientific prize. She has served as president of the American Association of Cancer Research, and has been a member of The National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, [the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society,] and others. She also has been a BCRF Investigator since 2007.
This was a remarkable conversation, not only for the science discussed, but also the role Dr. Horwitz has played in its history.
At first glance, it would seem that any of us who follow the breast cancer experience would look to the investigators – the scientists, researchers and their teams – for inspiration. They are, after all, dedicating their lives to fighting cancer.
In this conversation, you’ll hear the opposite. To listen to Dr. Gabriel Hortobagyi, you hear the inspiration and insight that he and his teams gain from the grace of breast cancer patients – in particular, people who have triple negative breast cancer and their families.
You’ll also hear about the unique, novel research that Dr. Hortobagyi and his colleagues are doing to investigate resistance to various therapies and ways to develop combination therapy to overcome the resistance. This was a powerful, thoughtful, hopeful conversation with a scientist who knows, as he says, that the patient is the most important player on the team.
More about Dr. Hortobagyi – he is a Professor in the Department of Breast Medical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is also, not insignificantly, the Chair of the BCRF Scientific Advisory Board.
Dr. Sofia Merajver is a professor of Internal Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Michigan, where she is also Scientific Director of the Merajver Breast Cancer Research Program and Director of the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk Evaluation Program.
As you’ll hear, Dr. Merajver – who has been a BCRF Investigator since 2004 – discusses her unique, collaborative and extraordinarily human approach to one of the most significant science questions of our time: How to find new strategies for the prevention and treatment of metastatic breast cancer.
It was among the biggest cancer news stories of the year: A new study – the largest breast cancer treatment trial ever conducted – showed no benefit from chemotherapy for 70 percent of women with the most common type of breast cancer. As the Washington Post described, that means: “most patients who have an intermediate risk of a cancer recurrence — a group that numbers 65,000 women a year in the United States — can avoid chemotherapy and its often debilitating side effects.”
The TAILORx trial, as it is known, is helping change everyday procedures in the everyday lives of patients around the world. And the lead author is our guest today.
Dr. Joseph Sparano is Professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is Vice-Chair, ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group and has been a BCRF Investigator since 2012.
I asked Dr. Sparano about the TAILORx study and how it feels to have been part of such landmark work. But I also asked Dr. Sparano about what’s next – about new work he’s doing around breast cancer recurrence – specifically relapses that occur many years after original diagnosis.
How does cancer grow? Why do some cancers react positively to treatment while others seem to resist? Understanding these relationships, the genetic events and cell-to-cell interactions that lead to cancer, not only can provide better understanding of how cancer develops, but also drive potential new targets for drug development. Understanding these relationships also essential to the incredible work being done by Dr. Ben Ho Park.
Dr. Park was recently appointed as co-leader of the Breast Cancer Research Program, Associate Director for Translational Research, and Director of Precision Oncology at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville. He's been a BCRF investigator since 2008, and as you'll hear at the top, he also has a unique creative talent that surely won't directly lead to solving breast cancer, but it does to seem to make his lab an engaging and fun place to work. And who knows, perhaps in some way that creative culture is part of what inspires Dr. Park's creative research approaches.
Dr. Hedvig Hricak: is, among many other roles, Chairman, Department of Radiology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She also recently was honored by BCRC with the 2018 Jill Rose Award for outstanding research excellence. As you will hear, Dr. Hricak is extraordinary – not just in her work helping merge imaging technology with molecular medicine, but also in her teaching across borders.
Among her wonderful lines in this conversation: “The best thing in life is to give,” and “The richness of life is in diversity.” Another one: “You are only as good as your tomorrow. So you have to continuously reinvest yourself. You have to learn and believe that with your experience, you’ll make a difference in patients’ lives.”
Listen to this podcast, and you’ll know exactly what she means and the difference she makes in patients’ lives.
Breast cancer and technology. At first glance, they seem like totally separate topics. After this conversation, you’ll not only better understand the connection, but you’ll be waiting to learn what comes next.
As you’ll hear, thanks to technology developed by our guest Dr. Michael Wigler – in collaboration with BCRF colleague James Hicks – researchers can now study breast cancer at the single-cell level, setting the stage for the development of new diagnostic tools that will aid in therapeutic management of the disease.
Since then, Dr. Wigler has continued to go small – focusing on the interactions between cancer cells and the host microenvironment. It’s a fascinating approach.
Some background: Dr. Michael Wigler is the Russell and Janet Doubleday Professor of Cancer Research at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. He is a recipient of numerous awards and honors and is a member of the National Academy of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Wigler also has been a BCRF Investigator since 1998.
Today, we have an outstanding and thoughtful conversation on stress, breast cancer, and the science of survivorship. We all, of course, experience stress, work, family, money, but what about health, in particular, cancers like breast cancer? Obviously dealing with illness, indeed dealing with ongoing treatments and procedures brings stress to a whole new level.
How can women undergoing breast cancer treatments manage that stress? Perhaps more significantly, are there scientifically researched and proven approaches that not only help increase their health and wellbeing, but even improve the recovery process and results?
This is the important work that Dr. Annette Stanton does. Dr. Stanton is Professor of Psychology and Psychiatrist Bio-Behavioral Sciences at UCLA. She's also a senior research scientist at the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and a member of the Center for Cancer Prevention and Control Research in the Johnson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Through research, Dr. Stanton identifies factors that promote or impede psychological and physical health in adults and couples undergoing chronically stressful experiences with a focus on the experience of cancers of the breast, pancreas, eye, and lung. She then translates her findings into action by developing and testing approaches to enhance psychological and physical health over the course of the cancer trajectory.
It sounds like something out of Game of Thrones: Attack the weakness. Today, we apply the phrase to a more important and real battle – the one against breast cancer.
As you’ll hear, Dr. Alan Ashworth is part of a team that developed something called PARP Inhibitors and, quite creatively, identified ways to use them to attack the weaknesses of various cancers, including breast cancer. As a recent new report noted, “with three recent FDA approvals, and a number of Phase 3 trials ongoing, the drugs are seeing a surge in interest.”
How do PARP Inhibitors work and what might they mean for attacking cancers’ weaknesses?
That’s just part of what I discussed with Dr. Ashworth. Some background: He’s the President, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center; Senior Vice President for Cancer Services of UCSF Health; and a Professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at UCSF’s Department of Medicine. Dr. Ashworth is an elected member of EMBO, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He has won a number of the world’s leading scientific prizes and awards, and he’s also a BCRF Investigator since 2008.
Most women who die of breast cancer die from metastatic disease, the spread of tumor cells to different parts of the body. Metastasis often results following treatment failure, but it also can occur decades after what was thought to be successful treatment. Currently, no curative therapies exist for metastatic breast cancer.
But today, the race to develop effective treatments for this disease is a key focus of some extraordinary research, much of it centering on cancer cells’ protein synthesis machinery and a protein called mTOR.
What’s the status of this research – and what might some practical outcomes look like?
I just had an incredibly thoughtful conversation with Dr. Robert Schneider. He’s the Associate Director of the NYU Cancer Institute, Director of Translational Cancer Research, and Co-director of the Breast Cancer Research Program at NYU School of Medicine. He’s also a BCRF Investigator since 2002.
Well-designed randomized clinical trials may provide information about prevention strategies and effective treatments for women at risk of, or diagnosed with, breast cancer. A major limitation of clinical trials, however, is that results apply to the trial group as a whole, but not necessarily to each individual woman. That’s because individual responses are influenced by the patient's and the tumor's unique DNA, or genetic profile.
So how might researchers precisely identify risks for individual women based on protein and gene biomarkers to predict outcomes for breast cancer treatment or even prevention?
Dr. Jack Cuzick is a Director of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine in London. He is also head of the Centre for Cancer Prevention and John Snow Professor of Epidemiology at Queen Mary, University of London. In 2007, he was chosen by Thompson Scientific as one of the 12 hottest researchers in all of science. He was awarded the AACR Cancer Prevention Prize in 2012. He has been a BCRF Investigator since 2011.
As one cancer research site puts his impact best: “Professor Cuzick’s work on breast cancer treatment and prevention has been instrumental in reducing the number of women losing their lives to the disease.”
Immunotherapy – treating a disease by inducing, enhancing, or suppressing an immune response – remains one of the biggest hopes in terms of potentially finding a breast cancer cure. And yet, it also remains an incredibly challenging discipline. What works for one type of cancer may not for another.
Why is that? What lessons can researchers take from successful cases – melanoma, lung or other cancers – and apply to breast cancer? And where, exactly, are researchers in finding an immunology answer for breast cancer?
To find out, I spoke with one the nation’s leading researchers in the field, Dr. Jedd Wolchok. Dr. Wolchok is Chief of the Melanoma and Immunotherapeutics Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. A BCRF Investigator since 2011, he has helped establish the center as a leader in the discovery and treatment of cancers with novel immunotherapies. He has been at the forefront of cancer immunotherapy, as an active clinician scientist exploring innovative strategies in laboratory models and as a principal investigator in numerous pivotal clinical trials. He’s also, as I learned, proficient with the tuba. I confess – I didn’t see that one coming.
What if we could track where the cancer is moving through the body, not by evasive biopsies, but rather through a common procedure we go through nearly anytime we visit a doctor. A simple blood draw. That's just one of the innovations I discussed with Dr. Peter Kuhn. It was a terrific conversation.
Dr. Kuhn is not your typical researcher, part scientist. Kuhn's a physicist by training and part entrepreneur. That mix of disciplines comes across in how he thinks and how he approaches his work. It clearly drives his unique approach to helping find a breast cancer cure, not to mention the 16 patents that have been filed as a result of his research.
Some background. Dr. Kuhn is the Dean's Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor of Medicine and Engineering, as well as a founding member of the Michelson Center for Convergent Bio-sciences at USC. He's a founding member of a new institute of convergent sciences and Director of the Southern California Physics Oncology Center. Dr. Kuhn has been a BCRF investigator since 2013. Dr. Kuhn's research is shedding new light on how cancer spreads through the body and evolves over time.
This new science should lead to a personalized care strategy that is biologically informed and clinically actionable. Before my conversation with Dr. Kuhn though, one last item. An ask from me to you. I hope you like these Investigating Breast Cancer conversations and if so, I'd appreciate if you'd take a moment, go to I tunes and if you're so moved, leave a five star review. The ratings really matter. They go a long way to helping other people find the podcast. Thanks for considering.
My guest is Dr. Fergus Couch who is, among many other roles, Professor and Chair of the Division of Experimental Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Couch works on the genetics of breast cancer, discovering and understanding the connections of inherited genetic variance in cancer susceptibility genes. He's also a BCRF Grand Tee since 2007. Dr. Couch has more than 300 publications, but the one we focused on came just a few months ago and it was an incredibly big deal.
The outcomes were published in the prestigious publications Nature and Nature Genetics. Dr. Fergus and other scientists reported findings by a major international consortium identifying an incredible 65 previously unknown common genetic variants that predisposed individuals to breast cancer. They also found seven others that are specific for triple negative breast cancer, the highly aggressive forms of the disease. In all, that's 72 new genetic variants that contribute to breast cancer risk. The numbers that drove the research are remarkable. Over 500 researchers, from 300 institutions, in six continents contributed genetic data from some 275,000 women, 146,000 of whom had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
While much of the focus around breast cancer rightfully looks at preexisting genetics, an important part of finding a cure also means looking at what's happening outside the body, specifically the environment. How does the air we breathe and chemicals we ingest every day potentially put us more at risk for the disease? What can be done to prevent it? As you'll hear, the work is a blend of intensely modern science and old-fashioned, hard-nosed research.
Dr. Mary Beth Terry is a cancer epidemiologist and professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Terry's work centers on improving breast cancer risk models for high-risk families, finding ways to measure exposure to chemical pollutants, and non-genetic changes to DNA that can be a result of both biologic and environmental exposures. She's also a BCRF grantee since 2005.
How might our daily environment impact the potential for breast cancer? That's what I asked Dr. Terry.
My conversation today is with Dr. Nancy Davidson, simply one of the leading breast cancer researchers we have. Dr. Davidson characterizes herself as a physician scientist. She directly connects the human aspect of what she does, working with patients, with her research that has delivered key discoveries that are now common practice in breast cancer care. Dr. Davidson's current research dives into one of the most challenging areas of breast cancer or any cancer, really, recurrence. For individuals who have fought and won their cancer battles Dr. Davidson is looking at how and why cancer recurs, and importantly, how might that recurrence be prevented in the first place.
This is the most recent of a lifetime of highly consequential research, care, and discovery that's defined Dr. Davidson's career. Some highlights. Dr. Davidson is senior vice president of the clinical research division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. She is president and executive director of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance as well as the head of the Department of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Washington. She is the immediate past president of the American Association of Cancer Research and a past president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Davidson is a member of the BCRF scientific advisory board and has been a BCRF grantee since 1998.
We discussed all of that as well as one question from her father years ago that may have denied society a modern day Indiana Jones but instead gave us one of the leading physician scientists focused on cancer and breast cancer that we have. Here's our conversation.
We begin today with a statistic that is immediately concerning and curious: mortality from breast cancer is higher in black women than in white women. Among the challenges in studying this problem is a lack of data. That's because only a small fraction of the cancer genome atlas, that's the catalog of genetic mutations responsible for cancer, is comprised of African American patients. That's just one of the many obstacles in investing breast cancer that Dr. Nikhil Wagle is trying to solve.
Dr. Wagle is assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he also is deputy director of the Center for Cancer Precision Medicine. Another hat that Dr. Wagle wears is leading the Metastatic Breast Cancer Project, a wide ranging effort to gather more breast cancer data, particularly from under-represented populations. I think you'll really enjoy this conversation. Dr. Wagle connects the personal with the science.
As you'll hear, one of his key lessons from years of research, the importance of bringing on patients as partners. You'll also hear something that I found more surprising. In an age of seemingly infinite scientific innovation, one of Dr. Wagle's key tools to building the data base? Social media. You can follow him on Twitter, @NikhilWagle. You also can listen to him here now. ...
Among the many powerful and intriguing things that Dr. Karen Anderson told me during our terrific conversation: Vaccines have changed the course of human events.
This line – combined with the inspiration Dr. Anderson felt when completing her studies – helped lead her to the important and challenging work she does now: Breast cancer vaccine development, with a long-range goal to deliver vaccines to reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence after surgery.
Her research focuses on how the immune system can be harnessed to detect and alter cancer development. Dr. Anderson, also, is a current member of the NCI Cancer Biomarker Study section, and has published over 40 peer-reviewed publications. Let's get to the obvious question. What's a translational researcher? That's where our conversation began.
It sounds like a simple question. What is obesity? But like most simple questions, the answer is not as obvious as it may seem. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls obesity "A national epidemic causing higher medical costs and a lower quality of life." The CDC also notes that obesity is a contributing cause of many other health problems, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer.Understanding the relationship between obesity and breast cancer can become located. Not only is there the question of measurement. Is the traditional view of body mass index always accurate or sufficient? But also, important questions around assessing risk. How might the measurement of body composition and blood based factors associated with fat inflammation help develop more precise cancer risk assessments and prognostic strategies? Dr. Neil Iyengar is at the forefront of researching and addressing these questions. He studies obesity, and in particular its relationship to breast cancer. Dr. Iyengar is an assistant member and attending physician in the Breast Medicine Service of the Department of Medicine at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.He is also an associate attending physician at the Rockefeller University. In our conversation, Dr. Iyengar noted that he grew up in a family that certainly emphasized science, but where the human component was also central. You'll hear both sides of him in our talk. What is obesity? That's where we started.
Our series is focusing on scientist, thinkers, and leaders who drive the insights and breakthroughs of breast cancer research. Today's conversation proves a simple math problem: two is better than one. Actually today's conversation also tackles some really complicated math and science. Specifically, how applied mathematics and tumor biology are coming together to drive important new research in breast cancer and metastasis.
Doctor Daniele Gilkes is assistant professor of oncology. As well as an assistant professor in chemical and molecular engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. This is her first year as a BCRF grantee. Doctor Paul Macklin is an associate professor of intelligent systems engineering, and a member of the Melvin & Bren Simon Cancer Center at Indiana University. He's a BCRF grantee since 2014.
Together, Gilkes and Macklin are apart of a new partnership between the BCRF and the Jayne Koskinas Ted Giovanis Foundation for Health and Policy that links computational scientists with biologists. This partnership includes three multi-institutional collaborations jointly funded to provide new incites into tumor growth, metastasis, and the mechanics of drug resistance. These ground braking studies will have the potential to substantially advance understanding of cancer biology, and improve clinical outcomes.
You can tell from the conversation, the inner play, between Dr. Gilkes and Macklin this is a true partnership. You can also tell they're doing incredibly important and hard work, and they are having fun. I found myself wondering and I asked both of them, "Whether a cross discipline approach like theirs just might be the future of research?"
What does the beginning of breast cancer look like? What happens – at the very start – that turns normal breast tissue into the first stages of cancer? And by recognizing these early molecular changes and pathway alterations, could we not only improve our understanding of the evolution of breast cancer… but also, one would hope, find a way to stop it before it even begins?
These questions are hardly philosophical. They go to the heart of important research that has been and is being led by Dr. Anna Maria Storniolo.
Dr. Storniolo is a Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Hematology/Oncology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She is also Director of the Catherine Peachey Breast Cancer Prevention Program, a comprehensive program providing risk assessment and counseling for women who may be at risk for developing breast cancer. She also has been a BCRF Grantee since 2007.