December 2008 Lately@MSKCC

New findings from a Decision Analysis for the US Preventive Services Task Force suggest that routine colorectal cancer screenings can be stopped in patients over the age of 75. The results are based on patients who began screenings at age 50 and have had consistently negative screenings up to the age of 75. Lead author Ann Graham Zauber, PhD, Associate Attending Biostatistician in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and her colleagues' findings are published in the October 7, 2008, online edition of Annals of Internal Medicine.

Honoring the legacy of Paul A. Marks, MD, President Emeritus of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a distinguished scientist, the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research recognizes outstanding young investigators who have made significant contributions to increase the understanding of cancer or improve the treatment of the disease through basic or clinical research.

One summer afternoon, while waiting in her car at an intersection, Helen Courtney, 47, was adjusting her necklace when she felt a lump in her lower neck. A few days later, her primary care physician confirmed that she had six lumps on her thyroid.

At the beginning of 2007, Frank Fagnano, 44, was a pretty happy guy. With a successful career as a recording engineer, drummer, and adjunct professor at William Paterson University, he had been recently married to the love of his life, and was living not only in the town in which he grew up, in northeastern New Jersey, but in the home where he had been born and raised. Things changed in March of that year when he noticed a small nodule on one of his testicles.

The winter issue of Bridges, Memorial Sloan-Kettering's newsletter for survivors written by survivors, is now available online. Bridges is dedicated to our patients, each of whom has endured many hours of arduous treatment and all the other difficulties that follow a cancer diagnosis.

Your generosity during the holiday season builds hope by encouraging more rapid progress in the fight against cancer. We hope you will consider making a tax-deductible year-end gift -- in your own name or in honor of a loved one -- to benefit research, education, and outstanding patient care.

Cell Biologist Michael Overholtzer learned to ask questions about the natural world from an early age -- a skill that he still uses in his research into a process of cell-in-cell death known as entosis, which may prove to be a novel mechanism in tumor suppression.

The third annual Cycle for Survival indoor team cycling fundraiser takes place on Sunday, January 25, 2009, at Equinox Fitness Club in midtown Manhattan and at satellite locations around the world. Cycle for Survival raises funds for pioneering Memorial Sloan-Kettering research on rare cancers. The Equinox event features team cycling relay sessions, fitness classes, personal training sessions, and other activities.