Center News Magazine: October 2011

Medical oncologist Paul Sabbatini, a specialist in treating gynecologic cancers, leads a clinical research program seeking to improve treatments for ovarian cancer by harnessing the power of the immune system.

Academic Convocation honored students receiving PhD degrees for work conducted in Memorial Sloan-Kettering's laboratories; younger Memorial Sloan-Kettering physicians, scientists, and postdoctoral research fellows; and established clinicians and investigators from the Center and beyond.

At the 2011 Samuel and May Rudin Awards for Excellence in Nursing Ceremony, five distinguished Memorial Sloan-Kettering nurses and one unit assistant were recognized for exemplary service in patient care, education, and research.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering physicians Yukio Sonoda and Nadeem Abu-Rustum were joined by cancer survivors and their children to celebrate 10 years of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's radical trachelectomy program.

Cancer survivors and staff gathered on June 22 to celebrate National Cancer Survivors Day. The keynote speaker, baseball legend Joe Torre, praised the care provided by Memorial Sloan-Kettering and spoke about being a survivor.

In a large-scale genomic analysis of the most common and aggressive type of ovarian cancer, researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering and other centers identified genetic mutations and pathways that set the disease apart from other types of ovarian cancer and other solid tumors.

A study led by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and New York University has shown that TET2 loss enhances the function of blood stem cells, causing them to renew themselves more efficiently than normal blood stem cells.

Scott W. Lowe has joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as a member of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program in the Sloan-Kettering Institute and Chair of the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center.