MSKCC in the News

Memorial-Sloan Kettering’s Carol Aghajanian discussed a study that showed that for women with advanced cases of ovarian cancer, the drug Avastin adds about four months to the time it takes for the cancer to worsen.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Clifford Hudis discussed advances in cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment since President Richard Nixon declared a “war on cancer” 40 years ago.

A grateful father was inspired to donate peripheral blood stem cells for a sick child after an anonymous donor saved the life of his own son, who received a bone marrow transplant at Memorial Sloan-Kettering when he was just 14 months old. Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Richard O’Reilly was interviewed.

Epidemiologist Elena Elkin discussed a study that found that Mexican women in the US are less likely to get mammograms than white women, black women and other Latinas.

Dr. Julie Silver, a breast cancer survivor, co-founded a company to help hospitals and rehab centers tailor rehab programs to cancer patients. Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Michael Stubblefield discussed Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Rehabilitation Service, which has grown from two therapists to 18 as its focus has broadened to address the comprehensive rehab needs of cancer patients.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering epidemiologist Peter Bach wrote an essay about the amount of money spent on providing care to patients who may die.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Clifford Hudis commented on studies presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium that showed that two new combinations of drugs significantly slowed the progression of tumors among women fighting metastatic breast cancer. Larry Norton also commented on the studies in The Washington Post.

Memorial-Sloan Kettering’s Andrew Zelenetz discussed maintenance therapy. Typically, cancer treatments are administered for a limited time to stabilize a cancer and its symptoms or to put it into remission, and treatment resumes only if the cancer gets worse or comes back. Maintenance therapy fights off any cancer cells that might remain in the body after the initial therapy.

Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Lloyd Old, internationally recognized as one of the founders and standard bearers of the field of tumor immunology, died on November 28. Immunologist and colleague James Allison commented on his passing in The Scientist.