Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Department of Pediatrics held its seventh annual Pediatric Convocation honoring the thirty young men and women who earned their high school or high school equivalency diplomas this year.
Director of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Long-Term Follow-Up Program Charles Sklar discussed the long-term health effects of cancer and its treatment on childhood cancer survivors.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering board member Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. was interviewed about his commitments to education and medical research. Mr. Gerstner helped to establish the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Memorial Sloan-Kettering.
Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Chair Charles Sawyers spoke about an effort under way to standardize and share genetic information among research and medical institutions.
Pediatric Day Hospital Medical Director Farid Boulad was interviewed about Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Spring Prom, a special event for current and past patients, their friends and family, and staff.
Rehabilitation Medicine Service Chief Michael Stubblefield discussed the need for better programs to address the long-term physical effects of cancer and its treatment.
Medical oncologist Marjorie Zauderer commented on a study that found that adding a new drug to standard chemotherapy can boost survival in some patients with lung cancer.
Medical oncologist Andrew Seidman commented on a study that found that one in five black women with breast cancer were found to have inherited mutations on at least one of 18 genes linked to the disease.
Gynecologic Medical Oncology Service Chief Carol Aghajanian applauded a study that showed that using vinegar to screen for cervical cancer is an effective, low-cost alternative to the Pap smear and can help reduce the burden of disease in developing countries.
Gynecologic Medical Oncology Service Chief Carol Aghajanian commented on a study that found that a drug used to treat kidney cancer may delay relapses in women with ovarian cancer.
Medical oncologist Richard Carvajal discussed encouraging findings of a study he led that found that the experimental drug selumetinib is the first therapy able to improve progression-free survival and shrink tumors in patients with advanced uveal melanoma, a rare cancer of the eye.
Thoracic Oncology Service Chief Mark Kris spoke about Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s collaboration with IBM to develop a new tool based upon IBM’s Watson computing system that will help doctors make treatment decisions.
Deputy Physician-in-Chief for Breast Cancer Programs Larry Norton spoke about hereditary breast cancer following Angelina Jolie’s announcement that she underwent a prophylactic mastectomy after learning she carries the BRCA gene mutation, which increases the risk for breast and ovarian cancer.
Immunologist Jedd Wolchok discussed a study he led that used a combination of immunotherapy drugs to fight melanoma. The findings suggest that these two drugs may work better together than on their own.
