Media Coverage

Memorial Sloan-Kettering ranked number 11 among the top 50 pediatric cancer hospitals in U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Children’s Hospitals issue. The New York Daily News reported on the rankings.

Research led by biostatistician Chaya Moskowitz and released at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Annual Meeting found that women treated with radiation to the chest for childhood cancer have a high risk of developing breast cancer at a young age – a risk that is comparable to that of women who have mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. Coverage appeared in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Associated Press, HealthDay News, WebMD.com and CBSNews.com.

Data released at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Annual Meeting showed that an experimental new drug, known as an anti-PD-1 treatment, shrunk tumors in patients with several cancers by boosting the body’s own immune system. Immunologist James Allison, whose pioneering work contributed to the first FDA-approved immunotherapy drug ipilimumab (Yervoy™), was quoted. Thoracic Oncology Service Chief Mark Kris also commented on the data in CNN.com and medical oncologist Jedd Wolchok was quoted in Nature.

Medical oncologist Yelena Janjigian was interviewed about her patient, Red Hook movie producer Angelica Strong, who is organizing fundraisers to raise awareness and funds for stomach cancer.

A study led by molecular epidemiologist Helena Furberg reported the discovery of a gene that predicts smoking behavior. Dr. Furberg noted that the next research step would be to see if currently available smoking cessation medications would work differently in people who carry these genes.

In collaboration with the American College of Chest Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, epidemiologist and physician Peter Bach led an effort to develop clinical guidelines for lung cancer screening in smokers. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the guidelines were widely covered by mainstream media, including the Associated Press, Bloomberg, and HealthDay News.

Medical oncologist Robert Motzer discussed encouraging findings from a phase III study he led comparing the safety and efficacy of two kidney cancer drugs. Dr. Motzer’s team found that patients taking the investigational drug tivozanib were half as likely to need a break from the medication due to side effects as patients taking sorafenib (Nexavar^®).

Surgery Department Chair Peter Scardino spoke about biomarkers developed at Memorial Sloan-Kettering that, when used together with PSA tests, can reduce the need for prostate biopsies by more than 50 percent.

Dermatologist Kishwer Nehal was interviewed about research from Missouri University of Science and Technology that looked at what happens to cells containing zinc oxide when exposed to sunlight.