Clinical Updates & Insights

In this Q&A series, we speak with former MSK trainees as they reflect on their career paths, share insights from their current work, and discuss how their experiences at MSK continue to inform the way they practice, lead and innovate. These conversations bring to life the lasting impact of training at MSK, and the evolving ways our alumni shape clinical practice, and advance care for patients.

MSK experts presented findings from their latest foundational and translational oncology research at the 2026 AACR Annual Meeting. Highlights included treatment of early-stage rectal cancer with protein inhibitors targeting HER2, recent data from the personalized RNA vaccine trial for pancreatic cancer, and development of a framework to understand biomarkers and vulnerabilities during the early to late stages of transitions from lung cancer-enabling adenomas to neuroendocrine lineage plasticity.

MSK physicians and scientists highlighted some of the institution’s latest advances in transplantation and cellular therapies at the Tandem Meetings held February 4 to 6, 2026, in Salt Lake City.

Germline and somatic oncogenic alterations are frequently seen in breast cancer, yet it’s not well understood how their interaction influences tumor evolution and therapy resistance. Researchers now have new insights through a comprehensive integrated clinicogenomic analysis and preclinical investigation led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

A small interfering RNA implant targeting KRAS G12D/G12V mutations has shown a promising trend toward improved overall survival and objective response rate in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer with these mutations, according to results of a multisite, international phase 2 clinical trial led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Thyroid lobectomy alone is an effective and safe treatment option for carefully selected patients with papillary thyroid cancer, according to a retrospective study by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Clinically meaningful secondary cancer occurred in non-small cell lung cancer survivors, both within and beyond the thorax and over a prolonged period, according to a new study by a multidisciplinary team of lung cancer experts at MSK. The findings underscore the importance of risk-adapted, symptom-responsive survivorship care that includes evaluating heritable risk.

The Peritoneal Surface Malignancies Consortium Group is a national, multidisciplinary collaboration of surgical and medical gastrointestinal oncology specialists from top cancer centers. The group recently published a series of updated consensus guidelines for the clinical management of peritoneal metastases related to a variety of gastrointestinal malignancies. In this Q&A with Dr. Michael Foote we discuss discuss the major updates for the management of colorectal cancer and appendiceal cancer peritoneal metastases and how the changes will improve patient outcomes and streamline patient care.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center recently published two retrospective studies with practice-changing insights for improving the treatment and surveillance of patients with oropharyngeal cancer.

Updated survival outcomes from the EMBER-3 trial reinforced the clinical benefit of imlunestrant-based regimens as all-oral, chemotherapy-free treatment options for endocrine-pretreated patients with estrogen receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Breast medical oncologist Komal Jhaveri, MD, FACP, presented the latest results for the trial at SABCS, and was also the lead and corresponding author of the paper published simultaneously in the Annals of Oncology.