Press Releases

In response to low national vaccination rates for the human papillomavirus (HPV), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) has joined with the 68 other National Cancer Institute (NCI)–designated cancer centers in <a href="/node/115951"> issuing a statement</a> urging for increased HPV vaccination for the prevention of cancer. These institutions collectively recognize insufficient vaccination as a public health threat and call upon the nation’s physicians, parents, and young adults to take advantage of this rare opportunity to prevent many types of cancer.

A major transformation is beginning in cancer surgery that will enable patients to go home within a day of undergoing a significant operation. The new Josie Robertson Surgery Center (JRSC), opened by Memorial Sloan Kettering, exemplifies that transformation: a patient-focused facility that leverages technology and highly trained clinical teams to provide optimal care.

Information gleaned from a liquid biopsy may help predict how individual women with advanced breast cancer will respond to certain therapies as well as reveal genetic mutations that can impact prognosis, according to two new studies led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) Physician-in-Chief José Baselga and physician-scientist Sarat Chandarlapaty. The studies were presented this week at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Adding idelalisib (Zydelig®) to a standard chemotherapy regimen of bendamustine and rituximab (BR) significantly increases progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with relapsed or treatment-resistant chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) as compared with BR alone, according to new findings presented by a Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) investigator on behalf of his international co-investigators. Results from the phase III study were presented as part of the press program at this year’s American Society of Hematology annual meeting.

Philip W. Kantoff, MD, has been named the new Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). An accomplished leader, physician, researcher, and mentor, Dr. Kantoff served the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School (HMS) since 1987 in a variety of capacities. He formally assumes his new position as George J. Bosl, MD, steps down from his role after 18 years.

Decades of research have shown that cancer survival outcomes can vary widely depending on where patients receive care. But efforts to rank hospitals by long-term survival rates have been hindered by the readily available administrative data derived from Medicare claims, which lacks information about cancer stage. Two hospitals providing equally good care may have different survival rates if one hospital treats sicker patients, for example.

Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) has named three investigators as recipients of this year’s Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research. The award recognizes promising investigators aged 45 or younger for their efforts in advancing cancer research.

Two pivotal studies published in the <em>New England Journal of Medicine</em> and conducted by Memorial Sloan Kettering researchers offer proof of better treatment options for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most common form of kidney cancer.

Researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) have announced results from the first published basket study, a new form of clinical trial design that explores responses to drugs based on the specific mutations in patients’ tumors rather than where their cancer originated.