A philanthropic gift of a patient care coordinator designated to assist female bladder cancer patients in education, clinical decision-making, surveillance, support and even screening is the first of its kind at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Brianne “Bree” Duncan, research nurse specialist III, is the first recipient of the Gail Kraemer Care Coordinator for Female Bladder […]
Matching therapies to subtypes of EGFR-mutated lung cancer New research from Vanderbilt investigators suggests that clinicians should take a deeper dive into distinguishing EGFR mutations when prescribing targeted therapies for non-small cell lung cancers. EGFR exon 19 deletion mutations are the most common EGFR mutations in patients with lung cancer. However, the term “exon 19 […]
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) physicians are leading two landmark clinical trials that have the potential to greatly expand care options for people with colorectal cancer. One offers a new option for metastatic colorectal cancer that has not responded to existing treatments. The other could bring about a paradigm shift in how rectal cancer is treated […]
Damaris Olagundoye, MD, grew up knowing that her maternal grandmother was a breast cancer survivor. She would listen as her mother talked with cousins who had also been diagnosed with the disease, but her family didn’t learn until decades later that they carried a mutation in the BRCA2 gene. Her mother’s heritage was Afro Panamanian, […]
Twenty years ago, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) established the nation’s first Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) to focus exclusively on colorectal cancer, the second leading cancer killer after lung cancer. Directed by Robert J. Coffey, MD, and continuously funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) since 2002, the gastrointestinal (GI) SPORE has fostered a […]
Fifty-three years after U.S. astronauts became the first humans to walk on the moon, VICC researchers are participating in an equally audacious adventure—a “Cancer Moonshot” aimed at cracking the conundrum of colorectal cancer. Funded through the $1.8 billion 21st Century Cures Act passed by Congress in 2016, the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative has […]
Claudia Barajas recently put on headphones at El Jefe, a Nashville-based Hispanic radio station, to moderate an information-packed discussion about lung cancer prevention and the importance of screenings for individuals at higher risk of developing lung cancer. Her Spanish-speaking guest was Rafael Paez, MD, a clinical fellow in the Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy, […]
Charlotte Ladd’s work history has been a series of serendipitous opportunities ranging from investment banking to oncology nursing to teaching immigrant nurses in Florida. But it’s her work as a volunteer at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center that has brought her the greatest joy. Ladd volunteers on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the waiting room of the Henry-Joyce […]
For 51 years, life had been pretty easy. I’ve lived a very average, comfortable and ordinary life. Not boring, just ordinary. Not perfect, but happy and content. I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a nice, safe small town with good Midwestern values, with my parents and older brother. Whether it was life challenges thrown […]
A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine highlights how some older Americans diagnosed with cancer can face unlimited out-of-pocket spending for prescription drugs under the current structure of the Medicare Part D benefit. The analysis, authored by Stacie Dusetzina, PhD, Ingram associate professor of Cancer Research and associate professor of Health Policy, […]
