Rutgers archives: Joseph R. Bertino on genomics and cancer risk

Physicians from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey participate in the Genomics and Cancer Risk Roundtable at the 2007 Governor’s Conference on Effective Partnering in Cancer Research. The panel took place June 6, 2007. 

The panel was moderated by Joseph R. Bertino, who was interim director of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey at the time of this recording.

Participants of the roundtable include Kimberly Ranieri of Rutgers Cancer Institute, David August of Rutgers Cancer Institute, Susan Brooks of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Judy Garber of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Paul Miller of University of Washington, Timothy Rebbeck of University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Deborah Toppmeyer of Rutgers Cancer Institute, and Xangpu Xu of Weill Cornell Medical College.

“What we’re going to do in this session is place today’s scientific and ethics discussion into a clinical context,” Bertino said. “We have chosen to discuss a hypothetical case of a family in which breast cancer has been identified.”

Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, first called “The Cancer Institute of New Jersey,” started seeing patients in 1993 as the result of a P20 planning grant that was awarded in 1992.

In 1996, the current building opened with 75,000 square feet of research, clinical and office space. It was some six years later a ‘topping off’ ceremony was held to celebrate a construction milestone in the expansion of the center that was completed in 2004 – tripling the size of the Institute. 

Some 20 years later in 2022, RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, in partnership with the New Brunswick Development Corporation, hosted a topping off ceremony for the new Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center in New Brunswick, the state’s first freestanding cancer hospital—a  12-story, 520,000 square-foot facility, which is set for completion in 2024.

This video, originally published August 7, 2013, demonstrates the history of the role of the board-certified oncology pharmacist at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

Since Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey opened its doors some three decades ago, part of a patient’s care team has included a board–certified oncology pharmacist (BCOP). BCOP certification demonstrates an institutional commitment to patient care. While not mandatory to hold this certification, pharmacists at Rutgers Cancer Institute are encouraged to strive for this level of excellence by their team leader Michael P. Kane, RPh, BCOP, who has been instrumental in the growth of the pharmacy program at the Institute since its inception.

With specialized knowledge about medications and how they work to fight cancer, the pharmacy team educates patients on what drugs are being used, how they work, and how they are safely administered. Their role is also focused on pain management and additional supportive care.

Behind the scenes, the team might be coordinating a patient’s chemotherapy dose, safely handling and storing investigational agents being used in clinical trials, or supporting research with investigational agents in human subjects. The expertise exhibited by the pharmacy team allows them to work together with patients and other members of their cancer care team to achieve the best possible outcome.