The Oversight Committee of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas approved a slate of 17 recruitment awards for a total of almost $48 million.
Ryan Schoenfeld was named chief executive officer of The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. Schoenfeld will oversee the foundation’s scientific programs, investments, and operations, and will be responsible for shaping how The Mark Foundation allocates the $500 million in additional funding recently committed by its founder (The Cancer Letter, Feb. 18, 2022).
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network awarded the first PanCAN Therapeutic Accelerator Award to Verastem Oncology to evaluate their investigational treatments, VS-6766 and defactinib, in an early-stage (phase Ib/II) pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma clinical trial.
The Intermountain Healthcare Cancer Center in Utah received a three-year accreditation from the Commission on Cancer, a quality assurance program of the American College of Surgeons.
Radiation oncologists met with congressional leaders and staff May 17 to ask for their support of policies to bolster access and equity in cancer care, as part of the American Society for Radiation Oncology Advocacy Day.
From 1999 to 2019, rates of cancer deaths declined steadily among Black people in the United States. Nevertheless, in 2019, Black people still had considerably higher rates of cancer death than people in other racial and ethnic groups, according to a large epidemiologic study led by NCI researchers.
A study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society showed Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act was associated with an increase in two-year overall survival rates among patients newly diagnosed with cancer, especially among non-Hispanic Black people and people living in rural areas.
Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that adolescent and young adult cancer survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia have reduced long-term survival rates compared to their peers without cancer.
Patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiation therapy are less likely to require opioids or a feeding tube if they received a higher dose of prophylactic gabapentin before their treatment, according to a study led by radiation oncologists at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“Polypharmacy,” or the concurrent use of multiple medications, can lead to harmful drug interactions—which is especially dangerous for cancer patients about to undergo therapy, according to a study led by Wilmot Cancer Institute researchers.


