Patients with high-risk melanoma who received the immunotherapy drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab) both before and after surgery to remove cancerous tissue had a significantly lower risk of their cancer recurring than similar patients who received the drug only after surgery.
Lauren Averett Byers, professor of thoracic/head & neck medical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, received the 2025 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Medicine from the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology. The award recognizes her fundamental discoveries and contributions to identifying novel therapeutic strategies for small cell lung cancer, which have paved the way for personalized treatments, even in the most highly recalcitrant cancers.
