Stanford Cancer Institute

"Screening for colorectal cancer is one of the most important preventive services that clinicians can offer, and we know that not everyone who should be screened is, in fact, screened," said SCI member Douglas Owens, MD. We are participating in #CancerScreenWeek to help raise awareness of the potentially lifesaving benefits of cancer screening. https://scopeblog.stanford.edu//colon-cancer-screening-ag/

We are pleased to announce the appointment of SCI member David Miklos, MD, PhD, to the role of Division Chief, Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT)! Dr. Miklos, received both his MD and PhD in genetics from Yale University. He completed his internship and residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and his fellowship in Hem-Onc at Dana Farber. Dr. Miklos joined the Stanford faculty in 2004. His laboratory research discovered allogeneic B lymphocytes as a pathogen...ic mechanism in chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD), pioneered high-throughput DNA lymphoid measurement of residual disease (MRD), and established the clinical utility of CAR-T therapies in Lymphoma. His laboratory research supported anti-B cell therapy for the management of cGVHD and he developed and led the pivotal study of Bruton Tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor Ibrutinib for patients with cGVHD resulting in the only FDA approved cGVHD therapy. He served as the Medical Director for Stanford Cellular Therapeutics and Transplantation Laboratory from 2011 to 2016, and since 2016 has been Clinical Director of Cancer Cell Therapy at Stanford. He has served in the Associate Chief role for BMT since April 2020. Dr. Miklos will be only the third chief in the more than 30-year history of the program. We are confident that under Dr. Miklos’ leadership, the division’s tradition of innovation and singular devotion to improving patient outcomes will continue. Thank you to Rob Negrin, MD, for his service, commitment, and excellent leadership in BMT over the last 20 years, as well as his longtime leadership of the SCI Cancer Immunotherapy Research Program. #bloodandmarrowtransplant

We are thrilled to announce that effective January 2021, Heather Wakelee, MD, has been appointed Deputy Director of the Stanford Cancer Institute! In addition, Dr. Wakelee has been named the new Division Chief of Oncology! Hailing from Sonoma County, Dr. Wakelee received her MD from John Hopkins. She was a Resident in internal medicine, Chief Resident, and an Oncology Fellow, all at Stanford. Upon joining the Stanford faculty in 2003, Dr. Wakelee initiated the Thoracic O...ncology Program and built it to national prominence. She specializes in the treatment of lung cancer, thymoma, and mesothelioma. At the same time, Dr. Wakelee has become internationally recognized as an expert in clinical research and treatment of lung cancer. Dr. Wakelee has served for many years as the Medical Director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office at SCI, is the lead investigator for ECOG-ACRIN clinical trials group at Stanford, and is the principal investigator on numerous clinical trials. She is active in many national and international organizations related to lung cancer including executive leadership roles in the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). We are inspired by Dr. Waklee's vision for oncology and look forward to her leadership! #stanfordcancer See more

CANCER & COVID TOWN HALL Thursday, October 29, 2020 3:30 PM PDT 5 PM PDT Join us on Facebook Live! English y Español... We invite the local and regional community to join us for a town hall to discuss the impact of COVID on: CANCER SCREENING AND PREVENTION CANCER PATIENTS AND SURVIVORS CANCER PATIENT FINANCES Questions can be submitted in advance or live during the town hall. FEATURED SPEAKERS: Lisa Goldman Rosas, PhD (moderator),Epidemiologist, Stanford Medicine Melissa Bondy, PhD, Epidemiologist, Stanford Medicine Elwyn Cabebe, MD, Medical Oncologist, University Health Care Alliance Steve O’Brien, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Alameda Alliance for Health Lidia Schapira, MD, Medical Oncologist, Stanford Medicine Co-Sponsored by: Stanford Cancer Institute Community Outreach and Engagement and Stanford Medicine Office of Community Engagement #cancerandcovid @StanfordOCE See more

The patient voice is often missing from routine clinical care. The ability to leverage the patient voice through emails could present a paradigm shift in the way patients engage in and report their cancer experience. SCI members, Douglas Blayney, MD, James Brooks, MD, Tina HernandezBoussard, MD, PhD, and research fellow Jean Coquet, PhD, found for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, email usage was associated with significantly improved overall survival within 2 ...years of chemotherapy initiation compared to nonemail use. Patients who were frequent email users showed higher levels of engagement and had fewer chemotherapyrelated inpatient admissions and emergency visits during the survival period. These results suggest that email use might represent a proxy for greater engagement with the healthcare system. (Photo by Brett Jordanon Unsplash) See more

Stanford Cancer Biology student Emily Ashkin continues to be inspired by Nobel laureate J. Michael Bishop, MD. "I am devoting my graduate and scientific career to mentoring students from underrepresented backgrounds through teaching, guiding them through their own research projects, and openly sharing my own story, just as Dr. Bishop has." https://scopeblog.stanford.edu//how-a-nobel-laureates-lif/

Ellie Guardino, MD, PhD, has been relentlessly pushing forward the science to advance breast cancer treatment. The former #Stanford oncologist who is battling advanced melanoma herself continues to fight for patients daily. Recently, Dr. Guardino received a surprise outpouring of love on her birthday by her family, friends, and patients on The Today Show. Happy birthday Dr. Guardino! You are very much loved! https://on.today.com/34UlZjl #breastcancerawareness @today

From Intern to Chief: A Tale of Partnerships and Persistence with a Vision for the Future Heather Wakelee, MD Tuesday, October 20, 2020 8:00 am 9:00 am Join us on Facebook Live!... Dr. Heather Wakelee is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Oncology at @Stanford University and is the faculty director of the Stanford Cancer Clinical Trials Office. Dr. Wakelee has authored or co-authored over 200 medical articles on lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies and is involved in dozens of clinical trials related to lung cancer therapy and diagnostics. Her research focuses on many specific lung cancer subtypes defined by specific mutations in EGFR, ALK, ROS1, RET, BRAF, and others. She is also involved in trials of adjuvant therapy, immunotherapy, and anti-angiogenesis agents in addition to collaborations with colleagues focused on biomarkers and others focused on population science research. Dr. Wakelee is active in multiple national and international lung cancer research organizations including serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), co-chair of the thoracic committee, and Stanford Principal Investigator for the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG-ACRIN), and as a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (FASCO). #medicaloncology #stanfordcancer See more

What are viruses? And how do these tiny infectious particles, which straddle the line between life and non-life, multiply and spread to become global pandemics? More from Stanford Medicine: https://stanford.io/2T1tBv6

NCI's Cancer Moonshot Initiative, will establish a clinical, experimental, computational, and organizational framework to generate informative and accessible three-dimensional atlases of cancer transitions for a diverse set of tumor types. SCI members Jim Ford, MD, Michael Snyder, PhD, and Robert West MD, PhD, are contributing to this effort. The resulting tumor atlases should have a profound impact on our understanding of cancer biology and have the potential to improve cancer detection, prevention, and therapeutic discovery for better precision-medicine treatments of cancer patients and those at risk for cancer. #CancerMoonshot http://ow.ly/SjLx50Aj4Z3

Join Dean Lloyd Minor and special guest Bill Gates on Oct. 21 at 11:30 a.m. PT for a conversation about COVID-19 and the future of global health. http://stan.md/gates #StanfordMedLIVE

October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, places a spotlight on the important scientific contributions made by the Breast Cancer Clinical Research Group at the SCI's Cancer Clinical Trials Office. Their efforts lead to an increased availability of clinical trials to patients in need and the results of these trials lead to advancements in care for current patients and future generations. A big thank you to our Breast Cancer Clinical Research Group. Keep up the good fight! #breastcancerawarenessmonth #pinktober2020

The SCI is proud to partner with the National LGBT Cancer Network! Out: The National Cancer Survey, the national survey specifically for LGBTQI+ cancer survivors. Take the survey & help inform cancer care for the estimated 81,000 LGBTQI+ people who are diagnosed with cancer every year. #outsurvey