April 12, 2024:

The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium (Big Ten CRC) is excited to announce the release of our new podcast, “Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer in Focus.”

In this podcast, members of the Big Ten CRC and their colleagues discuss current issues and topics in adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer research and survivorship. Its purpose is to inform, increase awareness, and educate Big Ten CRC members, families, and patients about AYA oncology.

In our inaugural episode, David Dickens, MD, FAAP, of the University of Iowa, and Michael Roth, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, share insights on AYA cancer and why research and survivorship are important considerations for this age group that is often overlooked in discussions about cancer.

Dr. Dickens co-chairs the Big Ten CRC’s Adolescent and Young Adult Clinical Trial Working group with Sandeep Batra, MD, of the Indiana University School of Medicine.

“Despite major advances in cancer treatment, the survival and curative outcomes of adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer remain inferior to childhood oncology patients,” said Dr. Batra. “This disparity is due to many factors, including differences in the biology of the cancer and tolerance to chemotherapy, and non-biological factors such as limited access to clinical trials, inadequate survivorship care, unmet psychosocial needs, transportation challenges, lack of health insurance, poor compliance, and differences in treatment approaches at cancer centers.”

Dr. Batra said the podcast underscores a call to action: to advocate and support treatment research funding for AYA patients and their families.  

Catch the latest episode of AYA Cancer in Focus and our other podcasts at: https://bigtencrc.org/podcasts/

— Written by Kathryn Martin, Hoosier Cancer Research Network’s Communications Associate. 

About the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium: The Big Ten cancer centers have united to transform the conduct of cancer research through collaborative, hypothesis-driven, highly translational oncology trials that leverage the scientific and clinical expertise of Big Ten universities. The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium creates a unique team-research culture to drive science rapidly from ideas to treatment-changing paradigms. Within this innovative environment, today’s research leaders collaborate with and mentor the research leaders of tomorrow with the unified goal of improving the lives of all patients with cancer.

About the Big Ten Conference: The Big Ten Conference is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching and public service. Founded in 1896, the Big Ten has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in the lives of students competing in intercollegiate athletics and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness and competitiveness. The broad-based programs of the 18 Big Ten institutions provide direct financial support for more than 11,000 participation opportunities on 350 teams in 42 different sports. The Big Ten sponsors 28 official conference sports, 14 for men and 14 for women. For more information, visit www.bigten.org.