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Across the Consortium: August 2021
Featured Investigators - August 2021

August 26, 2021:

In this month’s Across the Consortium, cancer investigators, program managers, and administrators share their progress in oncology research and maintaining their excellent standing through NCI-designation and association accreditation. Learn about new tools that may help identify patients who are at high risk of cancer progression and relapse, as well as promising pre-clinical results to treat human estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer and their metastases in bone, brain, liver, and lungs. Also, find out which of our Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium members increased clinical trial enrollment by 167 percent, and minority participation in clinical trials to 56 percent of total enrollment. Read on to discover what’s new across the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium.

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Wesolowski appointed co-chair of Big Ten CRC correlative sciences group

August 24, 2021: Robert Wesolowski, MD, associate professor at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, was recently appointed as co-chair of the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium’s Correlative Sciences Clinical Trial Working Group (CTWG). He joins fellow co-chair Thomas G. Sors, PhD, Assistant Director of the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease. The group serves as a resource to advise investigators on the correlative aspects of Big Ten CRC studies in development. “As a clinical trialist, this appointment fits my research interests,” said Dr. Wesolowski, a breast cancer medical oncologist at The Ohio State... Read More

Ma represents Penn State on Big Ten CRC Steering Committee

August 17, 2021: Patrick C. Ma, MD, MSc, a professor at Penn State College of Medicine and a medical oncologist specializing in thoracic oncology at Penn State Cancer Institute, has been appointed to represent Penn State Cancer Institute on the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is composed of one researcher from each Big Ten CRC member institution and meets regularly to review activities of the consortium and decide matters of policy. The Steering Committee determines the criteria for approving concepts for development with the Big Ten CRC. Read More

Geriatric oncology and multidisciplinary care approach for older adults with cancer

August 6, 2021: by Vijaya Bhatt, MBBS, MS Vijaya Bhatt, MBBS, MS, is an associate professor in the University of Nebraska Medical Center Division of Oncology/Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, and medical director of the Leukemia Program at UNMC.With the aging US population, we face the challenge of rising incidence of cancer in older adults. Older adults are at a higher risk of developing and dying from cancers. Several factors contribute to poor outcomes including cancer biology, multimorbidity, frailty, and social isolation, which has become worse during the COVID-19 pandemic. Older adults are also frequently not well represented in clinical trials; this poses additional challenges by creating a knowledge gap in understanding how to optimally treat older adults with comorbidities.... Read More

Member Feature: Purdue Center for Cancer Research

August 3, 2021: Purdue Center for Cancer Research (PCCR) scientist Philip Low, PhD, Presidential Scholar for Drug Discovery and Ralph C. Corley Distinguished Professor of Chemistry - Biochemistry (Department of Chemistry) at Purdue University. The latest research update from Dr. Low is the design, synthesis, and patenting of PSMA-617, an investigational PSMA-targeted radioligand therapy for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. It began with a PCCR collaboration including Dr. Low, Timothy Ratliff, PhD, and Tom Gardner, MD, from Indiana University School of Medicine, who ran the first clinical imaging trial, funded by PCCR, to show the targeting agent was highly prostate cancer specific. Read More

Across the Consortium: July 2021

July 22, 2021: In this month’s Across the Consortium, get to know some the cancer investigators in the Big Ten, what doctoral candidates and graduate students are researching, what publications and accolades have been shared with Big Ten researchers, and more. Read More

Chan, Phadke named breast cancer working group co-chairs

July 21, 2021: The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium recently appointed Nancy Chan, MD (pictured right), a medical oncologist from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, and Sneha Phadke, DO, MPH, (pictured left), a medical oncologist from University of Iowa Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, as co-chairs of Big Ten CRC’s Breast Cancer Clinical Trial Working Group (CTWG). Their leadership supports collaboration and mentorship within the working group, as well as development of Big Ten CRC breast cancer clinical trials from conception to completion. CTWG co-chairs serve two-year terms that are... Read More

Janakiram, Suvannasankha named multiple myeloma co-chairs

July 8, 2021: Murali Janakiram, MD, MS, a medical oncologist at the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, and Attaya Suvannasankha, MD, a medical oncologist at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, have been named co-chairs of the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium’s Multiple Myeloma Clinical Trial Working Group. Dr. Janakiram is a graduate of Madras Medical College in Chennai, India. He completed his residency at Case Western University and MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and his fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center,... Read More

Big Ten cancer researchers aim to close gaps, break barriers in AYA research and care

July 8, 2021: Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium investigators are determined to give adolescents and young adults (AYA) a fair shot in overcoming cancer by addressing the systemic challenges that are often roadblocks to the best care, including access to cancer clinical trials. AYAs range in age between 15 to 39. According to the National Cancer Institute, an estimated 88,260 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed among AYAs and about 85% of AYAs diagnosed with cancer will survive their cancer beyond five years after their diagnosis, some left with chronic side effects and fertility issues. Incidence of cancer... Read More

Population science group explores research opportunities from prevention to survivorship

July 7, 2021: Within the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium, disease-specific Clinical Trial Working Groups are largely focused on developing novel therapeutics to treat and ultimately cure disease. The Big Ten CRC’s Population Science Working Group, led by co-chairs Sharon Manne, PhD, of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Electra Paskett, PhD, of The Ohio State University, has a different goal: To develop and implement population-based research within the Big Ten CRC. “The ultimate goal of our working group is to develop and implement research that reduces the cancer burden in the Big Ten,” said Dr. Manne (pictured left), Chief of Behavioral Sciences and co-Director of the... Read More

University of Illinois

University of Illinois

Indiana University

Indiana University

University of Iowa

University of Iowa

University of Maryland

University of Maryland

University of Michigan

University of Michigan

Michigan State

Michigan State

University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska

Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Penn State University

Penn State University

Purdue University

Purdue University

Rutgers State University

Rutgers State University

University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin

University of Illinois at Chicago

University of Illinois at Chicago

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