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Top Stories in the News
Below are recent stories in the news about the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and the UPMC Cancer Centers. The links listed will take you to the original media articles. If you are unable to access an article, please email Clare Collins at collcx@upmc.edu for a copy of the story. Click on the titles for source, publication date, first sentence, and a link to the complete story.
Local Cancer, Heart Studies to BeginPittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 15, 2009 – The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and Allegheny General Hospital's heart center are enrolling patients for new research studies, each announced today.
The UPCI has joined the Western Pennsylvania Cancer Institute and a group of cancer centers in Europe and Israel for a phase III study assessing the safety and success of using a derivative of umbilical stem cells to treat blood cancers, including leukemia and lymphoma. It is called the ExCell research study.
8 Genes That Help Predict Melanoma Patient's Response to Treatment IdentifiedSindh Today, May 31, 2009 – Washington, May 31 (ANI): Eight genes that help predict a melanoma patient's response to treatment have been identified by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI).
The findings have been presented at the 45th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
'Approximately 70,000 people will be diagnosed with metastatic melanoma this year,' said principal investigator Hussein Tawbi, M.D., M.Sc., assistant professor of medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and with UPCI's Melanoma Program.
Pitt Develops Breakthrough Vaccine to Prevent Colon CancerPop City, March 25, 2009 – University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers have begun testing a groundbreaking vaccine that may help prevent colon cancer in people at high risk for the disease.
While vaccines like Gardasil, which protects against the virus associated with cervical cancer, are currently in use, this marks the first vaccine that targets a specific protein and harnesses the body's own defenses as a means of cancer prevention, explains Dr. Robert Schoen, professor of medicine and epidemiology.
Newsmaker: Jean Johanna LatimerPittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 2, 2009 – Susan G. Komen for the Cure awarded Latimer a two-year, $300,000 grant for breast cancer research. The research will study tumors at the earliest stage of breast cancer. The goal is to determine what tumors will grow to be aggressive and which will not and learn to tailor treatment appropriately. The research, focusing in part on black women, may eventually spare patients unnecessary treatments. Her husband is her co-researcher.
Johns Hopkins Specialist to Head Cancer InstitutePittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 14, 2008 – A Johns Hopkins University breast cancer specialist will take the helm of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute in March, UPMC officials announced Thursday.
Dr. Nancy E. Davidson, director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center's Breast Cancer Program in Baltimore, will replace Dr. Ronald Herberman, founding director of the institute. Herberman announced in September 2007 that he would step down and devote more time to research once a suitable replacement could be found.
UPMC Plans Overseas Cancer Centers Pittsburgh Business Times, November 13, 2008 – In an ambitious plan to expand globally, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is collaborating with GE Healthcare in targeting Turkey, Greece, Germany, South Korea and elsewhere for new cancer treatment centers.
The UPMC-GE alliance was announced Thursday as part of the health care giant's plans to open 25 cancer treatment centers over the next 10 years in Europe and the Middle East, starting in 2009, according to Chuck Bogosta, president of UPMC's division of International and Commercial Services. UPMC operates 42 cancer treatment centers in western Pennsylvania and two in Ireland, Dublin and Waterford.
Newsmaker: Victor G. VogelPittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 4, 2008 – Victor G. Vogel Occupation: Professor of medicine and epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; director of Breast Cancer Prevention Program at University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute/Magee-Womens Hospital.
The Thinkers: Researcher seeks clues to aging in our DNAPittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 3, 2008 – A researcher at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health, Dr. Opresko studies the basic mechanisms of why cells age, partly by specializing in a rare premature aging malady known as Werner syndrome.
Pitt to Use $2.7 Million Grant to Develop Radiation DrugPittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 30, 2008 – University of Pittsburgh researchers have received a $2.7 million federal grant to develop a medication to protect against radiation poisoning.
A team led by Dr. Joel Greenberger, chairman of radiation oncology at Pitt's School of Medicine, will develop the drug known as JP4-039, which has been shown to protect against radiation damage in mouse studies and with human tissues in the lab.
Also reporting on the story: Pitt Chronicle
The Quest for Cancer-Preventing DrugsLos Angeles Times, October 20, 2008 – At 66 years old, Vincent Motyl has the gravelly voice and rumbling laugh of a man who's spent much of his life in a halo of cigarette smoke. He grew up amid the industrial soot of Pittsburgh in a houseful of smokers and started a two-pack-a-day habit at 18.
If only, say experts in the field, the quest for cancer-preventing drugs were as simple as it sounds, or as readily embraced by physicians and patient advocates as it is by patients like Vincent Motyl. But the effort is a struggle, for several reasons.
Focus and funding are two. Compared with the effort to find drugs to cure and treat cancer, the search for preventive medicine "has been the stepchild" of research, motivating just a small corner of the research community, says Dr. Victor Vogel, a researcher and breast cancer oncologist at the Magee-Womens Hospital/University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. "It's not sexy, it's not fancy, and for the pharmaceutical companies, it may not always be very profitable."
Donora to Remember Killer Smog this WeekPittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 19, 2008 – When a heavy, smelly mixture of smoke and fog blanketed Donora in late October 1948, life went on as usual for several days. People went to work, to the Halloween parade and to the high school football game between arch rivals Donora and Monongahela. But 20 people ultimately died in that killer smog and an estimated 6,000 were sickened.
Although it is not something to celebrate, the 60th anniversary of the environmental disaster will be commemorated this week.
A full schedule of activities is planned for the upcoming week: Tomorrow -- 11 a.m., grand opening of the Donora Smog Museum, 595 McKean Ave. Participants will include Dr. Devra Davis, a Donora native and epidemiologist, who is director of the Center for Environmental Oncology of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. The killer smog is featured in her 2002 book, "When Smoke Ran Like Water -- Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution." It was a National Book Award finalist.
Also reporting on this story, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
New Screening, Treatments in Works for Ovarian CancerPittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 1, 2008 – Down the hall from his office in the Magee Womens Research Institute on Craft Avenue in Oakland, Thomas P. Conrads, a scientist in the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, sits daily in front of a tabletop-sized piece of equipment rarely, if ever, found in cancer research centers. It's called a mass spectrometer
An expert in proteomics, or the study of proteins in a biological system, Dr. Conrads oversees these state-of-the-art instruments while they separate and identify the thousands of proteins in cells from minute tissue samples of early-stage ovarian cancer that were donated by surgical patients at Magee Womens Hospital of UPMC.
Cell Phones, Cancer DebatedPittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 26, 2008 – Dr. Ronald Herberman urged a U.S. House subcommittee yesterday to support more research into the potential health effects of cell phone use and urged precautions in using the devices, particularly by children.
Renowned New York Biobehavior Oncologist to Lead Pitt Cancer Research ProgramPop City, September 17, 2008 – The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) has tapped a nationally renowned expert in biobehavioral oncology research as director of its recently rededicated Biobehavioral Medicine Program.
UPMC to Run Local Cancer Care FacilityMeadvile Tribune, September 16, 2008 – Meadville-area cancer patients will no longer have to make the long trek to Pittsburgh to participate in clinical trials conducted by University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Cancer Centers. A new affiliation agreement puts the Erie-based Regional Cancer Center and its satellite facilities in Meadville and Ashtabula, Ohio, under UPMC management.
Cancer Chief Sees Cell Phone RisksHe Will Alert Pitt Institute's Faculty, Staff to Possible Health Effects
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 23, 2008 – The director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UPMC Cancer Centers plans to issue an advisory to about 3,000 faculty and staff today about the possible health risks associated with cellular phone use.
Cancer institute partners with German hospitalPittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 25, 2008 – The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute announced a partnership with a hospital in Germany today that aims to accelerate progress in cancer research, education and patient care.
The partnership also will involve a student exchange program and creation of a common international fundraising strategy for research.
Also reporting on the story: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and National Association Name Area Hospitals as Blue Distinction Centers for Complex and Rare CancersForbes.com, March 11, 2008 – Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield has named Allegheny General Hospital, UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside and UPMC Passavant as Blue Distinction Centers for Complex and Rare Cancers.
Blue Distinction Centers for Complex and Rare Cancers are facilities within participating Blue Cross and Blue Shield network service areas that offer comprehensive inpatient cancer care programs for adults.
Link no longer available
Pitt Researchers Link Virus to Rare Type of Skin CancerPittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 23, 2008 – A newly discovered virus may play a role in the development of Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and lethal skin cancer that afflicts mainly the elderly and those with weak immune systems, according to a study in the latest edition of the journal Science.
"This is actually the beginning of a long process because there are so many things that can be done now that we have a target," said Patrick Moore, a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, in a telephone interview. "Within the next couple of years, I would hope there would be a test that would help diagnose infection with this virus and that we could target treatment against this virus."
Mellon Foundation: $23 Million for Child Health InstitutePittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 24, 2007 – Two days after giving Carnegie Mellon University $25 million, the Richard King Mellon Foundation today announced a separate $23 million gift to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
The officials who were in Oakland today for the announcement acknowledged that the Mellon gift is one of the largest ever for pediatric research anywhere in the country. University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, in recognizing the Mellon family for its longtime contributions to the area, noted that in the mid 1980s the same foundation provided $10 million toward the creation of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, now a key institution in Pittsburgh's drive to cure cancer.
Briefs: Restaurants Sets Cancer Center FundraiserPittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 24, 2007 – On Nov. 4, big Burrito Restaurant Group will donate 100 percent of its evening food sales to the Hillman Cancer Center for research and patient care.
The big Benefit kicks off at 5 p.m. and runs throughout the evening at Casbah, Eleven, Kaya, Soba and all nine Mad Mex locations.
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