UH Seidman Cancer Center Researchers Awarded ASCO Young Investigator Awards
May 31, 2024
CLEVELAND – Two researchers from University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center have been awarded The American Society of Clinic Oncology (ASCO) Young Investigator Awards.
First awarded in 1984, they provide research funding to promising young physicians during the final years of training to support the transition to a faculty appointment and to encourage quality research in clinical oncology.
“Having ASCO recognize the researchers at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center with these prestigious grants is an honor. We are proud of the work they do to further the science of health and the art of compassion,” said Dr. Ted Teknos, President and Scientific Director, UH Seidman Cancer Center and Jane and Lee Seidman Chair in Cancer Innovation.
James Ignatz-Hoover's, MD, PhD trial "Low Dose HMA and Venetoclax maintenance therapy for AML patients status post allogeneic stem cell transplant” was awarded the Young Investigator Award and is a product of ongoing clinical translational collaboration between UH Seidman Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University and CCF Learner Research Institute.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a horrible disease that affects many older patients each year. To keep the cancer from coming back, patients get an intense treatment called a bone marrow transplant, but the leukemia can still come back.
Dr. Ignatz-Hoover along with his clinical mentors Dr. Benjamin Tomlinson, Program Director, Hematology and Oncology, UH Cleveland Medical Center and Dr. Koen van Besien, Director, Wesley Center for Immunotherapy, UH Seidman Cancer Center and Don C. Dangler Chair in Stem Cell Research worked to understand how two staple leukemia medicines – decitabine and venetoclax- work together to fight leukemia. They discovered a specific way they fight cancer cells, and learned how to give the lowest amount of drug necessary to still kill the cancer cells but spare more of the good cells. Using this novel dosing, they hope to keep leukemia patients alive longer after stem cell transplant with fewer side effects and better quality of life. Safe, reliable, and effective post-transplant maintenance therapies for myeloid malignancies remain an area of unmet need.
Courtney Pisano, DO, MS, MPH who has been given the 2024 Conquer Cancer Young Investigator’s Award. Dr. Pisano’s proposal evaluates the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors with radiation as an effective treatment for women with locally advanced ER+ and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). These drugs, cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitors (CDK 4/6i), are now used as frontline therapy to treat women with metastatic estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancers. Clinical trials now suggest they are effective even in women with non-metastatic ER+ BC at high risk of returning, but are not yet given in combination with the radiation therapy that patients receive as part of the standard of care. Currently there is no indication for use for women with TNBC.