From University Hospitals: A University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center neurosurgeon is among the first in the region to begin offering GammaTile® Therapy, a new approach to treating brain tumors. GammaTile Therapy is an FDA-cleared, Surgically Targeted Radiation Therapy (STaRT) that is designed to delay tumor regrowth for patients with brain tumors while protecting healthy brain tissue. University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center is the first to offer this to patients with brain tumors in Cleveland.

Andrew Sloan, MD, Director of the Brain Tumor Program, said, “GammaTile has the potential to allow patients to have their radiation and surgery simultaneously, allowing patients to get back to their families and their lives several months earlier than with other methods.” Dr. Sloan is a member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center's Developmental Therapeutics and Cancer Imaging Research Programs.

University Hospitals (UH) Seidman Cancer Center President and Scientific Director Theodoros Teknos, MD, this week announced Daniel E. Spratt, MD, will join the UH Seidman Cancer Center team and hold the Vincent K. Smith Chair in Radiation Oncology, effective May 1.

Dr. Spratt joins UH from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he was a tenured Professor, held the Laurie Snow Endowed Research Professorship and was the Associate Chair for Clinical Research in Radiation Oncology. He served as both the Director of the Spine Oncology Program and Co-Chair of the Genitourinary Clinical Research Team for the Rogel Cancer Center.

Please join the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center in extending congratulations to Cleveland Clinic's Jacob Scott, MD, DPhil on his recent election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), which recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement among physician-scientists.

Dr. Scott will be officially inducted, along with 79 other nominees across the breadth of academic medicine in April during the AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting.

Marissa Scavuzzo, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow in the lab of Paul Tesar, PhD, was selected as one of 21 scientists to receive the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Hanna H. Gray Fellowship. The highly competitive program, supports talented early-career scientists, specifically outstanding women and underrepresented researchers, providing up to $1.4 million to each Fellow for up to eight years of postdoc training and research during their early careers as independent faculty.

“The track record for Dr. Scavuzzo’s career development remains incredible and places her among an esteemed few, which I applaud her for and want many more at our School of Medicine to follow,” said Stan Gerson, MD, the CWRU School of Medicine's interim dean and director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Her individual work will facilitate her emergence as an independent investigator and add to our cohort of young accomplished women in biomedical research.”

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Scavuzzo on this distinguished accomplishment!

The Youth Engaged in Science (YES) Program, led by Nathan A. Berger, MD, kicked off its spring session with a new "Learn to Beat Cancer" cohort this past Saturday. Eight middle school students, their families and a middle school teacher joined a Zoom-based virtual classroom, where they learned the basics of "What is Cancer" from Case Western Reserve University med students.

This first meeting offered a basic introduction to cell biology, cell division, mutations, cancer progression, a brief discussion of cancer risk factors and a brief discussion of cancer-related careers. The group will meet weekly from 11 am-12 noon on Saturdays until May, attending successive workshops that will increase their knowledge about cancer, introduce them to strategies for risk reduction and disparity elimination, and hopefully, excite them about the possibility of pursuing careers in cancer research.

New students are welcome to participate. For more information or to sign up, contact Rachel Perovsek at rkp16@case.edu.

Attendees of the 5th Annual Cancer Disparities Symposium, "Navigating Cancer Disparities: Lessons Learned and How to Move Forward" will have the opportunity to participate in an in-depth discussion of the book Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care by Dayna Bowen Matthew.

In the book, Matthew explores how health disparities in the American health care system arise from unconscious racial and ethnic biases and provides solution-oriented road maps for a way forward.

The virtual symposium is taking place March 4-5, 2021. Register today to join the conversation.

National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) is pleased to announce a collaboration with Puma Biotechnology to offer a new grant opportunity for NCCN Member Institution faculty. This research grant will support the conduct of clinical and correlative studies to evaluate the effectiveness of neratinib in the treatment of breast, gastrointestinal (GI), lung and certain neurological cancers. It is anticipated that proposals submitted in response to this RFP will be useful in guiding further clinical development of neratinib. Clinical studies with correlative endpoints are encouraged.

Please direct questions regarding this RFP to Nicole Kamienski at kamienski@nccn.org with the subject line, “Puma Neratinib 2021 Project.”

Black in Cancer aims to strengthen the network between black people in the cancer space whilst highlighting black excellence in cancer research and medicine.

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In pursuit of this mission, Black in Cancer will be highlighting Black excellence in the field of cancer research by awarding a postdoctoral fellowship to an outstanding member of the cancer research community who embodies the principles of the organization. The goals of this award are to advance innovative strategies that will lead to preventions, treatments, or cures for cancers of all types, promote research into disparities in cancer outcomes in the Black community, and increase Black representation in the cancer research community.

The Black in Cancer Postdoctoral Fellowship will provide up to three years of financial support for an ambitious scientific project, including one in its early stages and/or not currently supported by grants from the NIH, NSF, DoD, or other government agencies. In an effort to help the awardee achieve success in a tenure-track position, the fellowship can also be used to provide funding that bridges this transitional stage of an academic career. The award will provide $75,000 per year while the awardee is a trainee but will increase to $100,000 per year if/when the awardee accepts an academic tenure-track position.