The Cancer Center’s 2020 External Advisory Committee meeting took place on Wednesday, September 30, just after the presidential debate the night before. While we were all safely isolated in our campus or home offices, the engagement and thoughtfulness of both our presenters and reviewers was rather incredible to watch.

Our Cancer Center remains strong and is maintaining its strong support for new investigator initiatives and multi-investigator projects leading to multiple P and U grant submissions. I appreciate the hard work that it takes to put these efforts together, representing the year’s accomplishments across the center and our 400 faculty members across five institutions that make up the center.

This year, an evident theme was the balanced contributions of science, therapeutics and investment from Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic. With our likewise balanced oversight by our deputy directors, Brian Bolwell, Ted Teknos and Alan Diehl, we remain unique among the nation’s NCI designated cancer centers, and take advantage of the remarkable expertise and breadth of accomplishments across our organizations to wield a unified approach to innovation in cancer prevention, mechanism discovery, genomic etiology, targeted therapeutics and population analysis.

Our center was very well represented by our program leaders, presenting top science from their programs. Research highlights included:

The introduction of Data Sciences as a new discovery pillar of our center by Jill Barnholtz-Sloan was well received.

On the clinical trials front, despite COVID-19 and leadership transitions, our ongoing efforts, continued accrual and remarkable impact of shortening times to protocol activation helped to showcase our ongoing attention to patients in need of new treatments, while we struggle to be as inclusive as possible and to re-expand our non-therapeutic interventional portfolio.

Mark Jackson provided a summary of our comprehensive education, training and career development programs that continue to dazzle reviewers.

Finally, I am very grateful of the efforts of Jennifer Cullen, Associate Director for Cancer Population Sciences, and Erika Trapl, Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement, for absorbing the breath of activities across our center and presenting these in such a coherent way. We will all be hearing more from them in the near future, as we continue to bring the important perspective of our community into our approach to research and discovery. Increasing our focus on benefits to our community will help us to address the fundamental disparities that we collectively face across our country. This effort reflects the incredible quality and impact of all of our activities to pursue our mission: To apply scientific discoveries in human cancers to improve lives across our communities through cancer prevention, detection, treatment, cure and survivorship.

Researchers with the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center (UHCMC) have secured $4 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Cancer Institute (NCI) to establish an HIV- associated Malignancy Research Center (HAMRC) focused on lung cancer in East Africa.

The team will collaborate with Ugandan and Tanzanian researchers at the Joint Clinical Research Centre in Kampala, Makerere University Lung Institute, Uganda Cancer Institute, Mulago National Hospital, National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Muhumbili National Hospital and the Ocean Road Cancer Institute. The HAMRC will investigate novel approaches to characterize lung cancer epidemiology, somatic mutation burden, HIV and accelerated aging, and radiological features of lung cancer and the relationship to HIV-1 infection.

The focus of this new research center includes establishing national lung cancer diagnostic referral networks in Uganda and Tanzania, teleradiology telepathology, technology transference and training of early career investigators and personnel.

This cross-continental effort is led by Robert A. Salata, MD, Case Western Reserve/UHCMC; Stan Gerson, MD, Case Western Reserve; Bruce Kirenga, MD, Makerere University Lung Institute; and Sayoki Mfinanga, MD, PhD of the National Institute for Medical Research, Muhimbili Centre, Tanzania. The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, which has a history of coordinating large, multi-institution projects, will provide administrative support, while the Joint Clinical Research Centre is the central site of research activity.

On behalf of the planning committee, I encourage you to secure your access to our upcoming Artificial Intelligence in Oncology Symposium, being held virtually October 19-20, if you have not done so already.

This event has a diverse lineup of speakers and panelists who will engage in discussions on how AI and machine learning are being used as diagnostic, prognostic and predictive tools for precision oncology utilizing routinely acquired imaging scans from pathology and radiology, their role in drug discovery, and the ethics and policy surrounding this rapidly evolving field. An internationally recognized expert in radiology and champion for use of AI in medical imaging, Dr. Geraldine McGinty, Chief Contracting and Strategy Officer at Weill Cornell Medicine will deliver the symposium’s plenary address. Our program committee has also carefully selected pre-eminent leaders in AI in medicine as keynote speakers for each of our four focused sessions.

While we wanted to collaborate in person again this year, we are greatly looking forward to connecting through our web-based conference application, Whova, where attendees will not only be able to view presentations, but also ask questions during panel discussions and network behind the scenes. Registered attendees will be receiving invitations and instructions to access the virtual conference soon.

New this year, we added an additional networking opportunity immediately following the symposium. Two concurrent “Ask the Experts” conversations will focus on the use of AI in Radiology and on Digital Pathology, and are designed to enable greater networking, an opportunity for participants to ask questions and for trainees to make connections on their career paths with the leading experts in the field. Members of our AIO Planning Committee will be joining each of the conversations and look forward to connecting with you!

I hope that you will join us and invite your colleagues to hear from the array of experts we are bringing directly to you, whether at your desk or your favorite spot in your home.

Clinical and Translational Investigators of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center are invited to attend the upcoming virtual Clinical Research Retreat: Immunotherapy in Cancer Clinical Research on October 28, 2020 from 5-7 pm ET.

Former NCI K12 Paul Calabrese Scholar and current PRMC chairperson Leland Metheny, MD will kick-off the retreat with a presentation on “Post-hematopoietic Transplant Immunotherapy.”

Timothy Chan, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Immunotherapy and Precision Immuno-Oncology at Cleveland Clinic, will deliver the keynote address, “Immunotherapy: Evolving Landscape of Mechanisms and Modalities.” Dr. Chan is a renowned expert in immune-oncology who joined the Cancer Center in April from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Retreat participants will have the opportunity to ask both speakers questions about clinical research and the future of immunotherapy.

Clinical research and training are hallmark activities of an exceptional academic cancer center. The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center organizes Clinical Research Retreats twice a year to encourage engagement across institutions and foster a collaborative, forward-moving research environment.

WHEN: October 28, 2020, 5-7 pm 

WHERE: Zoom meeting 

The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center extends congratulations to Jill Barnholtz-Sloan, PhD as she was recently elected as a representative to the board of the Society for Neuro-Oncology.

Dr. Barnholtz-Sloan is the Sally S. Morley Designated Professor in Brain Tumor Research at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Associate Director for Data Sciences at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. She will assume her position upon the conclusion of the society's virtual annual meeting next month.

Cancer Advances is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, Blubrry and Stitcher

Join Dale Shepard, MD, PhD for Cancer Advances, a Cleveland Clinic podcast for medical professionals, exploring the latest innovative research and clinical advances in the field of oncology.

In last week's episode of the podcast, Cleveland Clinic oncologist and Case CCC member Shilpa Gupta, MD discusses promising findings in the treatment of advanced bladder cancer in this week's Cancer Advances podcast. Dr. Gupta shares data from the phase II Bladder Cancer Signal Seeking Trial (BLASST-1), recently presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. She also provides an update on additional in-progress clinical trials and what’s on the horizon for bladder cancer research.

This week's episode features Halle Moore, MD, Cleveland Clinic Director of Breast Medical Oncology and Co-Director of the Comprehensive Breast Cancer Program, discussing the Cleveland Clinic's breast cancer survivorship program. Dr. Moore is a member of the Case CCC's Cancer Prevention, Control & Population Research Program.

Each year, Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute honors its students, trainees and staff for their leadership and research accomplishments by presenting a select few with Awards for Excellence. Congratulations to the following trainees, part of Case CCC member labs, for their 2020 awards:

(Charis Eng Lab)

Graduate Student Award

(Christine O'Connor Lab)

Sylvain Brunet Award for Outstanding Accomplishment by a Graduate Student

(Justin Lathia Lab)

Postdoctoral Fellow Award

With the generous support from VeloSano Bike to Cure, the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Case CCC) is again providing funding for Case CCC Trainee Associate Members to perform their “dream experiment.”

The experiment should catalyze highly innovative and impactful projects and help strengthen fellowship and career development grant applications. The intent of the award is to support a single or limited set of innovative experiments, not for general laboratory supplies/projects or maintenance of the trainee’s project.

Up to five (4) projects will be funded at $10,000/award. Research projects must be completed within one (1) year, with funds expended by June 30, 2021.

The American Lung Association's Innovation Award provides $75,000 of support per year for up to two years promising independent investigators who are leveraging their existing body of work to conduct basic science, behavioral, clinical, or translational research for lung health.

The Catalyst award champions the next generation of scientists who are ascending toward independence by supporting mentored-investigators who are conducting basic science, behavioral, clinical or translational research into lung health. It provides $50,000 of support per year for up to two years.

The Public Policy Research Award also provides $50,000 of support per year, up to two years, and is designed to help stimulate and inform important public policy debates around healthy air and lung disease. This award supports research on and evaluation of existing public policy and programs, as well as projects that inject innovative ideas into public policies impacting lung health.

The ILCF Fellowship Awards provide $50,000 to fund one-year research projects focused on the etiology, epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and all aspects of lung cancer and thoracic malignancies. Fellowship Award candidates must be at the post-doctoral level (MD, DO, PhD, or PharmD) and must be in fellowship training or its equivalent for the duration of the award funding.

The ILCF Young Investigator Awards provide $50,000 to fund one-year research projects focused on the etiology, epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and all aspects of lung cancer and thoracic malignancies. Young Investigator Award candidates must have completed their medical degree (MD, DO, PhD, or PharmD) and must be within three years of their initial faculty appointment.