Last week, 230 attendees joined us virtually for the 5th Annual Cancer Disparities Symposium. Our two-day event, themed "Navigating Cancer Disparities: Lessons Learned and How to Move Forward," fostered conversation among researchers, clinicians, community outreach groups, patient advocates, trainees and key stakeholders from community-based organizations, local government officials, private foundations, and commercial businesses—from across 23 states coast to coast and one country outside the United States. 

Our Community Keynote speaker was Dr. Worta McCaskill-Stevens, Chief of the Community Oncology and Prevention Trials Research Group, which houses the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). Her presentation focused on opportunities and challenges in partnerships between community and academic oncology, highlighting the need for innovative clinical trial design and analysis to reduce disparities and advance equity among underserved populations. Dr. Otis Brawley, the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Oncology and Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University, presented our Scientific Keynote presentation. Dr. Brawley's talk challenged us to consider the importance of increasing cancer prevention efforts and ensuring optimal basic health care for all to advance cancer control in the 21st century. These talks were complemented by engaging presentations on COVID and cancer, minority enrollment in clinical trials, the interplay of biology and social determinants of health in cancer, and a moving session on the personal, physical, and financial experiences of cancer. Our two-day event was topped off with a powerful panel discussion featuring speakers from earlier sessions as well as other national and local leaders in cancer disparities. 

With our virtual format and two-day agenda, we were able to find new and creative ways to keep our attendees engaged. For the first time in our symposium history, we invited local high school students to attend our keynote sessions on both days, with a special follow-up session with Case CCC faculty and Community Advisory Board members. We also introduced a common reading, Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Healthcare by Dayna Bowen Matthew, which was used as a starting point for small group discussions. Our attendees also made great use of our Whova app's features, using the Community board to connect and share ideas. Symposium presentations and materials are accessible on Whova for six months, and attendees are encouraged to view them as often as they like.

Associate Director for Associate Director for Cancer Population Sciences

Co-Director, Cancer Disparities Symposium

Case Comprehensive Cancer Center

Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement

Co-Director, Cancer Disparities Symposium

Case Comprehensive Cancer Center

This Saturday, March 13, marks the 10th Annual "Shave It Off!" event held by Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital (UH Rainbow) to benefit the St. Baldrick's Foundation. St. Baldrick’s is a strong partner and supporter of our research programs, with over $1,000,000 in funds raised at these events having come back to support pediatric cancer research at the Angie Fowler Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Research Institute (Angie's Institute) at UH Rainbow and the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at CWRU. Between UH Rainbow and CWRU, we currently have doctors and researchers working on projects funded by seven St. Baldrick’s grants.

For the 13th consecutive year, physician-scientist Alex Huang, MD, PhD will be shaving his head during the event. Dr. Huang is a pediatric oncologist at Angie's Institute and Co-Leader of the Hematopoietic and Immune Cancer Biology Program at Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Huang will be shaving his head between 11:20 and 11:40 am ET and will then knight shavees who have shaved for either 7 or 10 consecutive years during a knighting ceremony from 11:40 am - 12 pm.

Those interested in supporting the event may shave their head, donate their hair, or go green to help raise funds and awareness. The event is also hosting a basket raffle with over 35 baskets to choose from, including a #6 Cleveland Browns jersey signed by Baker Mayfield.

The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center invites applications to participate in a summer-long, weekly federal grant writing workshop. The longitudinal workshop will occur Wednesday afternoons from 3:00 to 4:30 pm, beginning April 28, 2021 and ending August 4, 2021 (note: the first two sessions on April 28 and May 5 will be 3:00-5:00 pm).

The program will be capped at 10 individuals, necessitating a competitive application process. The review committee will prioritize Early Career Faculty but will consider applications from more Senior Faculty. The program will focus on writing a successful grant application for cancer-related NIH R01 grants. Those accepted to the program will be notified in early April 2021. The deadline for submissions is Monday, March 15, 2021.

From The Daily: Researchers at the Center for Computational Imaging and Personalized Diagnostics (CCIPD) at Case Western Reserve University have preliminarily validated an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to predict how likely the disease is to recur following surgical treatment for prostate cancer.

The tool, called RadClip, uses AI algorithms to examine a variety of data, from MRI scans to molecular information. The research team included Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Administration Medical Center. Further study is required before this tool can be moved to the clinical space.

“We’re bringing together and connecting a variety of information, from radiologic scans like MRI to digitized pathology specimen slides and genomic data, for providing a more comprehensive characterization of the disease,” said Anant Madabhushi, PhD, CCIPD director, the Donnell Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve and the study’s senior author. Dr. Madabhushi is a member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Case CCC) Cancer Imaging Program.

Also affiliated with the Case CCC and contributing to the paper, published in The Lancet's EBioMedicine, were Rakesh Shiradkar, PhD, Pingfu Fu, PhD, Lee Ponsky, MD, Eric Klein, MD, and Christina Buzzy, PhD.

Available award: Up to $40,000

Available award: $75,000 for one year

Available award: Up to $120,000 for one year

Available award: $75,000 for 18 months

Available award: $180,000 for 18 months

Available award: $25,000 for one year

The BCA Exceptional Project Grants provide $100,000 of support for one year. Two Case CCC applicants will be selected for submission. If selected, the full application deadline is July 23, 2021.

The BCA Young Investigator Grants provide $125,000 of support for two years. Two Case CCC applicants will be selected for submission. If selected, the full application deadline is July 23, 2021.

One Case CCC applicant will be selected to apply for either the V Scholar Program or the Translational Research Program.

The V Scholar Program provides $200,000 of support for two years and the Translational Research Program provides $600,000 of support for three years.

One Case CCC applicant will be selected to apply for the V Scholar Adult Cancer Research Program, which provides $200,000 of support for two years.

The Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research Program provides $75,000 of support per year for four years. One Case CCC applicant will be selected for submission. If selected, the full application deadline is September 9, 2021.

Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, has established a new grants program to foster research that uses data derived from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Survey on COVID-19 in Oncology Registry (ASCO Registry) to inform the cancer community about the patterns of symptoms and severity of COVID-19 among patients with cancer, as well as how COVID-19 is impacting the delivery of cancer care and patient outcomes. The grant includes research funding of $30,000 per grant and access to deidentified ASCO Registry data. The grants are supported by Conquer Cancer’s COVID Impacts Cancer Fund.