UCCC Interim Director Dr. Tim Byers

Dr. Byers

Director's Message: Oct. 27, 2009

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Today I am in Los Angeles providing invited written and spoken testimony to the President’s Cancer Panel, two distinguished scientists (LaSalle Leffall and Margaret Kripke) who directly advise President Obama on matters of cancer policy.

Today’s hearing is in support of a report they are preparing on “America’s demographic and cultural transformation: Implications for the cancer enterprise.” I will be presenting findings and conclusions from a set of Colorado studies that compare breast cancer risk factors and outcomes between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women. My conclusion is that the pattern of differences in underlying risk, risk factors, tumor phenotypes, and outcomes points to a combination of biological factors related to estrogen metabolism and sociological factors related to health care access that together account for the many differences in breast cancer among Latinas.

AACI-CCAF meeting. Last week Michaela Montour and I attended the annual combined meeting of the American Association of Cancer Institutes and the Cancer Centers Administrators Forum. This two-day meeting in Washington, DC, drew attendance by cancer center directors and administrators for updates on NCI programs and plans and sharing of current activities by cancer centers across the country.

The focus this year was on economic challenges faced by cancer centers, and on the resulting needs to improve efficiencies in resource allocation. The discussion on relationships between cancer centers and the CTSA awards was especially timely. It seems that there is a wide variation in integration between NCI -supported shared resources and those supported by the broader NIH CTSA grants. I left the discussion feeling strongly that the approach we are taking here in Colorado is the right approach, to look for ways we can optimize our resources by merging shared services whenever possible.

Dr. Andrew Thorburn is interviewed at the Sept. 2008 Stand Up to Cancer event.

Dr. Andrew Thorburn being interviewed at the
2008 Stand Up to Cancer Event.

Stand Up to Cancer effort wins top award. Last September, this cancer center rallied around the national Stand Up to Cancer event in a big way. It was an all-hands-on-deck effort led by our PR office with coordinating help from the UC Denver media relations team, a committee of members and leaders and, in the end, dozens of our members either being interviewed by the media, taking calls at call centers or setting up booths at the Sept. 5, 2008 “viewing party” for the national fundraising event.

Last week, our Stand Up to Cancer effort was recognized as the best community relations effort by a healthcare organization by the Colorado Healthcare Communicators group, winning a gold leaf award. One judge wrote, “Probably more people in Denver were educated about cancer research, prevention and the need for support than ever before. I wish I could quantify how many lives were saved as a result of this project.”

Gary Burge and Kate Burge Clair with CU SOM 3rd year students at the 2009 Chris Burge Classic

Gary Burge, center, with daughter Kate Burge
Clair and 3rd year UCD SOM students at the 2009
Chris Burge Classic.

Tourney raises $20,000 for lung cancer. The 3rd Chris Burge tennis tournament took place in Fort Collins a couple of weeks ago. The event is in memory of UCCC advisory board member Gary Burge’s wife Chris, a nonsmoker who died from lung cancer in 2007. Chris was an avid tennis player, and the event is part tribute, part tournament, part auction. This year, it raised about $20,000 for lung cancer research at UCCC, bringing total fundraising to over $40,000.

Free Microplate Reader and Kodak Imager. As we prepare to move our colleagues from the old AMC Cancer Research Center location at 1600 Pierce Street, we've found two pieces of equipment that need new homes. The first is a microplate reader. The second is a Kodak imager. Both are in working condition, although no one knows how old they are. If your lab could use the equipment, please contact Michaela Montour. Your only cost is the time it takes to drive to Lakewood to pick them up.

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Headlines

Cancer Letter, 10/23/09

  • Duke Halts Third Trial; Coauthor Disputes Claim That Data Validation Was Blinded.
  • Moffitt Ends Pilot Study Based On Duke Test, Says Action Unrelated.
  • House DoD Report Provides $15 Million For Lung Cancer Screening.
  • FDA Approves Votrient For Renal Cell Carcinoma.
  • NCI Picks 11 Centers For Chemical Biology Consortium.
  • IOM Report Says Smoking Bans Cut Heart Attack Risk.

Analysis questions breast and prostate cancer screening

MedPage Today, 10/21/09

Two decades after the explosion in cancer screening fueled by reimbursement for mammography and prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing, a new analysis suggests that it is time to rethink the push for early detection of these two cancers. Anthony Elias, MD, University of Colorado Hosptial/School of Medicine is quoted.

More next week.

Tim Byers, MD, MPH
Interim Director, University of Colorado Cancer Center
Professor and Associate Dean, Colorado School of Public Health
Grohne Chair in Cancer Prevention and Control

National Cancer News

NCI Director's Newsletter: Weekly

We will no longer be publishing links to the Cancer Letter publicly as of Nov. 10, 2009. To read the Cancer Letter, please click the links on the left side panel of the email newsletter.

This Week's Cancer Seminars

March 9

Synthetic Lethal High-throughput Screen for Chemosensitizer Loci in Cancer Cells: Proper Statistical Considerations

Xian-Jin Xie, PhD

Associate Professor, Biostatistics
Univ of Texas SWMC

12 to 1 pm
Anschutz Medical Campus R1-North, West Auditorium, Refreshments Provided  
Live Link: mms://esslive2.uchsc.edu:1800. Video-teleconferenced to VA 3C126 and CSU ACC215

March 9
Clinical Research Forum

Presented by UCCC Clinical Investigations Core

It's OK to say no to your monitor

Mary Schumer

Research Administrator, University of Colorado Hospital

2nd Tuesday of the month, 12 to 1 pm
Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Institute Room 3008

March 10

Hormone Related Malignancies Program Lectures

James McManaman, PhD

Professor, Division of Basic Reproductive Sciences, Department of OB/GYN
University of Colorado School of Medicine

11 am to 12 pm
Anschutz Medical Campus, R1-North, West Auditorium

March 10

Head and Neck Cancer Research Program Seminar Series

Robert Keith, MD

Assistant Professor, Pulmonary Sciences/Critical Care Med
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center

4 to 5 pm

R2, Room P15-3109

March 10

Cells, Development and Cancer Seminar Series

Steve Cells, Systematic Factors and the Control of Oogenesis by Diet in Drosophila

Daniela Drummond-Barbosa,PhD

Associate Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Johns Hopkins University

12 to 1 pm
Anschutz Medical Campus, R1-North, Hensel Phelps East

March 15

Joseph W. St. Geme, Jr., MD Lectureship

The Aviator: From Colorado to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Round Trip

Thomas R. Cech, PhD

Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of Colorado at Boulder
Director, Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology
Nobel Laureate

4 to 5 pm
The Children’s Hospital, 2nd Floor Conference Center, Mt. Oxford Auditorium 

Reception to follow in the Conference Center Lobby

March 19

UCCC Scientific Retreat

Westin Hotel, Westminster
7:30 am to 6