- On March 5, the Broadway Buzz reported that a new play by Halley Feiffer will premiere at the off-Broadway MCC Theatre at the Lucille Lortel Theatrein August 2016. Its title is a mouthful: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of New York City.
- Nobel laureate, outgoing director of the National Cancer Institute, and former MSK President, Dr. Harold Varmus, will be returning to NYC’s Upper East Side to take a position at Weill Cornell Medical College as the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine. He will also join the New York Genome Center as a Senior Associate Core Member.
- In his March 11 State of the County Address, Nassau County Executive, Edward Mangano, announced plans for a new MSK outpatient treatment facility to be built on Long Island, and projected to open in 2018.
- In early March, the Associates Committee of the Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, hosted their annual Bunny Hop, a child-focused fundraiser which this year featured about 50 giant carrots among the kid-friendly décor and entertainment.
- In a March 11 company news release, it was announced that MSK’s Urgent Care Center will soon be adopting the Advantages patient flow system to help improve the patient experience. This Versus system has already been successfully implemented at a couple of MSK’s outpatient treatment facilities.
Monthly Archives: March 2015
New! Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature
Two updated reference books from JAMAevidence have been added to the MSK Library collection.
The 3rd Edition of the Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature: Essentials of Evidence-Based Clinical Practice includes numerous updates, several new chapters, and a greater emphasis on the role of patient preferences and preappraised resources. This title is a part of our reference collection and is available for use in our Nathan Library (RRL building).
The Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature: A Manual for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice, also the third edition, has been revised and updated to reflect the latest in medical research and evidence-based resources. This users’ guide is a part of our circulating collection and is available for borrowing.
Both resources can be found in Tri-Cat, our library catalog.
New Precision Medicine Tool, Plant-Based Diet, Freezing Scalp and More….
Here are a few highlights of cancer research news that have recently caught my attention:
- A recent study revealed that a vegetarian diet might cut your risk of colorectal cancer by 20 percent. Dr. Leonard Saltz of MSK in a Fox News Health article commented on the study, stated: “The comforting takeaway is that a person doesn’t need to be vegan and cut out all eggs, dairy, and fish to get some benefit in terms of reducing the risk of cancer.” The study published in JAMA Internal Medicine provides additional insight into the very many health benefits of different types of plant-based diets.
- Scientists at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have developed a precision medical tool that could aide in personalized cancer treatments. The technique, called Dynamic BH3 Profiling, or DBP, quickly predicts whether or not a drug will work for a patient by first trying that drug on a tumor sample in the lab. More on this development can be found in the February issue of Cell.
- For patients with advanced thyroid cancer, two clinical trials of sunitinib, a drug approved for treatment of several other cancers, showed significant cancer fighting promise. The results were presented at the Endocrine Society’s 97th annual meeting in San Diego.
- New guidelines for the treatment of Pediatric Hodgkin Lymphoma have been published by International Lymphoma Radiation Oncology Group (ILROG). One of the guidelines outlines the use of 3-D computed tomography (CT)-based radiation therapy planning and volumetric image guidance to more effectively treat pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma and to reduce the radiation dose to normal tissue, thus decreasing the risk of late side effects.
- A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Exeter revealed that minority ethnic men were less willing than white men to be tested for prostate cancer. The results were published in the British Journal of General Practice.
- The New York Times reported in the health section that a growing number of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy are considering a new hair saving treatment that requires a specialized frozen cap worn tightly on the head before, during and for a couple hours after a chemotherapy session.
Please feel free to contact Marisol Hernandez to share any comments.