Tag Archives: clinical trial

Global Access to Cancer Research and Treatment

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Bob Li, MD, PhD, MPH

Bob Li, MD, PhD, MPH. Photo by Richard DeWitt.

A Forbes profile of MSK’s Dr. Bob Li chronicles his path from China to Australia to the United States. At MSK, he works as a Thoracic Oncologist and the Physician Ambassador to China and Asia-Pacific, Bobst International Center.

In the article, Dr. Li emphasizes the need for more global coordination and inclusivity in cancer research and care. As he says, “We’re not going to find the cure for cancer unless we solve this equity question and this access question.”

Dr. Li notes that only 5% of patients globally enroll in clinical trials, which contributes to the “process from discovery in the lab to breakthrough and saving lives in human beings [taking] about 10-plus years.”

Learn more from the Harvard Business Review article co-written by Dr. Li last year, “We Need a Global System for Testing and Approving Cancer Treatments.”

From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor

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Larry Norton, MD

Larry Norton, MD. Photo by Juliana Thomas.

A recent Washington Post article about advances in cancer treatment features MSK.

The article begins by sharing the experiences of a patient, Kelly Spill, who enrolled in an MSK clinical trial using immunotherapy to treat her rectal cancer. She and the other 17 trial participants all had a complete clinical response from the treatment. Ms. Spill has been cancer-free for nearly three years.

For many, cancer is now serious but treatable. MSK’s Dr. Larry Norton attributes this to improvements in prevention, screening, diagnostics, and treatment. He makes special note of the impact immunotherapies have had on many patient outcomes.

These positive changes make the need for survivorship care even more critical. Learn more about MSK’s survivorship and follow-up care programs.

MSK is a Reason to Love NYC

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Dr. Luis Diaz Jr., far left, and Dr. Andrea Cercek, second from right, with patients from the trial. Photo by Richard DeWitt.

Dr. Luis Diaz Jr., far left, and Dr. Andrea Cercek, second from right, with patients from the trial. Photo by Richard DeWitt.

Reason #37 to love New York in 2022? Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

So says New York Magazine as it celebrates the groundbreaking clinical trial led by Dr. Andrea Cercek and Dr. Luis Diaz Jr. In the small trial, all 14 participants who received six months of immunotherapy for rectal cancer had complete remission without additional treatment. The patients had a specific mismatch repair-deficient tumor mutation, which is thought to occur for 5% to 10% of rectal cancers.

Read more about the trial from MSK’s coverage and the New England Journal of Medicine article.