Interviews

Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, FACP, associate professor, Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the importance of molecular testing in colorectal cancer.

Javier Pinilla-Ibarz, MD, PhD, senior member of the Department of Malignant Hematology at Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the biggest challenge in treating patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Daniel J. George, MD, professor of medicine and surgery at Duke Cancer Institute, discusses his rationale for choosing patients with renal cell carcinoma that should receive adjuvant sunitinib therapy. 

Benjamin P. Levy, MD, clinical director of Medical Oncology at John Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital, discusses the unique adverse events with immunotherapy agents and how physicians can work together to overcome these challenges.

Kerry Rogers, MD, assistant professor at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses a short-term treatment strategy for reducing tumor burden and the risk for tumor lysis syndrome in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

John L. Marshall, MD, chief of the  Division of Hematology/Oncology at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, Otto J. Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancer, discusses the use of chemotherapy in patients with colorectal or other gastrointestinal cancers. He also highlights the importance of understanding each individual patient’s needs before making a treatment decision. 

Keith T. Flaherty, MD, professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, director of Clinical Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses the rationale for combining agents like dabrafenib with trametinib or binimetinib with encorafenib for patients with melanoma.<br /> &nbsp;

David Sallman, MD, assistant member, Department of Malignant Hematology, Moffitt Cancer Center, explains the significance of the initial results from a recent phase 1B/2 trial combining APR-246 and azacitidine (Vidaza) in patients with TP53-mutant myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia.

Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, Chief in the Division of Oncology/Hematology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, discusses strategies for overcoming resistance in lymphoma during the 2018 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference.&nbsp;

Diane Simeone, MD, director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center and associate director of Translational Research at NYU Langone&rsquo;s Perlmutter Cancer Center, discusses the current state of the pancreatic cancer treatment paradigm. She says it is a very exciting time for this field as there is a large body of researchers now involved.

Brad S. Kahl, MD, professor in the department of medicine at Washington School of Medicine at Siteman Cancer Center, discusses the use of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in older patients with mantle cell lymphoma. This agent is currently being investigated in the frontline setting for patients not eligible for stem cell transplant.

Sagar Lonial, MD, professor and chair, Department of Hematology &amp; Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine, chief medical officer, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, discusses the results from 2 large phase III trials presented earlier this year for triplet regimens including pomalidomide in multiple myeloma.

Jed A. Katzel, MD, medical oncologist at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, discusses the findings from a study using a generalized competing event model to look at patients with head and neck cancer.&nbsp;

Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, Yale Cancer Center, discusses the use of combination immunotherapy for the treatment of lung cancer.&nbsp;

Susan M. O&#39;Brien, MD, associate director for clinical sciences at UC Irvine Health, shares her insights on why CAR T cells are not as successful in chronic lymphocytic leukemia as compared to lymphoma or acute lymphocytic leukemia. She also discusses what she believes must change in order for this therapy to move up in the treatment landscape for CLL.

Maurie Markman, MD, President of Medicine and Science at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, discusses where he sees the field of ovarian cancer and other gynecologic cancers headed in the future, based on the research shared at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.

David G. Maloney, MD, PhD, medical director of immunotherapy at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and member of Fred Hutchinson Research Center, discusses the clinical trials that are currently investigating chimeric antigen receptor T cells at the Bezos Family Immunotherapy Clinic at Fred Hutchinson.

Daniel A. Pollyea, MD, MS, associate professor of medicine&nbsp;and clinical director of Leukemia Services at the University of Colorado&nbsp;School of Medicine, discusses some of the recent advancements in acute myeloid leukemia. Pollyea says researchers have been able to create more personalized treatments for many patients by doing targeted sequencing of patient samples.

Jacqueline D. Barrientos, MD, MS, CLL Research and Treatment Program at Northwell Health Systems, advises community oncologists on how to treat patients with mantle cell lymphoma. She emphasizes the importance of seeking a second opinion for patients that are not responding to treatment.&nbsp;

Paolo A. Ascierto, MD, National Tumour Institute &ldquo;Fondazione G. Pascale,&rdquo; Unit of Melanoma in Naples, Italy, discusses the promising results for nivolumab (Opdivo) in patients with melanoma.&nbsp;

Danielle M. Brander, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and member of the Duke Cancer Institute, discusses a major challenge in the field of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She says the biggest challenge to overcome in the treatment of patients with CLL is navigating areas where research is not yet mature.&nbsp;

Brian I. Rini, MD, professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, discusses the rationale for combining atezolizumab and bevacizumab for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the&nbsp;IMmotion151trial.

Wafik El-Deiry, MD, PhD, FACP, deputy cancer center director, Translational Research Program, co-leader, Molecular Therapeutics Program, professor, Department Hematology/Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, discusses updates in the use of liquid biopsies for multiple tumor types during the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.

Paul G. Richardson, MD, clinical program leader and director of Clinical Research in the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses results from the phase III OPTIMISMM trial comparing treatment regimens for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. This data compares a regimen of pomalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone versus bortezomib and dexamethasone alone.&nbsp;

Ami V. Desai, MD, MSCE, assistant professor of Pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children&rsquo;s Hospital, discusses the current treatment landscape for pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed/refractory solid tumors.

Thierry Andre, MD, professor of medical oncology at the University Pierre et Marie Curie (UMPC) and Head of the Medical Oncology Department in St. Antoine Hospital, Assistance Publique H&amp;ocirc;pitaux in Paris, discusses the introduction of immunotherapy to the treatment landscape of metastatic colorectal cancer.

W. K. Alfred Yung, MD, a professor of Neuro-oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the future of immuno-oncology in the treatment landscape of brain cancer.&nbsp;

Martin Hutchings, MD, PhD, senior consultant in the Department of Hematology at the Copenhagen University Hospital, discusses common implications in treating patients with advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma. Trials rarely perform subgroup analyses, and when they do, it is common for researchers to come across particular biases in the selected subgroups.&nbsp;