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For Release: June 14, 2010
Contact:
Steve Bjerklie, Communications Coordinator, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, at Steven.P.Bjerklie@Dartmouth.edu or 603-653-9056.


Karen Skalla, M.S.N., A.P.R.N., joined 6 colleagues in describing research at cancer conference.

Dartmouth researchers present at national cancer conference

Chicago—Seven researchers from Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) and the Norris Cotton Cancer Center presented their and their teams' work during the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO), which concluded on June 8.

At the gathering of more than 30,000 specialists on the theme "Advancing Quality through Innovation, these Dartmouth presenters shared the following research results:

  • Karen Skalla, M.S.N., A.P.R.N., A.O.C.N., an instructor in medicine: Dartmouth-led study describing the physical, psychosocial, psychological, spiritual, and economic challenges that cancer survivors face;
  • Peter Kaufman, M.D., an associate professor of medicine: Research following patient-reported outcomes in clinical trials for breast-cancer patients;
  • Marc Ernstoff, M.D., a professor of medicine: Investigation of denileuklin difitox's potential as an immunosuppressant for lymphoma patients;
  • Frederick Lansigan, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine: Pilot study of sorafenib examining biomarkers in lymphoma patients;
  • James Rigas, M.D., an associate professor of medicine and medical director of the Comprehensive Thoracic Oncology Program: Results of double-blind studies of ALD518's effectiveness in treating anemia and lean body mass loss in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer;
  • Leslie DeMars, M.D, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and interim director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology: Evaluating the safety and tolerability of intraperitoneal catumaxomab in the consolidation setting for patients with minimal residual ovarian cancer;
  • Virginia Beggs, M.S., B.S.N., N.P., a DMS graduate and instructor of medicine and of community and family medicine: Study on the effects of optimal heart failure regimens on the time course and extent of cardiac recovery from anthracycline-based chemotherapy.

Among Dartmouth-related papers published in conjunction with the ASCO annual meeting, Rigas coauthored a study on the use of quantitative proteomics to evaluate substrates and functional modules of the aurora and polo-like kinases. And Lansigan contributed to a study on the rate of infection and immunosuppression of denileukin difitox in in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

The Norris Cotton Cancer Center combines advanced cancer research at DMS with patient-centered cancer care provided at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock regional locations in Manchester, N.H., Keene, N.H., and St. Johnsbury, Vt., and at 11 partner hospitals throughout New Hampshire and Vermont. It is one of 40 centers nationwide to earn the National Cancer Institute's "Comprehensive Cancer Center" designation. To learn more about Norris Cotton Cancer Center research, programs, and clinical trials, visit www.cancer.dartmouth.edu.

-DMS-

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