Richard I. Fisher, MD, has been appointed President and CEO of Fox Chase Cancer Center after joining Temple Health earlier this year. He will also hold the title of Cancer Center Director and serve as Principal Investigator on the Cancer Center Support Grant from the National Cancer Institute. He will keep his title as Senior Associate Dean for Cancer Programs at Temple University School of Medicine.

Figure. No caption available.

"Dr. Fisher's leadership style combines the steadiness and vision needed for the Cancer Center to thrive and grow even stronger," Lewis F. Gould, Jr., Chair of the Fox Chase Cancer Center Boards of Directors, said in a news release.

RICHARD I. FISHER, MD. RICHARD I. FISHER, MD

Previously, Fisher was Vice President for Strategic and Program Development at the University of Rochester Medical Center and the Samuel E. Durand Professor of Medicine. Prior to that, he was Director of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and Director of Cancer Services for the Strong Health System. Fisher has been Chair of the Lymphoma Committee of the Southwest Oncology Group (1985-2013), Deputy Group Chair of SWOG (since 2005), a member of the National Cancer Institute Lymphoma Steering Committee (since 2009), and Chair of the NCI Specialized Programs of Research Excellence review committee (2010).

Benedick Fraass, PhD, Vice Chair for Research, Professor, and Director of Medical Physics in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Cedars-Sinai's Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, has been awarded the William D. Coolidge Award by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) for his achievements in medical physics, including his work in radiation oncology.

BENEDICK FRAASS, PHD. BENEDICK FRAASS, PHD

He specializes in radiation oncology, imaging-based treatment planning, computer-controlled treatment delivery, and clinical studies of radiation oncology treatment for cancer. In the 1980s, his work was instrumental in the creation of 3D treatment planning, and in the early 1990s, he worked on developing 3D conformal therapy, leading the team that implemented the first routine clinical use of 3D treatment planning. Fraass and colleagues also created the first radiation oncology clinical dose-escalation trials using conformal therapy in 1987, as well as doing work in computer-controlled treatment delivery, and he continues his efforts to improve patient safety.

He has been principal investigator on many National Cancer Institute grants; he serves as co-chair of the AAPM Research Committee, the National Oncology Registry, the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise-Radiation Oncology effort, and the Radiation Oncology Safety Stakeholders Initiative. And in 2011, he was named Professor Emeritus of the University of Michigan, where he had been Director of the Radiation Oncology Physics Division since 1984.

Kathleen M. Schmeler, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, has been named the Norman F. Gant/American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology Fellow by the Institute of Medicine. She will continue her academic post at MD Anderson, while also engaging over the next two years in the IOM's health and science policy work, as well as participating in additional research in her field. She will receive a research stipend of $25,000.

KATHLEEN M. SCHMELER, MD. KATHLEEN M. SCHMELER, MD

The American Society of Clinical Oncology has named its new class of Fellows (FASCO) to recognize the Society members' volunteer service, dedication, and commitment to the organization:

* Jonathan S. Berek, MD, MMS, FASCO, the Laurie Kraus Lacob Professor and Director of the Stanford Women's Cancer Center at the Stanford Cancer Institute, Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine, and Editor-in-Chief of ASCO Connection;

* Dean E. Brenner, MD, FASCO, the Kutsche Memorial Professor of Internal Medicine and Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center;

* Gary I. Cohen, MD, FASCO, Medical Director of the Sandra & Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, the GBMC Director of the Johns Hopkins Clinical Research Network, Assistant Professor in the Department of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University, and Chair of the Community Scientific Committee and the Community Co-Chair of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Melanoma Committee;

* Leon H. Dragon, MD, FACP, FASCO, medical oncologist at NorthShore Kellogg Cancer Center, Senior Clinician Educator at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and Medical Director for the Highland Park Kellogg Cancer Center;

* Lee M. Ellis, MD, FASCO, Professor of Surgery and Cancer Biology and the William C. Liedtke, Jr., Chair in Cancer Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and consultant to the National Cancer Institute;

* Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FASCO, Professor of Internal Medicine, the Stuart B. Padnos Professor in Breast Cancer, and the Clinical Director of the Breast Oncology Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center;

* Michael P. Kostky, MD, FACP, FASCO, Medical Director, Director of Graduate Medical Education, and Director of the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program all at the Scripps Cancer Center at Scripps Clinic and Scripps Green Hospital;

* Neal J. Meropol, MD, FASCO, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at University Hospitals Case Medical Center & Case Western Reserve University, Associate Director for Clinical Research at Case Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Associate Director for Clinical Programs and the Lester E. Coleman, Jr., endowed chair in Cancer Research and Therapeutics at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center;

* Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, FASCO, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Adult Survivorship Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Founder and Director of the Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer;

* Julie Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, Neumann M. and Mildred E. Harris Professor and Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center;

* Peter Paul Yu, MD, FASCO, medical oncologist, hematologist, and Director of Cancer Research at Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and current ASCO President-Elect; and

* Robin Zon, MD, FACP, FASCO, Vice President and Senior Partner at Michiana Hematology-Oncology, P.C., Principal Investigator for the Northern Indiana Cancer Research Consortium, and Immediate Past Vice-chair of the Hoosier Oncology Group.

Michael A. Carducci, MD, has been named Associate Director for Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. In the new role he will oversee the Clinical Research Office and the Clinical Research Cores.

MICHAEL A. CARDUCCI, MD. MICHAEL A. CARDUCCI, MD

He most recently served as Co-leader of the Prostate Cancer Program. In previous roles, he has also directed a laboratory program as well as clinical trials targeted at introducing small molecules into cancer treatment. He also currently serves as the AEGON Professor in Prostate Cancer Research and Regional Research Director for the National Capital Region.

UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and the David Geffen School of Medicine Department of Urology have received renewed funding from the National Cancer Institute as being designated a Specialized Program of Research Excellence site in prostate cancer for a third cycle-a five-year, $11.6 million grant. The program is led by principal investigator Robert Reiter, MD, MBA, the Bing Professor of Urologic Research and JCCC member.

"Over the past 10 years, the UCLA prostate SPORE has had some great successes, such as the development of the drug enzalutamide by Drs. Charles Sawyers and Michael Jung in our first cycle; the identification of prostate stem cells by Dr. Owen Witte and colleagues; and the discovery and development of antibodies against the PSCA [prostate stem cell antigen] gene that have gone from discovery through to clinical trials," Reiter said in a news release. "Other highlights include Dr. Hong Wu's work on the PTEN tumor suppressor gene and the work of Dr. Bill Aronson and colleagues demonstrating that dietary changes can affect the growth rate of prostate tumors."

ROBERT REITER, MD, MBA. ROBERT REITER, MD, MBA

The renewed grant will focus on:

* translational research to investigate what causes prostate cancer to spread and become castration resistant;

* how to target cancer stem cells and signaling pathways;

* evaluating effects and mechanisms of dietary change for prostate cancer prevention;

* providing organizational infrastructure and novel technologies to support the SPORE objectives; and

* developing new research areas and careers of new researchers to advance translational research.

A team of researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has received a $4.4-million grant from the National Cancer Institute over the next four years to study ways to use high-throughput technology and emerging public data resources to help identify possible immune targets to develop new ways to control cancer. The team will be led by Martin McIntosh, PhD, head of the Computational Biology Program.

The project includes a cross-disciplinary group of researchers, who also include co-principal investigator Edus "Hootie" Warren, MD, PhD, and co-investigator Stan Riddell, MD, both immunologists in the Clinical Research Division; David Koelle, MD, Professor in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington; and David Morris, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry at UW.

MARTIN MCINTOSH, PHD. MARTIN MCINTOSH, PHD

A team of researchers at The University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio has been awarded a $1-million Susan G. Komen Foundation grant for their research investigating novel ways to treat triple-negative breast cancers. Pothana Saikumar, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology, and Tyler Curiel, MD, MPH, Professor and cancer immunologist, both in the School of Medicine at the Health Science Center, will lead the team that will investigate the role of the TMEPAI protein and the presence of TGF-beta in these tumors.

"Our research points to TMEPAI as the switch that turns TGF-beta from a tumor suppressor to a tumor promoter," Saikumar said in a news release. "Now we are addressing the question: What is the mechanism by which this protein allows cancer cells to avoid immune surveillance?"

POTHANA SAIKUMAR, PHD. POTHANA SAIKUMAR, PHD

TYLER CURIEL, MD, MPH. TYLER CURIEL, MD, MPH

John Crispino, PhD, the Robert I. Lurie, MD, and Lora S. Lurie Professor of Medicine at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, and Shai Izraeli, MD, Professor of Pediatrics at the Sacklar Medical School of Tel Aviv University and Head of Functional Genomics and Childhood Leukemia Research at the Sheba Cancer Research Center in Israel, have received the Max Cure/Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation Grant. The researchers' work focuses on finding treatments for pediatric acute megakaryocytic leukemia by further investigating the role of two proteins in AMKL.

JOHN CRISPINO, PHD. JOHN CRISPINO, PHD

The Center for Drug Development and Clinical Trials at Roswell Park Cancer Institute has launched a new collaborative training program with Eli Lilly and Company to increase the number of minority investigators in clinical research. The partnership will include a three-day clinical research workshop (to be held annually over the next three years), "Reducing Cancer Disparities Through the Training of a Diverse Workforce," which will begin next spring and be open to minority physicians nationwide.

SHAI IZRAELI, MD. SHAI IZRAELI, MD

"Providing patients with access to new and innovative therapies is one of the most crucial issues in oncology," the workshop director, Alex A. Adjei, MD, PhD, FACP, Senior Vice President for Clinical Research and Director of the Center for Drug Development at Roswell Park, said in a news release. "But we can't provide that access fairly and uniformly unless we make sure investigators are informed about existing clinical trials and trained in how to run their own research studies."

As Lilly Oncology's Senior Medical Director and Global Leader of Diversity in Clinical Research, Coleman Obasaju, MD, PhD, said via email, Adjei approached Lilly with the idea to partner on the new program: "As part of our strategy to improve health outcomes for individual patients, Lilly has focused for several years on increasing enrollment of minorities in clinical trials. We've learned a lot from advisory boards of minority physicians, from our work with leading health care organizations, and from our clinical trial work at over 360 diverse sites. We want to achieve the objectives of the workshop, which could lead to a reduction in cancer health disparities."

ALEX A. ADJEI, MD, PHD, FACP. ALEX A. ADJEI, MD, PHD, FACP

Enrollment for the 2014 workshop will begin this fall, with details about the application process to be posted on both the RPCI and Lilly websites.

Awards for OT App and Survivorship Series!

We are proud to announce that OT was recognized with two APEX Awards for Publication Excellence in the latest competition:

* The OT iPad won in the Electronic Media, Electronic Publications category-specifically for the 11/10/12 and 1/25/13 issues, which included animated covers: The first related to an article about controlling spiraling cancer costs, with a cover featuring floating dollar bills that rapidly gain in number and spin in a continuing vortex. The issue overall also included two podcasts and numerous hyperlinks throughout to relevant journal studies, etc. The 1/25/13 issue featured highlights from the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, with a cover animation showing a close-up of red blood cells moving quickly through the blood stream. The app can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/OT-iPadApp or by searching for "Oncology Times" in the App Store.

Figure. No caption available.

* Our ongoing series of articles on the "Cancer Survivorship Gap," written byOT Assistant Editor Sarah DiGiulio, won in the Writing Series category. The articles cover the shortfalls of care of survivors and the search for solutions to closing the gap. The four articles published to date can be found in this Collection on the OT website: http://bit.ly/OT-SurvivorshipSeries-SarahDiGiulio

APEX notes that approximately 2,400 entries were submitted this year, its 25th Annual Competition for Communications Professionals, with publication awards given in various categories based on excellence in editorial content, graphic design, and the ability to achieve overall communications excellence.

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