Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Director to Assume New Leadership Role
Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, Director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Benjamin F. Byrd Jr. Professor of Oncology, and Executive Vice President for Research for Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), is stepping down on June 30 from her long-held role as Director of the cancer center to focus on a combined leadership role for VUMC as Chief Scientific and Strategy Officer (CSSO).
In one facet of the CSSO role, Pietenpol, who holds the Brock Family Directorship in Career Development, will lead the organization's scientific, technological, and research strategy and operations. In the other aspect of the role, she will partner with the CEO and other senior officers and leaders to develop, execute, and sustain strategic initiatives of the highest value for VUMC.
"It is exciting to have the opportunity to step into a new leadership role at VUMC and continue to advance our strategic directions and integrate research discoveries into the care of those we serve both within and beyond our ever-growing catchment area and, importantly, make a difference in the lives of people," Pietenpol stated. "I look forward to welcoming a new director to take the lead for the next phase of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center's trajectory and am eager for its bright future."
As CSSO, she will be responsible for developing and sustaining transdisciplinary initiatives, partnerships, and collaborations among VUMC's department chairs, center and institute directors, other members of the medical center's leadership team, Vanderbilt University leaders, and other affiliate partners. She will also represent VUMC nationally through academic medical center service activities and national leadership opportunities.
"Dr. Pietenpol assuming these new responsibilities is a natural progression, allowing full advantage of the depth and breadth of her extensive institutional experience," said Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and CEO of VUMC and Dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "Jennifer's prior leadership involving such a broad range of transdisciplinary initiatives makes her ideally suited for these new roles. I look forward to her partnership as we continue the important work of designing and pursuing VUMC's future."
During the past 15 years under Pietenpol's leadership, VICC has seen a 100 percent increase in its research funding, a greater than 30 percent increase in its analytic-newly diagnosed or first treated-cancer patients, and 160 percent growth in inpatient visits. Shortly after taking the role as VICC's Director and recruiting key faculty, she launched several strategic initiatives advancing personalized cancer medicine, cancer informatics, cancer drug discovery, genome maintenance, and cancer survivorship programs.
Further, she prioritized significant growth of quantitative and cancer population sciences, including expanding its world-class cancer epidemiology program and creating a cancer health outcome and control program. These all remain recognized strengths at VICC, with the cancer center a leading model of clinically integrated tumor genomics and cancer informatics.
Pietenpol's investments in highly qualified deputy and associate directors, program leaders and members, as well as leading technologies and shared resources, led to three successful renewals for VICC from the National Cancer Institute as designated comprehensive status with exceptional merit ratings. In addition, through a partnership with dedicated clinical colleagues, VICC expanded the footprint of the cancer clinic's enterprise to seven off-campus sites in the Central Tennessee region that provide personalized cancer care closer to where patients live.
"Providing patients the most sophisticated and nuanced cancer care is an integral aspect of our health system's offerings. From the outset, Dr. Pietenpol has been a tremendous leader and partner, working to advance and improve an impressive array of clinical treatments and research offerings that have placed VICC firmly on the national stage. I want to express my appreciation to Jennifer for her many contributions that have advanced the lives of our patients, and I look forward to working with her in these new roles," said C. Wright Pinson, MBA, MD, Deputy CEO and Chief Health System Officer.
During her tenure as Director, Pietenpol also advanced VICC through her dedicated service to the National Cancer Program. After becoming VICC's Director in 2008, then President George W. Bush appointed Pietenpol to a 6-year term on the National Cancer Advisory Board. She has provided expertise as a member of the Blue Ribbon Panel, advising former Vice President Joseph Biden's National Cancer Moonshot initiative. She also served on the National Cancer Policy Forum and American Association for Cancer Research board of directors, and she currently serves as a Chief Scientific Advisor for the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
"It has been an extraordinary 15 years, and I am very grateful for remarkable institutional support and to all my exceptional colleagues and the members of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Board of Overseers, chaired by Orrin Ingram II, for supporting my vision and making it a reality," Pietenpol stated.
Raymond N. DuBois, MD, PHD, Appointed Executive Chairman of The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research
The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research announced that Raymond N. (Ray) DuBois, MD, PhD, will join the organization as Executive Chairman of the Board, a new position leading the board of directors, as well as assuming an executive role within the foundation. Ryan Schoenfeld, PhD, will continue to lead day-to-day operations and scientific research programs, remaining in his current roles as interim CEO and Chief Scientific Officer.
Concurrently, The Mark Foundation announced that its founder Alex Knaster has committed to funding an additional $500 million to cutting-edge cancer research.
"As The Mark Foundation enters its fifth year supporting groundbreaking cancer research, this funding commitment, together with Ray DuBois' experience and vision, will be vital in increasing our impact on cancer research and patients' lives," Knaster said. "Ray is an internationally recognized leader in cancer research, and The Mark Foundation has an outstanding record funding world-class research. It's a winning combination."
"I have been tremendously impressed by The Mark Foundation's extraordinary progress funding impactful cancer research around the world in just over 4 years' time," DuBois noted. "I am acutely aware of the need for this funding, which supports innovative projects that may not otherwise move forward. The Mark Foundation is poised to accomplish much more in the coming years with Alex's generosity."
DuBois will assume his role at The Mark Foundation in addition to his current role as Director of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Hollings Cancer Center and Distinguished University Professor at MUSC. He is an internationally renowned expert known for his work elucidating the role of inflammation and inflammatory mediators in the progression of colon cancer and other gastrointestinal malignancies. He has also served as Dean of the MUSC College of Medicine, and previously held leadership positions as Executive Director of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University with a joint clinical appointment at the Mayo Clinic, Provost and Executive Vice President at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
DuBois is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Academy of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Gastroenterology Association, and the Royal College of Physicians (London).
Marilyn Heine, MD, Addressed Hematology & Oncology at National Emergency Medicine Conference
Emergency medicine professionals from all around the world convened for ACEP21. Marilyn Heine, MD, FACEP, FACP, FCPP, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, served as faculty for the conference. She presented three lectures on hematology oncology emergencies.
"Advances in the care of patients who have hematology and oncology emergencies are hot topics," she noted. "These sessions were an opportunity to share cutting-edge information."
Regarding her session, titled How to Discharge VTE Patients Safely, Heine noted, "Some patients who have low-risk venous thromboembolism-pulmonary embolism or deep venous thrombosis-may not require hospitalization. Identifying which of these patients are eligible for outpatient care and how they should be followed are essential to optimal management."
Heine presented additional topics in immune checkpoint inhibitors: Lifesaving, Yet Toxic and Common Cancer Conundrums, and Five "Can't Miss" Oncologic Emergencies. "Immune checkpoint inhibitors are game changers in cancer care and are being used more frequently. Emergency physicians must be aware of their unique toxicities in order to ensure safe, coordinated cancer care. Cancer patients may present to the emergency department with a potentially hazardous condition or the need for effective palliative care. Greater understanding of the diversity of cancer patients in the ED is foundational to the tailored approach these patients require."
Grant Awarded to Enhance the Effectiveness Of Immunotherapy In Gastric Cancer
The DeGregorio Family Foundation with the support of the Price Family Foundation and the Esophageal Cancer Awareness Association has awarded $175,000 to Dawit Kidane-Mulat, PhD, Assistant Professor in the College of Pharmacy at The University of Texas at Austin. He is working to enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy in gastric cancers, which now have a very low success rate in the 5 percent range.
The overarching goal of this study is to harness XRCC1-deficient gastroesophageal cancer cells that will likely enhance the efficacy of immunotherapy response. Kidane-Mulat will examine how defective XRCC1 and targeting DNA damage response contributes to aberrant innate immune cells inflammatory response. He and his lab will pursue how inhibition of ATM activity in XRCC1-deficient/low-expressing gastric cells induces DNA sensor cGAS/STING-mediated aberrant inflammatory response. This work lays the foundation for additional in-depth preclinical studies and for the development of novel therapeutic strategies for stomach cancer.
"The DeGregorio Family Foundation research grant is an outstanding opportunity; I am extremely grateful," Kidane-Mulat noted. "As a result of this award, I will be able to generate a long line of research into understanding the basis of DNA repair/response and immunotherapy treatment in stomach cancer. This grant award will open a new opportunity to propel the field forward and build a solid foundation for future immunotherapy therapeutic strategies in gastric cancer.
In 2020, gastric and esophageal cancers combined to kill over 1.3 million people worldwide-making it the second-leading cause of cancer-related death. Patients continue to face poor prognoses following gastric and esophageal cancer diagnoses due to their chemo-resistant behavior and ability to metastasize.
The DeGregorio Family Foundation, founded in 2006 after a tenth member of the DeGregorio family died of stomach cancer, has raised more than $7 million to fund innovative research focused on curing gastric and esophageal cancers.
"Dr. Kidane-Mulat's grant could be paradigm-changing," stated Lynn DeGregorio, President and Founder, "We're honored to fund deserving research like this that has the potential to significantly improve how we treat gastroesophageal cancers."
Launching Cancer Research to the Space Station on Northrop Grumman CRS-17
An investigation from biotechnology researchers launching to the International Space Station (ISS) on Northrop Grumman's 17th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) aims to better understand the onset and progression of cancer. The project will use 3D cell culture to examine cell signaling pathways involved in tumorigenesis. It will also observe how cancer cells respond to a new cancer therapeutic being developed.
Researchers were awarded a grant for this project through the Technology in Space Prize, funded by Boeing and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc., manager of the ISS National Laboratory, in partnership with the MassChallenge startup accelerator program.
The investigation will use microgravity conditions on the ISS to grow 3D cultures of prostate and breast cancer cells, as well as healthy cells. The research team will characterize cell structure, gene expression, and cell signaling in the 3D cultures of the cancer cells in comparison with healthy cells.
Cells behave differently in microgravity, forming 3D structures that more closely resemble the growth and behavior of cells inside the human body. According to Scott Robinson, PhD, President and Chief Science Officer of MicroQuin, this type of cell growth is difficult to achieve on Earth, even with the help of scaffolding. The stress of microgravity also induces changes in cell signaling, allowing the research team to study signaling pathways in new ways.
"When you send cells into space, in particular cancer cells, the signaling inside the cells changes considerably," Robinson said. "These changes occur quite fast, and we don't really understand exactly what those changes are and what causes them."
When cells mutate uncontrollably, they turn into cancer cells through tumorigenesis. By studying cell signaling within cancer cells and healthy cells, researchers hope to better understand how changes in signaling may lead to cancer development.
"We're really trying to determine what the key pathways are behind cancer-like development, tumorigenesis, and oncogenesis," Robinson said. "We think this study will help us understand that a bit better and, ultimately, we will better understand how the environment of the cancer cell changes."
In their experiment, the research team will examine microgravity-induced changes in the breast and prostate cancer cells compared with each other and compared with healthy cells. The team will also observe how the cancer cells change in response to a unique therapeutic, which targets an integral intracellular protein called TMBIM6. It helps regulate cellular stress, and research indicates that it also plays an essential role in cancer development. "There's not a single cancer that does not rely on this protein in some way," Robinson said.
By conducting this investigation in the stressful microgravity environment, the team hopes to better understand exactly what role TMBIM6 proteins play and how they can be used to develop cancer therapies. Results could help researchers refine cancer therapeutics and develop additional drugs for targeted treatment of breast, prostate, and other cancers
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