Presidential Invited Guest Speaker (March 11) Ezekiel "Zeke" Emanuel, PhD, MD, is Vice Provost for Global Initiatives, Chair, Medical Ethics and Health Policy, at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Emanuel is a former bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health and served as a special advisor to President Barack Obama's Health Care Reform bill. A frequent guest writer for the New York Times, Dr. Emanuel recently wrote an opinion piece on end-of-life issues on Jan. 3. His talk is on March 11. 

American Cancer Society Lecturer Edward Partridge, MD, is the director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Comprehensive Cancer Center. A past president of the American Cancer Society, Dr. Partridge is internationally known as a champion for reducing racial disparities in cancer care, and recently made a presentation on providing adequate high quality care (including preventive care) to populations that frequently do not receive it. He speaks on March 9. 

A recent article in Science Translational Medicine (Jan. 9, 2013) by Kinde and colleagues from Johns Hopkins University has brought attention to using liquid-based Pap smear collection of the cervix to search for potential punitive somatic mutations shed from endometrial and ovarian cancers.

The findings of this study were encouraging in that 100% of endometrial patients (24 of 24) and 41% of ovarian patients (9 of 22) demonstrated DNA mutations. Further, there were no false positives in a group of 14 specimens tested from patients without cancer.

This study received significant consumer media attention, including this New York Times  article, despite the rather exploratory nature of the findings. 

The Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) notes that validation of these data in larger cohorts, with particular attention to patients with other disorders that might mimic a "positive" test, would be necessary prior to the use of this technology in clinical practice.
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Please take five minutes to fill out a brief survey regarding ways the SGO will be able to best serve you through the newly formed Research Institute, a collaborative platform for discovery and innovation. Your time and feedback are greatly appreciated; please complete the Research Institute survey by Monday, Jan. 28, 2013.

January 2013 marks the first anniversary of mySGO, SGO's online community where members can share cases, gain access to leading experts in the field, and join other online discussions with the gynecologic oncology community.

Over the past year mySGO's Virtual Tumor Board has become a huge member benefit. Recent topics have ranged from what to do for a patient who is a candidate for hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) treatment who is at a hospital that doesn't offer it, to individual cases of young gynecologic cancer patients who wish to retain their fertility.

IN THE NEWS 

(Jan. 3, 2013) As reported in this article from National Public Radio and other news outlets, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that about 60 percent of women who've had total hysterectomies are still being tested for cervical cancer, despite not having cervixes anymore.  READ MORE

(Jan. 7, 2013) Science Daily reports that researchers at Yale School of Medicine have identified a key link between stem cell factors that fuel ovarian cancer's growth and patient prognosis. A report of their findings is published in the latest online issue of Cell Cycle. According to Science Daily, this stem cell study paves the way for developing novel targeted ovarian cancer therapies. READ MORE

(Jan. 7, 2013) AmedNews.com reports that the American Medical Association and other medical groups are urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to stop the implementation of the new ICD-10code, citing that the administrative and financial strains of switching to the ICD-10 code set will come at a time when physicians also will be required to participate in several quality and health information technology programs. READ MORE

(Jan. 8, 2013) The latest issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute includes new research by the Yale School of Public Health, which found that higher body mass index and physical inactivity are associated with a more than two-fold increase in risk for mortality among women with endometrial cancer. An article about this study was posted online by HealthCanal.com on Jan. 8, 2013. 

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(Jan. 6, 2013) FoodConsumer.org posted an article about a review study by researchers at the School of Public Health, Shandong University, in Shandong, China, that was published in Gynecologic Oncology. The study found that taking vitamin A supplements or eating vitamin A rich foods-such as sweet potato, carrots, spinach, kale, collard greens and winter squash-may help prevent cervical cancer. READ MORE

(Jan. 9, 2013) HealthDay News reports that primary ovarian cancer incidence is declining in the United States, both among the general population and among breast cancer survivors, according to data analyzed by researchers at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, and published online Jan. 2 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. READ MORE