October 2024

The Center of Excellence for Gynecologic Cancer at The Tisch Cancer Institute, launched in September 2024. This new center of excellence provides comprehensive services, including advanced gynecologic cancer screening and diagnosis, the latest treatments, novel therapies via clinical trials, and supportive care.

The center is led by Co-Directors Stephanie V. Blank, MD, and Dmitriy Zamarin, MD, PhD. It is The Tisch Cancer Institute’s 11th cancer center of excellence.

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James Oh Park, MD, joined Mount Sinai this past summer as Chief of Surgical Oncology for the Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Park is a highly distinguished hepato-pancreato-biliary surgical oncologist specializing in minimally invasive procedures for the liver, pancreas, and upper gastrointestinal tract. He conducts research on cutting-edge applications of nanotechnology for targeted imaging and radioimmunotherapy of primary liver cancer. Dr. Park received his MD from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, He completed residency training at the University of Chicago Medical Center and a fellowship in Surgical Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Park was most recently at the University of Washington in Seattle.

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Tristen S. Park, MD, a breast surgical oncologist, has joined Mount Sinai as Associate Professor of Surgery. She treats patients at The Blavatnik Family Chelsea Medical Center and The Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Park earned her MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed a residency in General Surgery at Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, a research fellowship in Surgical Oncology and Immunotherapy at the National Cancer Institute, and a fellowship in Breast Surgical Oncology at Duke University Medical Center. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Park was a breast surgical oncologist for six years at the Yale School of Medicine. While at Yale, she was awarded a National Institutes of Health Paul Calabresi K Award for her work in exploring the role of immunotherapy in early-stage breast cancers, particularly triple-negative subtypes. Also at Yale, Dr. Park developed and led the Yale Global Breast Surgery Exchange Program. At Mount Sinai, Dr. Park leads the Global Breast Surgery Program which will bring international surgeons to Mount Sinai and enable American surgeons to travel abroad for a global breast oncology immersive experience.

Emily Atkinson, MD, has joined Mount Sinai as Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology) and sees patients with cancers and hematologic disorders at Mount Sinai Queens. Dr. Atkinson has a particular interest in gastrointestinal and breast malignancies, as well as medical education. Dr. Atkinson earned her MD from Tufts University School of Medicine. She completed residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at NYU Langone Health, serving as Chief Fellow at NYU Long Island. Dr. Atkinson is fluent in Spanish.

Gurbakhash Kaur, MD, has joined Mount Sinai as Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology) with a focus on multiple myeloma. In addition to seeing patients at the Ruttenberg Treatment Center and The Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Kaur will serve as Clinical Director of Multiple Myeloma at Valley Hospital in Paramus, NJ. In this role, she will work with Valley Hospital leadership to develop a multiple myeloma program and advance cellular therapy, including CAR T-cell therapy. Dr. Kaur earned her MD from Drexel University College of Medicine. She did a residency in Internal Medicine at Tufts Medical Center and a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Kaur was most recently on the faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where she served as Co-Director of the Amyloidosis Program.

Alison Snow, PhD, LCSW, has been appointed as Senior Director of Oncology Social Work and Cancer Supportive Services, Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center, for the Mount Sinai Health System. In this inaugural role, she will oversee the provision of comprehensive social work and integrative services to oncology patients, their families, and caregivers across the Health System in both ambulatory and inpatient settings. Dr. Snow will lead the development and implementation of innovative programs and initiatives to address the diverse psychosocial needs of oncology patients and their families with a focus on patient-centered support services. With the creation of this role, oncology social work now reports into the oncology service line, creating alignment across all Health System sites.

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Stephanie Blank, MD, was appointed to the NCI Cancer Prevention Steering Committee, which addresses the design, prioritization, and evaluation of concepts for clinical trials to prevent cancer.

Deborah Doroshow, MD, PhD, received an Early Career Cancer Clinical Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute. The award provides two years of support for Dr. Doroshow’s work conducting clinical trials and her collaboration with colleagues in the National Clinical Trials Network.  

Elena Ezhkova, PhD, received a 2024 Melanoma Research Foundation Established Investigator Award for “UV-Induced Epigenetic Changes in the Epidermis in Promoting Melanoma.” This award is given to proven researchers to continue research on emerging challenges in melanoma and generate data for larger competitive grants.

New K12 Scholars

Daniel Nathan, MD, Instructor in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, received a K12 Paul Calabresi Career Development Award in Clinical Oncology. He will investigate clinical associations and epigenetic drivers of clonal hematopoiesis in a cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases using longitudinal sequencing and single cell chromatin accessibility analysis. Dr. Nathan’s mentors are Bridget Marcellino, MD, PhD; Ronald Hoffman, MD; John Mascarenhas, MD; and Louis Cohen, MD. He will also collaborate with Franco Izzo, PhD.

Stephanie Tuminello, PhD, MPH, Instructor in the Department for Thoracic Surgery and faculty member of the Institute for Translational Epidemiology, is also a recipient of a K12 Paul Calabresi Career Development Award in Clinical Oncology. She will investigate the impact of immune genetic predisposition on cancer risk in a diverse, real-world patient cohort from the BioMe Biobank. Her hypothesis is that heterozygosity at HLA loci will be associated with decreased cancer risk given the importance of these genes in cancer immune response, but that this genetic effect will vary by age and genetic ancestry. She will also leverage admixture mapping among African American and Hispanic patients to identify local ancestry and cancer risk associations. Dr. Tuminello’s mentors are Emanuela Taioli, MD, PhD; Robert Samstein, MD, PhD; and Kuan-Lin Huang, PhD.

The Bioinformatics for Next Generation Sequencing (BiNGS) Core will offer its first

12-week course designed to teach the analysis and interpretation of Bulk RNA-seq datasets, starting in January 2025.

Form to complete if interested

For more information, contact Charles Coleman, Senior Bioinformatician.

Biostatistics Reminder

The services of the Tisch Cancer Institute Biostatistics Shared Resource (TCI-BSR), under the leadership of Madhu Mazumdar, PhD, and Marcio Diniz, PhD, Co-Directors, can significantly increase the likelihood of successful grant awards. Researchers are reminded to honor a four-week lead time for grant development. The first step in the process is to submit a request for services via the service request form. Questions can be directed to Erin Moshier, MSc, Managing Director.

Santiago Thibaud, MD, Samir Parekh, MBBS, and colleagues

Multiple myeloma risk and outcomes are associated with pathogenic germline variants in DNA repair genes

Blood Cancer Discovery. 2024 Sep 16. PMID: 39283238

Drs. Thibaud and Parekh and colleagues report on pathogenic germline variants in DNA repair genes and how these inherited genetic variants might impact both the risk of developing multiple myeloma and patient outcomes. The study encompassed 1,681 individuals with active multiple myeloma, excluding patients with precursor conditions. Findings suggest up to 10% of multiple myeloma patients may have an unsuspected cancer predisposition syndrome—this positions multiple myeloma as a potential component of cancer-predisposing conditions associated with known hereditary cancer genes, notably BRCA1/2. It highlights the importance of genetic testing for early detection and familial risk assessment and informs targeted therapeutic strategies.

Subhamoy Chakraborty, PhD; Triparna Sen, PhD, and colleagues

ATR inhibition activates cancer cell cGAS/STING-interferon signaling and promotes antitumor immunity in small-cell lung cancer

Science Advances. 2024 Sept 27. PMID: 39331709

This study demonstrates that inhibition of ataxia telangiectasia and rad3 related inhibition (ATR) induces apoptosis, DNA damage, and cytosolic DNA in multiple preclinical models of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). The study also raises important considerations and potential applications for combined targeting of DNA damage response (DDR) and immune checkpoint (ICB) blockade for patients with SCLC and other malignancies. Findings provide an underlying molecular rationale for combining ATR-targeted agents with ICB and define a mechanism-based therapeutic strategy using DDR inhibition and ICB agents for patients with SCLC. This work raises the possibility that ceralasertib—an ATR kinase inhibitor—may also enhance antitumor responses leading to immunologic memory and lasting antitumor immunity in SCLC.

Press Release

Yu Akahoshi, MD, PhD; John Levine, MD; James Ferrara, MD, and colleagues

Novel MAGIC composite scores using both clinical symptoms and biomarkers best predict treatment outcomes of acute GVHD

Blood. 2024 Aug 29. PMID: 38968143

Drs. Akahoshi, Levine, and Ferrara and colleagues developed a new grading system for acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) that includes a low-risk stratum based on clinical symptoms and determined whether the incorporation of biomarkers would improve the model’s prognostic accuracy. Data was derived from 1863 patients in the Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium (MAGIC). They concluded that the MAGIC composite score, which integrates serum GVHD biomarker scores, more accurately predicts response to therapy and long-term outcomes than systems based on clinical symptoms alone and may help guide clinical decisions and trial design.

Publication in Full

Editorial describes how the new the grading system represents a precision medicine approach that can mitigate racial biases.

Stephanie Tuminello, PhD, MPH; Wiley Turner, BA; Matthew Untalan, MPH; Tara Ivic-Pavlicic, MPH; Raja Flores, MD; Emanuela Taioli, MD, PhD

Racial and socioeconomic disparities in NSCLC molecular diagnostics uptake

Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2024 Sep 10. PMID: 39254646

This study involved a cohort of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked data. Of the 28,511 patients, 39.3% received molecular diagnostic testing. Black patients and those living in areas with greater poverty had statistically significant decreased likelihood of molecular diagnostic testing. Patients who did receive testing had a statistically significant decreased risk of death. Results show that access to molecular diagnostic testing is a critical barrier to receiving novel, lifesaving treatments. Improving rates of testing among all NSCLC patients, but especially among Black patients and those of lower socioeconomic status, could help to close disparities and improve uptake of novel, lifesaving treatments.

Press Release

Alexander Karol, MD; Matthew Galsky, MD, and colleagues

Heterogeneity in methods of estimating kidney function for cancer clinical trial eligibility

JAMA Network Open. 2024 Sep 3. PMID: 39283642

While accurate assessment of kidney function, frequently impaired in patients with cancer, is critical in determining eligibility for clinical trial enrollment, no uniform guidelines currently exist. This study examined the landscape of approaches used to estimate kidney function for cancer clinical trial eligibility. Findings call for a collaborative effort among key stakeholders to establish a standardized approach and foster a comprehensive understanding of the effect of kidney function on adverse events and cancer-related outcomes.

Sofya Pintova, MD; Sacha Gnjatic, PhD, and colleagues

Multiplexed immunohistochemical analysis of the immune microenvironment of biliary tract cancers pre- & post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy: case series



Annals of Translational Medicine. 2024 Aug 1. PMID: 39118963

This study utilized a novel multiplexed immunohistochemical consecutive staining on single slide analysis to characterize immune modulation of the tumor immune microenvironment pre- and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy in biliary tract cancer patients. Findings showed differential effects on various immune markers that correlated with clinical outcomes, and prompt inquiry into the possibility of reevaluating the sequencing of cytotoxic chemotherapy and immunotherapy in the treatment algorithm of biliary tract cancers versus the current conventional approach of concurrent administration of chemoimmunotherapy.

Josep Llovet, MD, PhD, presented at the Presidential Plenary Session of the ESMO Congress 2024, held in September in Barcelona. Of the 34,000 attendees at this annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology, 9,000 attended Dr. Llovet’s presentation, “LEAP-102: A Phase 3 Study of Lenvatinib Plus Pembrolizumab Plus Transarterial Chemoembolization for Intermediate-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma.”



Watch Video

Icahn Genomics Institute Seminar Series

Monday, October 21, 1-2 pm

Davis Auditorium

Simon J. Harrison, MBBS, PhD

Director, Centre of Excellence for Cellular Immunotherapy at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

University of Melbourne

Chair, Myeloma Scientific Advisory Group, Myeloma Australia

Presentation: “T Cell Lymphoma After CART Therapy for Multiple Myeloma”

Dr. Harrison’s paper by the same title has been accepted for publication in the New England Journal of Medicine.

November 6 at Noon and November 14 at 6 pm

Zoom: https://mountsinai.zoom.us/j/97609195623

ID: 976 0919 5623

Phone: 646-941-3860

RSVP by October 21: MemorialServiceRSVP@mountsinai.org, 212-241-2834

Tuesdays at Noon

Davis Auditorium

October 22

Minna Roh-Johnson, PhD, University of Utah

“Visualizing and Manipulating Cancer Cell Behavior”

Hosted by Jose Javier Bravo-Cordero, PhD

October 29

Lynne-Marie Postovit, PhD, Queen’s University

“Molecular and Microenvironmental Drivers of Cellular Plasticity in Cancer”

Hosted by Natasha Kyprianou, PhD

November 5

Eneda Toska, PhD, Johns Hopkins Medicine

"Mechansisms of Epigenetic Regulation and Therapeutic Response in Hormone-driven Cancers"

Hosted by Jose Javier Bravo-Cordero, PhD

November 12

Chiara Falcomata, PhD, Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Mount SInai

“Identifying Mechanisms of Tumor Immune Composition Control in Pancreatic Cancer”

Hosted by Brian Brown, PhD