CANCER RESEARCH ACROSS MOUNT SINAI
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An initiative of
The Tisch Cancer Institute
,
Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology
,
Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences
, the retreat was designed to learn about cancer research across Mount Sinai in order to form collaborations organically and develop new initiatives that build on existing strengths. The primary focus was on opportunities for cancer precision medicine and the means to discover and deliver breakthrough cancer treatments as quickly as possible. Presentations were organized under six sessions: genetics, cancer immunology and immunotherapy, data analysis, novel technologies, functional screens/model systems, and clinical translation.
Dr. Margolin—Professor and Chair of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics & Multiscale Biology, and Senior Associate Dean for Precision Medicine—outlined some of the unique strengths and tools that enable Mount Sinai to take the lead in advancing precision medicine:
- Massive, diverse datasets and biospecimens to fuel discoveries
- Analytic expertise to harness big data
- Advanced technologies to profile tumors and test therapies
- Disease experts to define key questions
- Integrated health system and agile culture to align efforts to bring benefits to patients faster
Maximizing these strengths within a collaborative framework that emphasizes core values—simplify, focus, share, synergize, contribute, deliver—will promote rapid development of precision medicine treatments that deliver the best outcomes for patients.
“If we integrate our strengths in data analysis, technology development, and cancer biology, we will lead the world in predicting, testing, and translating lifesaving therapies faster than has ever been possible
,”
said Dr. Margolin. “The retreat was filled with amazing energy from everyone in the audience and the nearly 40 people who presented their groundbreaking work, and I’m excited to be able to work with so many great scientists to advance a shared vision and benefit cancer patients.” (See Dr. Margolin's illustration below.)
As an outcome of the retreat, Dr. Parsons, Dr. Margolin, and
Dennis S. Charney, MD
, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs for the Mount Sinai Health System
, have started working on programs to engage investigators in the Tisch and Icahn institutes to advance key areas related to therapeutic discovery, functional genomics, data platforms, and educational programs.
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Cancer Precision Medicine
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on personalized therapy for multiple myeloma
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CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR GRADUATES
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Hematology and Medical Oncology
- Kenneth Angelino: Staff Physician, Mount Sinai Health System, South Nassau (Hematology/Oncology)
- Bo Barley: Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt University, Nashville (Multiple Myeloma)
- Aaron Etra: Assistant Professor, The Mount Sinai Hospital (Bone Marrow Transplant)
- Anuja Kriplani: Assistant Attending, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, West Harrison/Bergen Network (Head & Neck Cancer)
- Chrystal Landry: Assistant Professor, Northwell Health (Breast Cancer)
- Le Min Lee: Staff Physician, Billings Clinic, Billings, Montana (Breast Cancer)
- Rahul Polineni: Staff Physician, Kern Medical, Bakersfield, California (Hematology/Oncology)
- Parth Rao: Assistant Professor, Geisinger Medical Center, Scranton (Lymphoma)
- Aditya Shreenivas: Assistant Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin (GI Oncology)
- Jason Steinberg: Assistant Professor, Mount Sinai Brooklyn (Hematology/Oncology)
Research Fellow Graduate
- Thomas Marron: Assistant Professor, The Mount Sinai Hospital (Thoracic Oncology, Immunotherapy)
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Cancer Biology Program
Annie Yu, PhD
, under the mentorship of
Arvin Dar, PhD
,
found a compelling set of inhibitors for mitogen-activated protein kinases p38 delta and gamma and a strong correlation in The Cancer Genome Atlas data for p38 delta/gamma expression levels that seem to correlate with overall survival of hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Dr. Yu’s research, funded in part through a National Institutes of Health F31 fellowship, has been submitted for publication.
Jennifer Diaz, PhD
, under the mentorship of
Ross L. Cagan, PhD
,
combined computational genomics with Drosophila genetics to identify new cancer drivers and explore new therapeutics for triple-negative breast cancer. Dr. Diaz, who is enrolled in the
MD/PhD Program
at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, expects to complete her MD in 2020. (The MD/PhD Program is a National Institute’s of Health-funded Medical Scientist Training Program).
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THE TISCH CANCER INSTITUTE SCHOLARS
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Pictured, left to right: Dr. Ramon Parsons, Dr. James Ferrara, Dr. Jenny Lin, Dr. Keith Sigel, Kaitlin Ben-David, Nikhil Shampanant, Rhaisili Rosario, Keon, Mahmoudi, Dr. Janice Gabrilove, and Dr. Hadjipanayis
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Inaugural Cancer Research Fellowships for Medical Students
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Three medical students at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have been awarded summer research stipends through the newly launched
Tisch Cancer Institute Medical Student Research Fellowship
program. The fellowships are earmarked for medical students completing their first year who have not yet had extensive research experience and whose research, under the tutelage of a faculty mentor, will ideally lead to a scholarly research year between the students’ third and fourth years. The inaugural awardees and their mentors are:
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NEW IMMUNOTHERAPY FELLOWSHIP
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A New First at Mount Sinai: Immunotherapy Fellowship
Under the leadership of
Miriam Merad, MD, PhD
, Mount Sinai’s
Precision Immunology Institute
has created the first cross-disciplinary immunotherapy fellowship in the country to train the next generation of clinical leaders in immune-modulation. While the field of immunotherapy has developed rapidly in recent years, clinical fellows are often not well prepared to use immunomodulatory agents to treat patients. This new fellowship program, beginning July 2018, will fill in that gap by providing advanced training for post-residency clinical fellows in dermatology, gastroenterology and oncology, and giving them an opportunity to learn about the immune system, immune regulatory pathways, and novel immunotherapy/immunomodulatory agents with immunology graduate students, and to write and participate in clinical trials with immunotherapy or immunomodulatory agents.
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2018 Distinguished Mentor Award
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Dr. Friedman is the Fishberg Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pharmacologic Sciences, Chief of the Division of Liver Diseases, and Dean for Therapeutic Discovery.
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Multiple Myeloma Award
Donna R. Edwards, PhD, MPH
, postdoctoral fellow with the Multiple Myeloma Program, was recently named one of five young cancer researchers to
receive grant funding from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) through their
The program supports the next generation of investigators who are at the forefront of research in myeloma biology and patient response/resistance to treatment in order to advance precision medicine treatment approaches. Dr. Edwards is working with
Samir Parekh, MD
, on “Patient-specific mutation-derived tumor neo-antigens as targets for cancer immunotherapy in smoldering multiple myeloma.”
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Pershing Square
Sohn Prize
Dr. Greenbaum’s research will use a new computational approach to modeling tumor-immune recognition to integrate information about the tumor and its environment into improved predictions of response to immunotherapy. Dr. Greenbaum is being funded in partnership with
The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research
,
which rewards cutting-edge, innovative ideas that transform patient care and answer complex questions about cancer biology.
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Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Award
Camelia Iancu-Rubin, PhD
,
Associate Professor of Medicine ( Hematology and Medical Oncology), and Scientific Director of the Hematological Malignancies Tissue Bank, has been awarded a
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) Translational Research Program
grant for “Immune Targeting of Mutated Calreticulin in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms.” Through a multi-investigator collaboration, Dr. Iancu-Rubin, co-Principal Investigator
Nina Bhardwaj, MD, PhD
,
and co-Investigator
John O. Mascarenhas, MD
,
will develop a vaccine, to be used alone and in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors, to evaluate its efficacy in eliminating myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) hematopoietic cells. Findings will inform the design of a clinical trial to test this new therapeutic approach for the treatment of patients with MPN who harbor calreticulin mutations. This research was initiated three years ago via the
MPN Research Consortium,
led by
Ronald Hoffman, MD
,
and was initially funded by the
MPN Research Foundation
.
The LLS Translational Research Program fosters collaboration between basic and clinical scientists with the intent of enhancing the transfer of basic research findings to clinical usefulness. Of particular interest to the LLS are proposals of novel approaches to the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of hematological malignancies and related pre-malignant conditions that are based on molecular, cellular or integrated systems findings.
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National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Jordi Ochando, PhD
, Assistant Professor of Oncological Sciences, Medicine (Nephrology), and Pathology, has been awarded an R01 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, entitled “Myeloid Specific Targeted Nanoimmunotherapy for Organ Transplant Acceptance.” Dr. Ochando’s laboratory recently discovered a novel pathway that contributes to allograft rejection, which is mediated by epigenetic reprograming of macrophages. This macrophage functional state has been defined as “trained immunity”. To prevent the detrimental effects of “trained” macrophages, the Ochando laboratory developed a novel targeted therapeutic delivery approach in which drug-loaded nanobiologics that specifically target macrophages in vivo induce immune tolerance. While Dr. Ochando will investigate a revolutionary nanoimmunotherapy that prevents “trained immunity” in the context of organ transplantation, his laboratory also proposes to exploit this novel functional state of macrophages and promote trained immunity to prevent cancer progression.
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TCI LEADERSHIP TRANSITIONS
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The Tisch Cancer Institute’s
Protocol Review and Monitoring System
(PRMS) provides internal oversight of the scientific aspects of all cancer-related clinical research studies across the Mount Sinai Health System. The important work of the PRMS helps ensure safety for patients enrolled in clinical trials and scientific progress, while complying with requirements for NCI designated cancer centers.
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Myron E. Schwartz, MD
, Henry Kaufmann Professor of Surgery and Director of Liver Surgery, will continue as Chair of the PRMC through completion of his current term, which ends in June, 2019.
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James L.Ferrara, MD
, Ward-Coleman Professor of Cancer Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics, Oncological Sciences, and Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology) will step down as Co-Chair at the completion of his three-year term on June 30, 2018. During his tenure, Dr. Ferrara worked to accelerate and standardize the review process. TCI is grateful for the effort, experience, and enthusiasm that he brought to this role.
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Cardinale Smith, MD, PhD
, has been named Co-Chair, effective July 1, 2018. Dr. Smith is Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology) and Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, and she serves as Director of Quality for Cancer Services across the Mount Sinai Health System. Dr. Smith’s clinical research interests focus on doctor-patient communication, evaluating treatment disparities in cancer care, evaluating determinants of cancer patients’ quality of care, and characterizing barriers to optimal cancer and palliative care and developing approaches to eliminating those barriers among racial and ethnic minorities.
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Brett A. Miles, DDS, MD,
has been named the Co-Chair Elect, effective July 1, 2018. He will serve as Co-Chair Elect for one year before formally assuming the role of Co-Chair in July 2019, when Dr. Schwartz completes his term. Dr. Miles is Associate Professor of Otolaryngology and Co-Chief of the Division of Head and Neck Surgery for the Mount Sinai Health System. He is Director of Mount Sinai’s Head and Neck Oncology-Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship Program. Dr. Miles is also Principal Investigator of the Mount Sinai Robotic Surgery Trial in HPV-related head and neck cancer, as well as several other clinical trials for head and neck oncology and reconstructive surgery.
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Clinical Trial Enrollment Update:
In calendar year 2017, 175 therapeutic clinical trials were open to patient enrollment and 400 patients
were enrolled.
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JAMES HOLLAND CELEBRATION OF LIFE
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Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), American Association of Cancer Research, Ramon Parsons, MD, PhD, The Tisch Cancer Institute/Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai,
Olufunmilayo Olpade, MD, FACP, The University of Chicago Medicine
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Stuart A. Aaronson, MD, The Tisch Cancer Institute/Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Barry S. Coller, MD, The Rockefeller Institute
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On May 16, The Tisch Cancer Institute hosted a tribute in memory of James F. Holland, MD, FASCO. Dr. Holland established the Department of Neoplastic Diseases at Mount Sinai in 1973. Over the years, he also served as Chief of Medical Oncology and Director of the Derald H. Ruttenberg Cancer Center. Dr. Holland was best known for pioneering combination chemotherapies for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a breakthrough that transformed the disease from incurable to curable.
Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of Cancer Research, referred to Dr. Holland as an “iconic trailblazing figure in oncology.” Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, MD, FACP, Director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics at The University of Chicago Medicine, shared that Dr. Holland believed everyone with cancer should have access to outstanding cancer doctors and clinical trials. Barry Coller, MD, Vice President for Medical Affairs at The Rockefeller University, said Dr. Holland “brought rays of hope to his patients.”
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Frontiers in Stem Cell Biology: A symposium in memory and celebration
June 14, 9 am -5:30 pm
The Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine 2
nd
Floor, Davis Auditorium
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Biomarkers and Screening of Lung Cancer: Achievements, Promises and Challenges
A Cancer Prevention and Control presentation
June 14, 3 pm
The Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine
2
nd
Floor, Seminar Room A
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Sentinal Lymph Node Biopsy for Melanoma: What Have We Learned
in 25 Years?
June 12, 5 – 6 pm
The Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine
2
nd
Floor, Seminar Room A
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JUNE IS CANCER SURVIVORSHIP MONTH
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Upcoming Event on June 14:
Survivorship Information Table
Derald H. Ruttenberg Treatment Center, Third Floor, 9 am – 3 pm
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MOUNT SINAI CANCER IN THE NEWS
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Do you have news for the next issue of
TCI Connections
?
Remember to share
breaking news
and
high impact news
that might be appropriate for media coverage with Marlene Naanes in the Press Office. This may include pending FDA drug/device approvals, studies/trial results being published in high-impact journals, and patient stories. The more lead time you can give Marlene, the better—ideally, four weeks or when a paper is accepted by the journal. Embargoes will always be honored and news will only be released with your approval. Please also remember to send ASCO abstracts when they are approved.
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Ramon Parsons, MD, PhD, TCI Director
Co-editors: Janet Aronson and Rhaisili Rosario
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