I just don’t know where the time flies.
This past Thursday I participated in two really interesting meetings. As I have mentioned previously, we have been discussing a formal relationship with Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC), with an initial emphasis on a HUMC-based bone marrow transplantation program based at Georgetown University Hospital. The purpose of the morning-long meeting was to discuss opportunities for more broadly based cancer center interactions. We discussed how to expand existing clinical trials, how to build new collaborative clinical trials and how to address regulatory and protocol management issues.
We were fortunate that our incoming deputy director, Mike Atkins, was able to fly in for the meeting, and we all benefited from his deep understanding of network-related clinical trial relationships. All in all, it was a very productive meeting. Mike Pishvaiain made a brief appearance, but was simultaneously engaged in a very well-received “Doctors Speak Out” panel discussion with John Marshall and Bruce Luxon on gastrointestinal cancers.
Later that day, I concluded a truncated clinic and traveled up to NCI for a meeting of a small group of extramural immunologists with Harold Varmus and a few other NCI senior leaders to discuss ways to take advantage of recent major clinical advances in cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Varmus was deeply engaged and encouraging. I did make the point that the remarkable results with ipilumumab (anti-CTLA4 Ig) and PD1 antibodies in diverse cancers make it clear that our field will be judged for how effectively these exciting results can be incorporated into clinical care and utilized as platforms for exciting new combination treatment strategies. We are fortunate that Mike Atkins has been at the forefront of developing these agents, and we can expect to make important contributions in the future.
The work highlight on Friday clearly was the ACS Young Investigator Symposium, which featured talks by John Deeken, Roxanne Jensen, Lixin Mi, Ayesha Shajahan and Huei-Ting Tsai. The symposium clearly was indicative of the depth and quality of our emerging researchers. Congratulations to all speakers and participants, and thanks to all who have mentored these outstanding young scientists!
On Friday night Harriet and I attended the annual Prevent Cancer Foundation Gala at the National Building Museum. The Foundation has generously supported Georgetown Lombardi research for many years. We were joined by colleagues Marc Schwartz, Kate Taylor, Ken Tercyak and his wife, and Joe Teague and Carol Pribulka. We ran into one of our next door neighbors, and also into Sandy Swain and her husband, Steve Jones.
The evening whizzed by. Saturday was quite busy too, as it started with a breakfast meeting with Andy Pecora from HUMC to debrief the Thursday meeting and review his Friday meetings with key GUH and NCI folks who are involved in discussions to establish a joint bone marrow transplant program here at Georgetown. Then I had to go to a tailor to have a lot of my clothing altered; the combination of reduced caloric intake and increased exercise has led to gratifying results, but has wreaked havoc with my wardrobe. While this was happening our son David called to tell me his parked car had been nearly crushed by a hit-and-run driver sometime in the middle of the night. I went over to his place to assess the damages, and to say goodbye to his vehicle as it was being towed away to its final resting place. Somehow, this is going to cost me money …
The day took a better turn when we were visited by our daughter and grandson, Isaac. Isaac now speaks, runs around and tries to whack golf balls around – more proof that he has a promising future as a golfer!
On Sunday I attended a MedStar Health Research Institute Retreat in Stevensville, MD; it is very interesting to view the world of research from the perspective of a large health system. It is equally interesting to know how much interest, resource and effort is being placed into cancer research by MedStar.
After getting home and having a bite to eat, I then set about the task of vetting the more than 40 applications for cancer center-related developmental funding. My task was to assign reviewers for the many proposals. Given the high quality of the applications, I expect this to be highly competitive, and look forward to the formal review process that will occur over the next few weeks.
All this, plus we lost an hour of sleep due to Daylight Savings Time. I think it is time to get some rest.