The research presented by Winship investigators at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2015 Annual Meeting taking place in Chicago May 29 to June 2 will cover several promising new approaches to cancer patients, including immune-based drugs and novel forms of radiation, the use of biomarkers in therapeutic decision-making, and several landmark clinical trials of immediate interest to patients under active care.
More than 20 Winship investigators will present their research. Oral presentations by Winship physicians include two landmark ASCO-featured studies led by Sagar Lonial, MD, on new immune-based drugs for multiple myeloma; an oral presentation by Suresh Ramalingam, MD, on an important new epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor for selected lung cancer patients; and a presentation by H. Jean Khoury, MD, on the long-term outcome for leukemia patients who received a dendritic cell vaccine.
"There's tremendous innovation and creativity among all the speakers and in all the sessions," says Walter J. Curran, Jr., MD, executive director of Winship and a member of the ASCO board of directors. Curran is chairing a panel on innovative approaches to treating patients with locally-advanced lung cancer and will talk about new trials testing proton therapy, including a trial in which Winship is participating.
Curran says one theme to look for at this year's meeting is the use of the immune system against cancer. "There are some major breakthroughs but I expect to hear about new ploys to direct our own immune system against the cancer that threatens our patients," says Curran.
The annual meeting regularly attracts more than 25,000 oncology professionals from around the world and showcases more than 5,000 abstracts. According to ASCO, this year’s meeting will focus on the potential for integrating cancer science and health information technology (HIT) to achieve more rapid improvements in patient care, including an initiative called CancerLinQ™ which aims to harness the vast amounts of patient data from around the world.
View schedule of lead author presentations from Winship members. For a complete list of ASCO abstracts, go to abstracts.asco.org.
Additional videos of Winship faculty previewing presentations at ASCO 2015 Annual Meeting.
