http://www.regencefoundation.org/award2010.html#_weinstein

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700039363/Huntsman-Cancer-Institute-doctor-wins-palliative-award.html

Sharon Weinstein, M.D.

Director, Pain Medicine and Palliative Care
Huntsman Cancer Institute
Professor, Univ. of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah

Sharon M. Weinstein, M.D., is a "pioneer and visionary" in hospice and palliative medicine, according to her nominators. As a faculty scholar of the Open Society Institute's Project on Death in America, she introduced the phrase "integrated palliative care" in 1995 to express the concept of synthesizing holistic supportive care with treatment throughout the course of a disease.

In 1998, she established the Pain Medicine and Palliative Care Program at the University of Utah's Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI), and serves as its director. She also opened an affiliated program at the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System and consults at Primary Children's Medical Center.

A natural collaborator, Dr. Weinstein works with other major hospital system in her area to establish quality of care standards, impacting the care of 85 percent of all cancer patients in this region. She is committed to research that improves patient care, and her expertise is chronic pain management.

Hers was the first training program in Utah approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in 2009, enabling HCI to sponsor its first physician fellow in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. In 2009 she was named as a Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

She designated the award’s $50,000 grant to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation for the Albert A. Weinstein Memorial Palliative Medicine Training Award, in memory of her father.

Reported by: Barbara Smith

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer. It can quickly spread to from the outside of the body to destroy vital organs on the inside. But a new drug in late stage clinical trial represents new hope for those who are fighting it.

It’s called Ipilimumab and is a biotechnology drug. Dr. Glen Bowen from Huntsman Cancer Institute says it’s really an antibody. “An antibody is like a protein birr. So, you get a birr stuck in your socks, this is like a little protein birr that sticks to the emergency brake on the inflammatory cells. By sticking to that brake, it releases it and allows the inflammatory cells to fight melanoma.”

Dr. Bowen says typically cancer shuts down the immune system. “Cancers are very tricky they have techniques of suppressing an inflammatory response against them to protect themselves, so this antibody basically stimulates the inflammatory cells to get past that, and actually attack the melanoma cells.”

It is a strategy that has been tried before, but this is the first time it has worked. “This is a very exciting development because we know that the hypothesis is correct; that you can get the patients inflammatory cells to actually kill the cancer cells like paid assassins.”

Ipilimumab was found to improve overall survival of patients with stage four melanoma and twenty percent of those patients lived up to four years longer.

The drug is now in the final phase of testing for FDA approval for treatment of final stage skin cancer, but another test is ongoing at Huntsman Cancer Institute where they are studying the drugs impact on stage three melanoma. “We are actually treating people upstream. We are treating people that have it in their lymph nodes, that don’t have it in their internal organs yet.”

There is hope that testing leads to more uses for the drug which is expected to be fast-tracked by the FDA for approval.

There are side effects to the new treatment. The unleashing of the immune system caused it to attack the pituitary gland and the colon in about ten percent of patients. Most of the side effects were reversible but about 2-percent of study participants died.

For more information on participating in clinical trials of this treatment, contact you physician first to see if you are eligible. Huntsman Cancer Institute is looking for participants in stage three cancer trials.

Newswise — The American Association for Cancer Research will honor three visionary leaders for their distinguished public service. John E. Niederhuber, M.D., director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI); Julie M. Fleshman, J.D., M.B.A., president and chief executive officer of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network; and Jon M. Huntsman, founder of the Huntsman Corporation, were chosen by the AACR’s Board of Directors in recognition of their commitment and dedication to the fight against cancer.

“We are so grateful for the contributions of these three extraordinary individuals,” said Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D., (h.c.), chief executive officer of the AACR. “They have all given selflessly of their time and efforts to public service and cancer research.”

The AACR Distinguished Public Service Award will be presented at the AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010 during the opening ceremony on Sunday, April 18, from 8:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

John E. Niederhuber, M.D., director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), oversees the National Cancer Program, fostering innovation in all areas of cancer research including the investigation of new ways to integrate our understanding of the genome with clinical care. A nationally renowned surgeon and researcher, Niederhuber has dedicated his career to the treatment and study of cancer. In addition to his leadership at the helm of the NCI, he has supported the advancement of cancer research as a professor, cancer center director, National Cancer Advisory Board chair, external advisor to the NCI, grant reviewer and laboratory investigator. His laboratory at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is investigating tissue stem cells as the cell-of-origin for cancer as well as the complex relationship between tumor cells and their microenvironment. In addition, Niederhuber holds a clinical appointment on the NIH Clinical Center medical staff. As a surgeon, his emphasis is on gastrointestinal cancer, hepatobiliary (liver, bile duct, and gallbladder) cancer, and breast cancer. He is recognized for his pioneering work in hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy and was the first to demonstrate the feasibility of totally implantable vascular access devices.

When Julie M. Fleshman, J.D., M.B.A., president and chief executive officer of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, lost her father in 1999 to pancreatic cancer, she made a commitment to changing the course of the disease. Fleshman has since led the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network from a startup nonprofit in 1999 to a national organization fighting pancreatic cancer in a comprehensive way through research, patient support, community outreach and advocacy for a cure. The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s advocacy and grassroots efforts have led, in large part, to a 400 percent increase in federal funding for pancreatic research. With an emphasis on expediting scientific and medical breakthroughs that benefit patients, Fleshman has built a cadre of researchers dedicated to the field of pancreatic cancer research and encourages collaboration, information-sharing and innovation. The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network collaborates with the AACR to promote and support outstanding pancreatic cancer research. This year, its funding level is nearly $2.3 million, representing a nearly 90 percent increase from last year.

Jon M. Huntsman, founder and executive chairman of Huntsman Corporation, a global manufacturer and marketer of specialty chemicals, is a philanthropist of the highest order. In 2003, Huntsman received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from CNN’s Larry King, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy placed him second on its 2007 list of largest donors. The AACR is honoring Mr. Huntsman for his generous philanthropic accomplishments in advancing the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. In 1995, Huntsman and his wife, Karen, founded the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah with an initial pledge of $100 million. Since then, he has donated more than $250 million to the institute and donated or raised an additional $800 million. Researchers at this National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center are working to understand cancer from its beginnings and use that knowledge in the creation and improvement of cancer treatments to relieve patient suffering and provide education about cancer risk, prevention and care. To support the work of the cancer center, Huntsman created the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, which is dedicated to funding cancer center initiatives.

Download interviews with cancer researchers and recordings of the teleconferences by subscribing to the AACR Scientific Podcasts via iTunes (http://www.aacr.org/itunes) or an RSS Reader (http://www.aacr.org/rss).

The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, the AACR is the world’s oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes 31,000 basic, translational and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 90 other countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants, research fellowship and career development awards. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 17,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment and patient care. The AACR publishes six major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; and Cancer Prevention Research. The AACR also publishes CR, a magazine for cancer survivors and their families, patient advocates, physicians and scientists. CR provides a forum for sharing essential, evidence-based information and perspectives on progress in cancer research, survivorship and advocacy.

UTAH -- What does a rocket motor have to do with breast cancer? Two Utah researchers have found a unique connection that may change the way surgeons remove tumors, not only in breast cancer, but other cancers as well.

Dr. Time Doyle, at Utah State University, and Dr. Leigh Neumayer, at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, got the idea while scanning rocket motor fuel.

When Doyle left ATK Thiokol about two years ago and joined Utah State University, he came up with a theory.

Engineers already use ultrasound to search out tiny, undetected cracks in solid rocket fuel and rocket motors, so could modifying that same technology help surgeons find and pluck out microscopic breast cancer tumors they can't see?

"We're actually using ultrasound to determine the tissue structure at the microscopic level, and that's exactly what changes when you have cancer," Doyle explained.

Using computerized artificial intelligence, ultrasound waves passing through breast gland ducts could distinguish the actual structural microscopic cancer cells the surgeon can't see but needs to remove.

He would know when he's got it all.

"It will give them a red light/green light type of indication. That way the surgeon will know when to stop removing tissue," Doyle said.

This could happen in real time, while the surgery is underway, eliminating the need to bring the patient back weeks later for a second operation after pathologists have evaluated the tissue.

Currently, second or third surgeries are not unusual with patients like Stacey Oliver.

"They called me a week later and said they would have to go back in," Oliver recalled. "The tumor board had looked at my case and felt like surgeons needed to get a little bit more of those margins out."

But with the ultrasound technique, patients wouldn't need to come back because the tissue would have already been taken out -- and only that which needed to be removed.

"Right now, a lot of doctors, in order to get that clear margin, will take out extra tissue. So, the collateral damage for the patient is she loses a large chunk of breast tissue that maybe was never going to cause her a problem," Neumayer said.

Within a year, Neumayer will begin testing the ultrasound on specimens removed from patients.

If it works, surgeons could begin human clinical trials within three years.

Down the road a pen-like device might even be developed that could instantly identify, not only breast cancer, but other microscopic villains as well.

©2010 KSL. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, or redistributed.

Originally heard on NPR.

Battling Cancer With T-Shirts And Laughter

by Howard Berkes

Listen to the story here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121335690

Twenty-nine years ago, Linda Hill sat in a cancer center in California waiting for her first round of chemotherapy. She was 19 and had a softball-sized tumor in her chest and a diagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Hill's parents were told it was time to have their daughter do things she'd always wanted to do because she seemed to have little time left.

"I had it everywhere," recalls Hill, now 48. "I had it in all my lymph glands — head to toe — and so it was quite serious."

Hill noticed something about the other cancer patients in the waiting room, most of whom were quite a bit older: "They were all just angry and bitter and sad," she says. "And I thought, 'I don't want to live like that. I don't want my kids to remember me that way.' "

Laughing At Cancer With Zingers

Three decades, seven kids and three more devastating cancers later, Hill has found a way to keep anger, bitterness and sadness at bay. She laughs at cancer and all it has taken from her, including her thyroid, spleen, colon and breasts.

In fact, when we met in the ornate wood-lined lobby of the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Hill wore a faded green long-sleeve T-shirt with these embroidered words: "I lost my colon ... but I'm still full of crap!"

Howard Berkes/NPR - The inspiration for this T-shirt came from Linda Hill's own confusion after enduring many months of chemotherapy.

The aphorism is just one of many cancer zingers that Hill has created for a T-shirt business that focuses on helping cancer patients cope. She chuckles as she browses her T-shirt display just outside the institute's gift shop.

"This is our No. 1 seller," she laughs, as she pulls a mustard-colored shirt from the rack that features this message: "Of course they're fake, the real ones tried to kill me!"

The one-liners flow from the single mom, her five daughters and two sons.  This is a family of practical jokers looking for laughs in the oddest places.  Hill once put bouillon cubes in a shower head so the kids were so the kids were sprayed with chicken broth.  And when the family chooses sides for games, there's always one child protesting: "I don't want Mom.  She doesn't have a colon!"

So the Hills couldn't help themselves when mom faced thyroid, breast and colon cancer — all in the past six years. As Linda was wheeled into surgery for a double mastectomy, a petite daughter tenderly whispered to her mom: "Thanks so much for making me NOT the smallest-breasted person" in the family.

With five girls, the breast lines snowballed. "You're going to have to date guys who like butts and thighs," the daughters joked. Two daughters, described by Hill as "rather well-endowed," told her, "Guys are going to look you in the eye now, Mom."

Hill remembers thinking, "We ought to put these things on shirts, because this is just so funny."

Now, 800 T-shirts later, Hill has developed a fledgling market that helps patients laugh through chemo. The shirts are sold for about $25 on Hill's Web site, and at cancer centers across the country.

"Everybody has their own way of getting through things," explains Hill. "This just must be my way of doing it."

Ongoing Treatment

Hill is still being treated for breast cancer. So the jokes just keep on coming.

"They took a lump from my breast, so why not my thigh?" another favorite shirt says, prompting another laugh from Hill. "There's not a woman on the planet that doesn't relate to that one," she says.

She pulls others from the rack outside the gift shop. "This is a great one," Hill chuckles, reading the line a daughter wrote: "Mastectomy: $12,000. Radiation: $30,000. Chemotherapy: $11,000. Never wearing a bra again: Priceless."

Gift shop manager Dianne Rydman watches the reactions of patients.

"We have a lot of people in here who don't laugh about a lot," says Rydman. "And they can sit out there and chuckle over that basket of shirts."

Some of the shirts have serious themes, including: "Blue eyes run in your family. Cancer runs in mine," or "Cancer took her life. It never touched her spirit."

Hill's smile fades as she pauses to consider those words.

"Cancer does not define us," Hill asserts. "It's not my colon that makes me love to bake. It's not my breasts that make me crazy and outgoing. And it wasn't my thyroid that gave me my faith in God."

But the smile returns as she reminds herself of all those body parts lost to cancer.

"At least I've had cancer on parts you can remove," she jokes. "It's a brutal weight loss program."

Despite Losses, A Cancer Celebrity

At Huntsman, she says, she's so prolific, researchers line up for blood and tissue samples after her procedures and surgeries.

"I can make a cancer cell, and I can make it fast!" Hill boasts.

And she's survived longer than expected. Hill's voice breaks again and tears flow as she describes the milestones she has managed to reach, despite all those cancers.

"I'm going to be a grandma," she says, gulping for breath. "I saw another daughter get married. And I saw another football season of my son. I've got another graduating and going to college." Hill is almost whispering when she says: "And I'd rather they remember me having fun."

She adds, "I can have a normal life and just joke about everything. Maybe it's my way of dodging death."

Hill quickly composes herself and gets back to the jokes, revealing the zingers to come.

"We've got one," she says, chuckling again, "that's going to look like a rearview mirror of a car that says, 'Objects in shirt are smaller than they appear.' "

Hill is also hearing from people with cancers yet to make it on her shirts. Ovarian and pancreatic jokes are on the way.

But Hill's best line isn't on any shirt. She uses it to describe herself.

"I'm so much more than a boob," she says, laughing. "I'm so much more than cancer."

More Of Linda Hill's Cancer-Fighting T-Shirt Humor

Running for a cure