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2008

May

Daniel Mulrooney, M.D., member of the Prevention and Etiology Program, was quoted in news reports by WCCO Radio, Minnesota Public Radio,and KSTP-TV about his study published in the journal Cancer showing that most survivors of childhood acute myeloid leukemia are living longer, productive lives. Read the news release.

Dorothy Hatsukami, Ph.D., co-leader of the Prevention and Etiology Program, was quoted in an Associated Press article, "Powdered cocaine not just for white yuppies any more." The article appeared in the Boston Herald and Las Vegas Sun.

Zigang Dong, M.D., Dr.Ph., Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program member, was quoted in the Austin Daily Herald and Rochester Post-Bulletin about the Hormel Institute's plan to hire 10 additional faculty as part of its cancer research expansion and renovation program.

Michael Verneris, M.D., Transplant Biology and Research Program member, was interviewed by the magazine New Scientist regarding a study showing a reduction in breast cancer for women who had fetal microchimerism.

April

Yoji Shimizu, Ph.D., leader of the Immunology Program, is the subject of a University of Minnesota Medical School Web site article, "From Research to a Rock Band." Read more.

A study of menstrual phase effects on smoking relapse by Sharon Allen, M.D., Ph.D., Prevention and Etiology Program member, was reported on the BBC.

Daniel Weisdorf, M.D., co-leader of the Transplant Biology and Therapy Program, was quoted in news reports by the Star Tribune , Pioneer Press, and WCCO about the treatment of Minnesota Vikings football player Kenechi Udeze, who announced earlier this month that his leukemia is in remission and that his brother is a 100 percent match for a bone marrow transplant, which is planned for later this year.

Ameeta Kelekar, Ph.D., Tumor Biology and Therapy Program member, was quoted in an article about Indian musicians performing in the Twin Cities in Friday's Star Tribune. Kelekar is president of the Indian Music Society of Minnesota.

Dorothy Hatsukami, Ph.D., co-leader of the Prevention and Etiology Program, was quoted in reports by the Star Tribune, KSTP-TV, FOX 9-TV, Mankato Free Press, Mpls/St. Paul Business Journal, and WCCO Radio's Mondale & Jones program about a new study that provides the first scientific evidence that the Freedom to Breathe Act is creating healthier workplaces for hospitality employees. Hatsukami led this research study in collaboration with ClearWay Minnesota. Working with her were Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program members Stephen Hecht, Ph.D., Sharon Murphy, Ph.D., Prevention and Etiology Program member Bruce Lindgren, M.S., and Joni Jensen, M.P.H., coordinator of the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Research Center project. Read more.

March

Cancer Center member Nancy Nachreiner, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, is featured in the Public Health Moment on the Web site of the School of Public Health, discussing her research on issues related to cancer survivors returning to work. Her study on returning to work is also featured in the winter issue of Advances, a School of Public Health publication.

Chris Moertel, M.D., Cancer Center member, was featured in a KSTP-TV news report about a 14-month-old boy who survived infant congenital glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Patricia Judson, M.D., Women's Cancer Program member, was quoted in MedPage Today about study results presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology meeting showing that ovarian cancer patients taking statins at the time of surgical debulking had a significantly better progression-free and overall survival than other patients. The study was conducted by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Stephen Hecht, Ph.D., Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program leader, was quoted in an article in The Tehran Times about the dangers of parents smoking around their children.

Jakub Tolar, M.D., Ph.D., Transplant Biology and Therapy Program member, was quoted in a segment produced by Ivanhoe News Wire and aired on WECT-TV6 in North Carolina about research he conducted in order to cure a rare genetic skin disease epidermolysis bullosa.

Douglas Yee, M.D., Cancer Center director and co-leader of the Women's Cancer Program, and Tufia Haddad, M.D., Women's Cancer Program member, were quoted in a Reuters Health article about a presurgical trial of erlotinib (Tarceva) in patients with stage I to IIIA breast cancer that may predict which patients will respond to erlotinib treatment after tumor resection. The findings of the trial conducted by Vanderbilt University School of Medicine researchers were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Yee and Haddad wrote an accompanying editorial. Read more.

Douglas Yee, M.D., Cancer Center director, was featured in a news report by Fox/Channel 9 News about a Women's Health Initiative study that found women remain at risk for breast cancer three years after stopping hormone therapy. The study was published in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

David Rothenberger, M.D., Cancer Center associate director of clinical affairs, was quoted in a New York Times article about how abnormalities that are indicators of colon cancer are often overlooked. The story also ran in the San Jose Mercury News. Read the New York Times article.

Levi Downs, M.D., co-leader of Women's Cancer Research Program, was quoted in the Star Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Reuters Health, Science Daily and other media outlets about his research study that found thalidomide coupled with chemotherapy (topotecan) is a promising treatment for women with recurrent ovarian cancer. Program member Peter Argenta, M.D., was quoted about the same study in a news report by KSTP-TV. Learn more about this research.

Jaime Modiano, V.M.D., Ph.D., member of the Genetic Mechanisms of Cancer Program, was quoted in news reports by WCCO Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, KSTP-TV, and Science Daily about a study that discovered a genetic cancer link between humans and dogs. Modiano collaborated with Matthew Breen, Ph.D., of North Carolina State University's Center for Comparative Medicine and Translational Research on this research study. Modiano will be featured in a Minnesota Daily article on Tuesday, March 4. Learn more about this research.

John Wagner, M.D., co-leader of the Transplant Biology and Therapy Program, and program member Jakub Tolar, M.D., Ph.D., were featured in a KARE 11 News Extra report about a 5-year-old New Jersey boy with a rare skin disease, epidermolysis bullosa (EB), who became the first human to receive a bone marrow transplant for EB. This transplant was done at University of Minnesota. See the KARE 11 report.

David Rothenberger, M.D., associate director of clinical affairs, was mentioned in an article about colonoscopies in the Red Wing Republican Eagle.

Dan Mulrooney, M.D., member of the Prevention and Etiology Program, was a guest on Sunday'sWCCO radio's On-Call program discussing cancer survivorship issues and the third annual survivorship educational conference on March 15.

Chris Moertel, M.D., commented on the treatment of brain tumors in a Star Tribune article on February 29. The article was about radio host Eleanor Mondale's announcement that her brain tumor had returned and that she would be undergoing treatment.

February

Ed Greeno, M.D., Cancer Center member, was featured in a news story by KSTP-TV Channel 5 last Friday evening about the care of cancer patients from the Parker Hughes Cancer Clinic, which has suspended patient care.

Chris Pennell, Ph.D., member of the Immunology Program, and Sandra Rivera, community events coordinator, were quoted in an article in the Minnesota Daily about the Cancer Center's "Cancer and the Human Body" educational exhibit held at the Science Museum of Minnesota last Saturday. Read more.

The following Cancer Center members are listed in the March issue of Minnesota Monthly magazine's 2008 Best Doctors for Women:

• Dermatology: Maria Hordinsky, M.D.
• Oncology/Breast Cancer: Barbara Bowers, M.D.; Todd Tuttle, M.D.; and Douglas Yee, M.D.
• Oncology/Gynecological: Peter Argenta, M.D.; Linda Carson, M.D.; Levi Downs, M.D.; Melissa Geller, M.D.; and Patricia Judson, M.D.
• Oncology/Radiologic: Kathryn Dusenbery, M.D

Cancer Center member Mark Reding, M.D., was quoted in an Associated Press article about Minnesota Viking Kenechi Udeze, who has been diagnosed with leukemia. The story appeared in the Star Tribune and other news outlets across the country. Reding also was quoted in a WCCO Radio news report. Read the article.

Cancer Center Director Douglas Yee, M.D., was quoted in the February 16 issue of Science News in an article titled "Weighty Evidence: The link between obesity, metabolic hormones, and tumors brings the promise of new targets for cancer therapies." Read the article.

Douglas Yee, M.D., Cancer Center director, was quoted on MinnPost.com in an article about women with cancer and exercise.

Todd Tuttle, M.D., member of the Women's Cancer Program, was quoted in a February 5 Washington Post article about the increase in the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer who are opting for contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM). Results of a study on the increase in CPM by Tuttle and his colleagues were published in the October 22 online issue of the Journal of Oncology.

Selwyn Vickers, M.D., Todd Tuttle, M.D., Eric Jensen, M.D., and Ed Greeno, M.D., are featured in Pictures of Health, published by the Academic Health Center, in an article about the new Minnesota Pancreas and Liver Center, where oncology surgeons and clinicians from the University and physicians at Hennepin County Medical Center merge their strengths to deliver an unprecedented level of care. In same issue, the research of Jaime Modiano, V.M.D., Ph.D., at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Cancer Center is featured in an article titled "Cause for paws: When it comes to cancer, man's best friend really might be a dog and vice versa."

John Wagner, M.D., and Brenda Weigel, M.D., members of the Transplant Biology and Therapy Program, were mentioned in an article in Insideview, a newsletter for and about employees of University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, University of Minnesota Children's Hospital, Fairview, and surrounding clinics. The article, "A leading-edge approach: Special stem cell treatment helped her beat the odds," describes the successful treatment of Sydney Scott, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia when she was 13 weeks old and was the first to received mesenchymal stem cells along with a cord blood transplant through a clinical trial offered by Wagner and Weigel. In the same issue it was reported that Margaret MacMillan, M.D., member of the Transplant Biology and Therapy Program, was interviewed for an article in the Whittier Daily News that featured a bone marrow transplant patient from California treated at the children's hospital for Fanconi anemia. In addition, it was reported that Selwyn Vickers, M.D., was quoted in the January 11 Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal about the Minnesota Pancreas and Liver Center. A front page story about the center was also featured in January's MD News.

January

Margot Cleary, Ph.D., University of Minnesota Hormel Institute researcher and member of the Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program, was quoted in news reports on KARE 11-TV, KSTP-TV, WCCO Radio, the Rochester Post Bulletin, and by The Press Association regarding her research that provides further evidence that breast cancer and obesity are linked. Cleary's research was also mentioned in Dublin's Irish Independent. Read more.

Michael Nelson, M.D., Douglas Yee, M.D., and Barbara Bowers, M.D., were mentioned in an article on MRI/MRS research for detecting and treating breast cancer in Scope, Fairview's newsletter to medical staff.

A January 27 article in the Decatur, Ill., Herald & Review,"Veteran finds himself in another struggle with a deadly enemy: leukemia," is about how a chronic lymphocytic leukemia patient in Findlay, Ill., hopes to participate in a cord blood transplant clinical trial at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center.

Cancer Center member Timothy Hallstrom, Ph.D., and colleagues at Duke University have discovered how key genes cause breast and ovarian cancer cells to either multiply or die. This discovery opens the door to developing drugs that target these E2F1 target genes, balance their dual functions, and give women diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer a greater chance for long-term survival. The finding is reported today in the January issue of Cancer Cell. Read more. The research results were reported by KARE-11, KSTP-TV, WCCO radio, and the Minnesota Daily.

Douglas Yee, M.D., Cancer Center director, and John Kersey, M.D., founding director emeritus, were mentioned in a Hibbing Daily Tribune article about a fundraiser for breast cancer research that was organized by sixth graders at Assumption School. The students offered their bake sale proceeds for the dollar-for-dollar matching program that the University of Minnesota has launched to fund an endowed chair named for Kersey. Kathy Beenen, development director for women's health at the Minnesota Medical Foundation, came to the school to formally accept the donation and deliver a letter of thanks from Yee.

In a recent Academic Health Center Health Talk & You column, Cancer Center member Nelson Rhodus, D.M.D., M.P.H., writes that if detected early enough, oral cancer survival rates are as high as 75 to 90 percent. To prevent oral cancer before it starts, Rhodus and his colleagues are researching ways to simplify early detection and refine early diagnostic testing methods. Read Health Talk & You.

Kalpna Gupta, Ph.D., member of the Women's Cancer Program, was quoted by Reuters about her recent study that morphine plus celecoxib may provide better cancer pain control, published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Cancer Center members Selwyn Vickers, M.D., Todd Tuttle, M.D., and Ed Greeno, M.D., were quoted in an article about the new Minnesota Pancreas and Liver Center in M.D. News, a monthly publication distributed to physicians' offices.