Focus on Cancer

Host: Shira Johnson, MD

Guest: Robert Vonderheide, MD

For years, the foundations of cancer treatment, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy were utilized with the objective of weakening cancer. But over the past several years, immunotherapy – therapies that enlist and strengthen the power of a patient’s immune system to attack tumors - has emerged as a new tool for fighting cancer. In August 2017, one such treatment approach, called CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T-cell) therapy, received FDA approval for the treatment of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Additionally, research is continuing to look at CAR-T therapy’s effectiveness for treating solid tumors as well. Host Dr. Shira Johnson sits down with Dr. Robert Vonderheide, Director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the Hanna Wise Professor in Cancer Research at the Perelman School of Medicine, to talk about the potential of CAR-T therapy alongside other emerging immunotherapies in fighting cancer.

Host: John J. Russell, MD

Guest: Harish Lavu, MD

Pancreatic cancer is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States by 2020. This is due, in large part, to its insidious onset and subtle presentation even at late stages, many symptoms of which are often attributed to common and less serious conditions in aging populations.

Dr. Harish Lavu, Head of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery at Jefferson University, talks with host Dr. John Russell about the diagnostic and therapeutic priorities addressing pancreatic cancer, and why this disease is so hard to detect.

FDA medical oncologists discuss the approval of osimertinib for EGFR mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer.

Released July 28, 2017

FDA medical oncologists discuss the FDA approvals of brigatinib and ceritinib for ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer.

Released July 25, 2017

Host: Kathy King, RDN

Guest: Lise Alschuler, ND

Host Kathy King sits down with Dr. Lise Alschuler, naturopathic doctor, cancer survivor, and author of The Definitive Guide to Cancer: An Integrative Approach to Prevention, Treatment, and Healing. Dr. Alschuler is co-founder of iTHRIVEplan.com, a web application providing personalized wellness plans tailored to cancer survivors.

They talk about how integrative medicine specialists approach cancer: its causes, prevention strategies, and ways to include complementary therapies in patient treatments.

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP

It's widely known that genetics, family history, race, and other factors all play important roles in cancer risk. But what kinds of roles do they play, specifically, and how can we leverage these understandings into better primary care?

Dr. Brian McDonough is joined by Dr. Maureen Murphy, research scientist at the Wistar Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Murphy has spent the past twenty years studying how genes affect breast cancer risk in women, particularly for African American populations. She discusses her findings on the discovery of p53 protein variants and how this advances the role for precision medicine in treating breast cancer.

The D.I.S.C.O. hosts discuss the agency’s first approval of pembrolizumab, a cancer treatment based on a common biomarker rather than the location in the body where the tumor originated.

Released May 30, 2017.

FDA medical oncologists discuss the agency’s March 23, 2017 approval of avelumab for the treatment of patients 12 years and older with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma.

Released May 22, 2017

Host: Brian P. McDonough, MD, FAAFP

Host Dr. Brian McDonough chats with Jennifer Singleterry, Senior Analyst of Policy and Legislative Support for the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network, about the organization's new report revealing monetary burdens for cancer patients.

FDA medical oncologists discuss the agency’s March 2017 approval of niraparib for the maintenance treatment of patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who are in complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy.

Released May 18, 2017