MIB Agents OsteoBites and osTEAo

This episode is sponsored by BTG Speciality Pharmaceuticals. BTG provides rescue medicines typically used in emergency rooms and intensive care units to treat patients for whom there are limited treatment options. They are dedicated to delivering quality medicines that make a real difference to patients and their families through the development, manufacture, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Their current portfolio of antidotes counteracts certain snake venoms and the toxicity associated with some heart and cancer medications. Their drug, Voraxaze, is for high-dose methotrexate toxicity.

This session focuses on a Phase I Trial of GD2.CAR T Cells Combined with a Novel Interleukin-7 Signal.

Dr. Bilal Omer is a physician at Texas Children’s Cancer Center. In 2013, he completed his fellowship training in pediatric hematology-oncology. Dr. Omer is a member of the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT)/Stem Celll Transplant Program and Medical Director at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Texas Children's Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine. His is the principal investigator on currently 4 clinical trials for cell therapy. 

What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: ✨ End-of-Life MISSIONS ✨ Gamer Agents ✨ Agent Writers ✨ Prayer Agents ✨ Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent Support ✨ Ambassador Agents - Peer Support ✨ Warrior Mail ✨ Young Adult Survivorship Support Group ✨  EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: ✨ OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma ✨ MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours ✨ RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference ✨ Funding $100,000 annually for OS research ✨ MIB Testing & Research Directory ✨ The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter. 🔗 https://www.mibagents.org​ Help support MIB Agents, Donate here https://www.mibagents.org/?form=donate ✨✨SUBSCRIBE for all the Osteosarcoma Intel ✨✨

This episode is sponsored by BTG Speciality Pharmaceuticals. BTG provides rescue medicines typically used in emergency rooms and intensive care units to treat patients for whom there are limited treatment options. They are dedicated to delivering quality medicines that make a real difference to patients and their families through the development, manufacture, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Their current portfolio of antidotes counteracts certain snake venoms and the toxicity associated with some heart and cancer medications. Their drug, Voraxaze, is for high-dose methotrexate toxicity.

Dr. Breelyn A. Wilky, MD is a sarcoma medical oncologist and clinical trialist with research interests in immunotherapy, targeted therapy and precision medicine, and early phase drug development. She is Associate Professor and Director of the Sarcoma Program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and is a member of the Phase One and Experimental Molecular Therapeutics (POEMS) research program. As the Deputy Associate Director of Clinical Research for the University of Colorado Cancer Center, she leads the investigator-initiated clinical trials committee to help advance novel research to the clinic. Her laboratory studies the tumor and immune microenvironment of sarcomas, to identify new drugs that boost the immune system for future clinical trials in sarcoma.

What We Do at MIB Agents: PROGRAMS: ✨ End-of-Life MISSIONS ✨ Gamer Agents ✨ Agent Writers ✨ Prayer Agents ✨ Healing Hearts - Bereaved Parent Support ✨ Ambassador Agents - Peer Support ✨ Warrior Mail ✨ Young Adult Survivorship Support Group ✨  EDUCATION for physicians, researchers and families: ✨ OsteoBites, weekly webinar & podcast with thought leaders and innovators in Osteosarcoma ✨ MIB Book: Osteosarcoma: From our Families to Yours ✨ RESEARCH: Annual MIB FACTOR Research Conference ✨ Funding $100,000 annually for OS research ✨ MIB Testing & Research Directory ✨ The Osteosarcoma Project partner with Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ... Kids are still dying with 40+ year old treatments. Help us MakeItBetter. 🔗 https://www.mibagents.org​ Help support MIB Agents, Donate here https://www.mibagents.org/?form=donate ✨✨SUBSCRIBE for all the Osteosarcoma Intel ✨✨

This episode is sponsored by BTG Speciality Pharmaceuticals. BTG provides rescue medicines typically used in emergency rooms and intensive care units to treat patients for whom there are limited treatment options. They are dedicated to delivering quality medicines that make a real difference to patients and their families through the development, manufacture, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Their current portfolio of antidotes counteracts certain snake venoms and the toxicity associated with some heart and cancer medications. Their drug, Voraxaze, is for high-dose methotrexate toxicity.

Corrie Painter is the Deputy Director of Count Me In and is a research scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. A trained cancer researcher with a Ph.D. in biochemistry, she completed her postdoctoral work in cancer immunology, focused on melanoma. In 2010, Painter was diagnosed with angiosarcoma. She has combined her cancer advocacy and scientific background to engage with patients in order to build and carry out patient-partnered genomics studies. She is also the co-founder of Angiosarcoma Awareness Inc.

Taylor Cusher is a clinical project manager with Count Me In at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. In this role she manages several patient-partnered research studies that generate and share clinical, genomic, and patient-reported data for rare cancers. Prior to joining the Broad Institute, Cusher led programs on patient access to health data and patient engagement in medical R&D at FasterCures, a center of the Milken Institute. In these roles, her passion for enhancing connection and community at the intersection of patients and research is at the forefront of her work. Cusher holds a BS in kinesiology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Master's degree in public health from the George Washington University.

Camille, Mia, Carrigan, Vicky chat about what's it like in this raw, real conversation spilling the tea on osteosarcoma, and AYA cancer. 

Dr. Huang is the Director of Center for Pediatric Immunotherapy in the Angie Fowler AYA Cancer Institute at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and co-leader of Immune Oncology Program at Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. He also directs the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Program at UH Rainbow. Dr. VanHeyst is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Angie Fowler AYA Cancer Institute at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. VanHeyst has worked closely with Dr. Huang to bring a myriad of clinical trial options as direct translations from bench research to the bedside, including newly opened Phase I clinical trial using Natalizumab for treating unresectable pulmonary osteosarcoma (NCT03811886).

Dr. Kristen VanHeyst completed her medical training at New York Institute of Technology School of Osteopathic Medicine, formally known as New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2012. She followed this with a pediatric residency at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital in Stony Brook, NY, which she completed in 2015. She subsequently remained at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital for an additional year to serve as a Chief Resident and Pediatric Hospitalist. Dr. VanHeyst completed her Pediatric Hematology/Oncology fellowship training in 2019 at UH Hospitals/Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, OH. As a fellow, Dr. VanHeyst joined Dr. Alex Huang’s laboratory in 2017 with a primary interest in metastatic pulmonary osteosarcoma. She was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 2019. Dr. VanHeyst continues her research efforts in understanding the role of the tumor microenvironment in metastatic pulmonary osteosarcoma. Based on pre-clinical data, she designed and authored a Phase I/II clinical trial using an anti-α4 monoclonal antibody as immunotherapy for pediatric, adolescent and young adult patients with relapsed, progressive and refractory disease. She hopes that continued efforts in understanding the mechanism by which metastatic osteosarcoma creates a pulmonary niche will lead to more therapeutic options for patients with this disease in the near future. Dr. VanHeyst is a recent recipient of the Hyundai Hope on Wheels Young Investigator Award and a K12 Clinical Oncology Research Program Paul Calabresi Scholar

This episode is sponsored by BTG Speciality Pharmaceuticals. BTG provides rescue medicines typically used in emergency rooms and intensive care units to treat patients for whom there are limited treatment options. They are dedicated to delivering quality medicines that make a real difference to patients and their families through the development, manufacture, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Their current portfolio of antidotes counteracts certain snake venoms and the toxicity associated with some heart and cancer medications. Their drug, Voraxaze, is for high-dose methotrexate toxicity.

Brooke Bernhardt, PharmD, MS, BCOP, BCPPS is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and the Director of Pharmacy for Global HOPE (Hematology/Oncology Pediatric Excellence). Her research interests include improving pharmacy practice globally with a focus in Sub-Saharan Africa, ethical and practical strategies for managing and mitigating medication shortages, health disparities in pediatric oncology, and the role of pharmacogenomics in pediatric oncology. She has a particular interest in antimetabolite disposition and the impact of host-related factors on toxicity and clinical outcomes.

Discussion of a new, early phase clinical trial for patients with metastatic osteosarcoma targeting the DNA damage repair pathway.

Dr. Vishu Avutu attained his M.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and began his research endeavors with the Pediatric Oncology Education Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; finding a passion for working with adolescents and young adults, Vishu matched to the internal medicine-pediatric residency at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s/Boston Children’s Hospitals. In addition to serving as Chief Resident, Vishu helped develop and launch the Center for Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He then completed his medical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is a co-founder of MSK's Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program, where his work has garnered MSK's Patient and Family Centered Care Grant Initiative and the Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is an assistant attending in the Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics and cares for AYAs with sarcomas.

This episode is sponsored by BTG Speciality Pharmaceuticals. BTG provides rescue medicines typically used in emergency rooms and intensive care units to treat patients for whom there are limited treatment options. They are dedicated to delivering quality medicines that make a real difference to patients and their families through the development, manufacture, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Their current portfolio of antidotes counteracts certain snake venoms and the toxicity associated with some heart and cancer medications. Their drug, Voraxaze, is for high-dose methotrexate toxicity.

This talk will focus on research elucidating MYC amplification as the first genomic prognostic biomarker in osteosarcoma, which may be used for risk stratification in future clinical trials and to inform conversations with patients and families. Dr. Marinoff will discuss the tools used to detect MYC amplification, what we have learned about its association with outcome in children/ young adults with osteosarcoma, and what we still don't know but are trying hard to find out: the biological roles of MYC amplification in driving osteosarcoma and how it may serve as a potential therapeutic target in the future.

Dr. Marinoff graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed her pediatric residency at Boston Combined Residency Program, during which time she worked with Dr. Katie Janeway on elucidating the genomic landscape of and novel genomic biomarkers in osteosarcoma. She is currently completing her fellowship training in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at UCSF, where she is focused on developing novel genome-informed therapeutics for osteosarcoma under the mentorship of Dr. Alejandro Sweet-Cordero. She plans to develop an active clinical and translational research program focused on conducting early phase precision medicine-oriented trials for patients with advanced sarcomas. She is grateful to have the best job in the world.

This episode is sponsored by BTG Speciality Pharmaceuticals. BTG provides rescue medicines typically used in emergency rooms and intensive care units to treat patients for whom there are limited treatment options. They are dedicated to delivering quality medicines that make a real difference to patients and their families through the development, manufacture, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Their current portfolio of antidotes counteracts certain snake venoms and the toxicity associated with some heart and cancer medications.

This presentation will explain the process and the challenges of obtaining access to experimental drugs for cancer patients.

Elena is Programs Director at Kids v Cancer, a nonprofit pediatric cancer advocacy organization. Elena directs the Compassionate Use Navigator program, providing guidance and personal assistance to physicians and families in applying for experimental drugs. Previously Elena worked as a science and business journalist, and as a program manager. Elena holds a Master of Public Health degree in maternal and child health and an M.A. degree in journalism.

This episode is sponsored by BTG Speciality Pharmaceuticals. BTG provides rescue medicines typically used in emergency rooms and intensive care units to treat patients for whom there are limited treatment options. They are dedicated to delivering quality medicines that make a real difference to patients and their families through the development, manufacture, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Their current portfolio of antidotes counteracts certain snake venoms and the toxicity associated with some heart and cancer medications.

Dr. Michelle Ghert is a full Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery at McMaster University. She is Director of MacOrtho Research and co-Chair of the Sarcoma Disease Site at the Juravinski Cancer Center in Hamilton. Dr. Ghert completed her undergraduate and medical degrees at Stanford University and Vanderbilt University respectively. She trained in orthopaedic surgery at Duke University and completed a 2-year fellowship in orthopaedic oncology at the University of Toronto. She has been on Faculty at McMaster since 2005. Dr. Ghert has been selected to the Presidential Line of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society and will be President-Elect in October of this year.

Dr. Ghert’s research initiatives have made national and international impact. She led the Prophylactic Antibiotic Regimens in Tumor Surgery (PARITY) randomized controlled trial (RCT), the first multi-centre RCT in orthopaedic oncology in which 604 patients were enrolled from 55 clinical sites in 12 countries. In terms of the number of countries collaborating, PARITY is the largest RCT in orthopaedic surgery to date. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Oncology) on January 6, 2022. . Dr. Ghert is also leading the Surveillance After Extremity Tumor Surgery (SAFETY) RCT in which patients are randomized to more or less intense surveillance after treatment for a high-grade soft-tissue sarcoma. The primary outcome for the SAFETY trial is overall survival at 5 years. Similar to the PARITY trial, the SAFETY trial is an international multi-centre collaborative trial. Both the PARITY and SAFETY RCTs have been supported by research grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (CCSRI). For her work on the PARITY trial, Dr. Ghert was awarded the 2018 J. Éduoard Samson Award for Excellence in Orthopaedic Research by the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation.

Dr. Ghert’s other research interests include the promotion of diversity and inclusion within the orthopaedic surgery workplace. She recently collaborated with the Canadian Orthopaedic Association (COA) on the study entitled ‘Prevalence of gender-based and sexual harassment in the field of orthopaedic surgery’, was recently published in the Canadian Journal of Surgery. She is also working with the COA on a study to determine the barriers to men and women in their participation in orthopaedic travelling fellowships.