The black lives matter movement, quest for social justice and the COVID-19 pandemic have combined to expose many of the inequities in the nation’s healthcare system, and how this impacts poor and minority populations, especially African Americans. In this episode of the James Cancer-Free World, Chasity Washington, Director of the OSUCCC – James Center for Cancer Health Equity, explains how the history of racism, and explicit and implicit bias combine to impact minorities and create health disparities. Washington also describes several Center for Cancer Health Equity programs, including a mobile mammography unit, a cervical cancer outreach program, and a free, yearly colorectal cancer screening program that have combined to help bring these live-saving screening programs to underserved populations in Columbus and throughout Ohio and can serve as national models. The center will soon launch a mobile lung cancer screening unit to underserved areas.

“We used to call ovarian cancer the disease that whispers and now we say, let’s break that silence,” said David O’Malley, MD, director of the OSUCCC – James Division of Gynecologic Cancer. In Episode 69 of the James Cancer-Free World Podcast, O’Malley and Leigha Senter, an OSUCCC – James genetics counselor, help break the silence and talk about advances in the treatment of this type of cancer, and how more widespread genetic testing will save lives. O'Malley said their have been great advances in the past 10 years and now ovarian cancer can be treated as a chronic disease in more and more cases. Gentic testing of patients with ovarian cancer, Senter explained, can determine who has BRCA, an inherited genetic mutations that increases a woman's risk for breast cancer - and ovarian cancer, which is harder to detect than breast cancer and often presents in the later stages.

Good public policy helps push the needle forward for research and treatment, and also helps make cancer treatment more accessible to everyone, especially underserved populations that struggle to get access to good healthcare. In this episode, Jennifer Carlson, the James associate vice president for External Relations and Advocacy in the Office of Health Sciences, discusses the Stage IV Bill that aims to do away with "fail first" treatments, and the new James cancer drug repository program. "That's what drives me," she says. "The progress we've made and what we can offer our patients through better public policy."

“Any type of skin cancer not properly treated can become aggressive and can be problematic,” says Carlo Contreras, MD, a James surgical oncologist specializing in skin cancer. In this episode, Contreras discusses the different types of skin cancer, including basal and squamous cell, the two most common and treatable forms of skin cancer, as well as the more rare and aggressive melanoma and Merkel cell carcinomas.

Roman Skoracki and his team at the James Cancer Hospital and Stefanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Center are national leaders in the development of new microsurgery techniques that prevent lymphedema in breast cancer patients. They are also leaders in lymph node transfer microsurgery, which can relieve the painful symptoms and swelling of patients who have had their initial breast cancer surgeries elsewhere and have developed lymphedema. “We have a really comprehensive team and are on the cutting edge,” Skoracki said. “If we intervene and do preventative bypass microsurgery, we can reduce the incidence of lymphedema from about 40 percent down to four to eight percent."

Pelotonia's Doug Ulman tells us all about the new, creative and exciting My Pelotonia platform, which will replace the traditional mass ride this year (due to Covid-19). "This allows people to create their own journeys and challenges," Ulman says, adding My Pelotonia is a way to get even more people involved in Pelotonia and that it will continue even when it's safe to ride together again. Ulman said his My Pelotonia challenge is to ride from Columbus to Cincinnati. What's your My Pelotonia adventure?

When the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute opened on July 9, 1990, a new era had begun. “Dr. James had the honor of wheeling the first patient [from University Hospitals] into the new James,” says David E. Schuller, MD, the first CEO of the hospital. Schuller is among the giants in the history of the James and The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he was director from 1988-97. He shares some of the many highlights of his career in Part I of this three-part James 30th Anniversary Celebration podcast. Dr. James had dreamed of establishing a dedicated cancer hospital in central Ohio for more than 40 years. "He saw the benefits of having a hospital totally focused on this disease and wasn’t going to back off of that until he achieved his goal," Schuller says.

“This is an amazing, beautiful hospital that gives such phenomenal care to our patients. When you meet the staff and leaders of The James, you know you’re in the right place as a patient.” Those are the words of Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, former CEO of the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute (2008-17), and former director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (2003-17). In Episode 63 of The James 30th Anniversary Celebration podcast (the second in a three-part series on the 30th anniversary of the original James), Caligiuri discusses how he built upon the solid foundation created by David E. Schuller Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, his mentor. Caligiuri recruited scores of top physicians, scientists and physician/scientists as the OSUCCC – James grew, expanded, gained a worldwide reputation for excellence, and achieved a rare perfect score from the National Cancer Institute in 2015.

In this episode of The James 30th Anniversary Celebration podcast, William B. Farrar, MD, the current CEO of The James, fills us in on the vision and determination of Arthur G. James, MD. “What we’ve been able to accomplish would really make him proud — to know that what he first envisioned decades ago has actually occurred, and has occurred to a larger level than he could have ever imagined." This episode also features Raphael E. Pollock, MD, PhD, the current director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

OSUCCC – James Chief Medical Officer David Cohn, MD, MBA, describes how the new James Cancer Diagnostic Center is providing immediate and safe access to cancer diagnoses during these challenging times. Cohn explains the benefits of detecting cancer in its early stages, the importance of screenings and how James experts are working to ensure that underserved populations in central Ohio and beyond receive the care and treatment they deserve in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.