Young Adult Cancer Patients Prove Powerful Advocates in Washington D.C.

Cancer has not stopped Bethany Ross and Jeremy Pivor from undertaking numerous adventures, from Pivor’s sailing trips on the high seas to Bethany’s forays into skydiving and outdoor rock climbing. It is also often the catalyst for their actions, such as when both Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center patients headed to Washington, D.C. to advocate on … Read more

Follicular Lymphoma Patient Has Time On His Side After CAR T-Cell Therapy 

After nearly nine years of living with follicular lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), it took just a few minutes for things to change dramatically for Marc Cummings this spring.   That was all the time needed to transfer the small bag of modified CAR T-cells — which had been recrafted from Cummings’ own T … Read more

Bridging the Gap Between Medical AI Research and Real-World Clinical Impact 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has tremendous potential to advance healthcare and improve the lives of everyone. But successful clinical translation requires evaluating the performance of AI models on large and diverse real-world datasets. MLCommons, an open global engineering consortium dedicated to making machine learning better for everyone, announced on July 17, 2023, a major milestone toward … Read more

ChatGPT and Medicine: The Good, the Bad, and the Bizarre 

The artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT has wowed users with its seemingly human-like ability to generate and respond to language, and worried others by that very same ability. Like virtually every technological innovation that has come before — from the telephone to refrigeration to plastics — ChatGPT is sure to find uses in medicine. People are … Read more

Living Systematic Review Guides Prostate Cancer Treatment Options

As science and clinical medicine advance, oncologists increasingly face the challenge of information overload. It can be hard for oncologists, especially those in community practices who cover many cancers, to keep up with the influx of new therapies, biomarkers, and clinical trial results. The go-to solution has been the systematic review. Researchers team up to … Read more

Aspartame: What You Need to Know 

Alongside gasoline engine exhaust and radiofrequency waves from cell phones, aspartame, the sweetener found in diet sodas and many sugar-free foods, is now categorized as “possibly carcinogenic.” The decision, made by the World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), has gotten a lot of attention.   We spoke with Timothy R. Rebbeck, … Read more

Teen Bounces Back from Solid Tumor Sarcoma with Care Team’s Help 

She may be an accomplished competitive skier, but Maggie Gove, 15, is just as adept at getting up and over mountains as she is racing down them.  Gove is a three-time cancer survivor who has managed to keep up on the slopes and with her studies despite long periods sidelined by surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation … Read more

Navigating the Mental Health Toll of Prostate Cancer and Its Side Effects 

Although early detection and treatment advances have significantly improved survival rates for patients with prostate cancer, the majority will face some form of sexual health side effect. Addressing these physical and emotional side effects is a priority for care teams at Dana-Farber.  But longstanding cultural barriers can often keep men from discussing sensitive issues like … Read more

What’s the Connection Between BRCA and Ashkenazi Jewish Ancestry? 

People who inherit mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene are at heightened risk for a variety of cancers, including breast, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic. It’s estimated that one in 300-400 people in the general population carry a mutation in either of these genes. Among people of Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jewish descent, the prevalence is … Read more

What Is ctDNA?

Like a mill crumbling into a river, solid tumors constantly shed bits of themselves — including their DNA — into the bloodstream. This free-floating genetic material, known as circulating tumor DNA, or ctDNA, contains a trove of information about the tumor.  Advances in technology have made it possible to extract ctDNA from a blood sample, … Read more

Colon Cancer Patient with Anxiety and Panic Disorders Finds Support — and Passes it On  

Two weeks after turning 50, Wendy Tamis Robbins learned she had stage II colon cancer. Having lived with anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and panic disorders nearly all her life, she used the same strategies that helped her navigate these struggles to meet her cancer diagnosis head-on.  Robbins handled the ups and downs of her summer … Read more

Pancreatic Cancer Symptoms: What You Need to Know

Pancreatic cancer often eludes early detection because symptoms typically don’t surface until the disease is well established. This makes it important to respond appropriately to warning signs, even though some may be vague or caused by another health condition. What are the symptoms of pancreatic cancer? Most symptoms of pancreatic cancer are caused when tumors … Read more