Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Post

For years, researchers have explored BAX protein's role in cell death, a promising target for cancer therapy. New findings by Dana-Farber offer a starting point for drugs that inhibit BAX through a covalent mechanism. "BAX has been a focus of my lab for nearly 20 years," says Loren Walensky, MD, PhD, who began studying the protein as a postdoctoral fellow in the early 2000s. "Its enormous potential as a therapeutic target - if you activate it, you can cause malignant cells to die; if you shut it down, you can prevent healthy cells from dying - led us to explore its mechanism of activation and de-activation." Learn more here: http://ms.spr.ly/6044l88jk

Clad in a white hard hat, standing on the ground floor of Dana-Farber's then-half-completed Yawkey Center for Cancer Care, Marlene Nusbaum stared down at the architectural plans spread out before her. She tried to think of every concern voiced by her team at its latest meeting. It was 2010, and Nusbaum was co-leading Dana-Farber's Patient Experience Committee, helping to build the brand-new outpatient cancer center. She knew that in just a few months' time, thousands of adult patients would be coming to the facility daily for their exams and treatment. Did the architect's vision consider how these individuals and their loved ones would arrive to and flow through the building? Was there adequate lighting in the areas that needed it most? Were the exam rooms big enough to accommodate several family members, and would patients be able to get their infusions on the same floor where they saw their clinicians? Nusbaum brought no prior design experience to her role, but she did possess even more crucial expertise: she had gone through breast cancer treatment at Dana-Farber a few years before. And like other members of Dana-Farber's all-volunteer adult and pediatric Patient and Family Advisory Councils (PFACs), she and her team were getting a chance to ensure each step of the Yawkey Center's construction and operations planning was done with these most important end users in mind. For senior leadership, faculty, clinicians, administrative staff, and fellow volunteers who have worked alongside PFAC members in the 25 years since the two councils were formed, these separate groups have shared a common goal as critical allies in virtually every aspect of care. The PFACs strive to help improve the patient experience and ensure patient- and family-centered care across the Institute while adhering to four core principles: dignity and respect, information sharing, participation, and collaboration. Whether it is making sure medication labels are sized to ensure both readability and privacy, advocating for expanded patient and family support services, or helping improve infrastructure and physical spaces, council members consistently prove themselves indispensable across the organization. In addition to giving back to the organization and people that cared for them, they are paving the way for future patients and families to have the best possible experience due to their insights. "The voice and perspective of patients and families is integrated into everything we do at Dana-Farber," says Patricia Stahl, MEd, director of Volunteer Services and Patient Programs. "The individuals that sit on our PFACs have gone through a life-changing experience and come to their role with a new perspective and an enormous passion for making sure that we stay true to our mission and values. It is an honor to serve alongside them." More on 25 years of PFAC: https://lnkd.in/ePG4p3MA

Runners call it Heartbreak Hill, but for Michelle O’Brien the long, rising stretch of pavement that crosses the 20-mile point of the Boston Marathon® route represents the top of the mountain. “I have a tremendous amount of gratitude for Dana-Farber Brigham, so joining the DFMC team for our run was a no-brainer,” says Michelle O’Brien. “There are so many ways to give back — it doesn’t have to be a marathon. But this feels right.” Read more: http://ms.spr.ly/6043Y7o0X

Congratulations to David A. Williams, MD, who is the 2024 recipient of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPHO) Distinguished Career Award. The Distinguished Career Award is presented annually to a senior physician or other professional who during his or her career has had a major impact on the subspecialty through some combination of research, education, patient care, and advocacy. Read more http://ms.spr.ly/6049YCnKv

Jeff Jablow, MBA, a proven leader in nonprofit strategy, operations, and enterprise improvement, has been named the inaugural Deputy Chief Philanthropy Officer at Dana-Farber. In this role, which he started in February, Jablow is responsible for several teams related to fundraising, operations, and marketing. He partners with Melany Duval, senior vice president and chief philanthropy officer, and other Institute leaders to strategize, set annual and multiyear goals, and identify and refine giving priorities. “My first few months on the Philanthropy team have been inspiring and energizing as we work toward continuing to grow support for the groundbreaking research and clinical care at the Institute,“ Jablow says. “I look forward to learning with and leading such a dedicated group of mission-oriented staff.“ Prior to Dana-Farber, Jablow was vice president and chief education strategy officer at City Year, a nonprofit dedicated to student and school success that operates in 350 schools across 21 states. Jablow led City Year’s enterprise strategy for nearly two decades in various leadership roles, launching its public funding approach from schools and stewarding transformational private sector investments. Before joining City Year in 2005, Jablow was a strategy consultant whose commitment to service was further ignited while working with Afrika Tikkun, a community development nonprofit in South Africa, and serving three terms on the board of directors for City on a Hill Charter Public Schools in Massachusetts. He holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and is a Fuqua Alumni Leader of Consequence award winner. “Jeff’s appointment comes at an exciting time for the Institute and the Division of Philanthropy as we continue to amplify the resources necessary to realize an ambitious future in service to our patients and families,“ says Duval. “I have every confidence that Jeff will be a leader who furthers our mission and supports the opportunities necessary for a growing and successful team.“

Meet Katie Maurer, MD, PhD, who treats patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for blood cancers. Her clinical research focuses on the GVT effect in patients who received allogeneic HCT. http://ms.spr.ly/6045Y0gJW

David Reardon, MD, is doing a deep dive into the immune responses of patients who are receiving cancer vaccines plus immunotherapy. For patients with glioblastoma, timing is everything. The average time to recurrence after surgery is six or seven months. It takes several months to create a personalized vaccine. Once the vaccine is given to the patient, it takes at least one to two months for the immune system to begin mounting an immune response. "We're literally in a race against the tumor," says Reardon. Learn about how Reardon and other Dana-Farber researchers are working to advance personal cancer vaccines http://ms.spr.ly/6048YhYqa.