Spring 2019 Breakthroughs Message From The Director

FROM ALL SIDES NOW

Fighting cancer means creating new treatments, certainly. However, at Duke Cancer Institute (DCI), it means so much more.

Finding creative ways to prevent cancer. Ensuring that clinical trials of new treatments reflect our diverse population. Pioneering “liquid biopsies” to help doctors provide personalized cancer treatment.

Those are just a few of the innovations happening at DCI that you’ll read about in this issue.

As we pursue multiple avenues in our mission to reduce the burden of cancer, we don’t limit ourselves to the bedside or the research lab. At Duke Cancer Institute, we also count on our partners in the Durham community and nationwide to help us with our mission.

In this issue of Breakthroughs, you will also read about some of our collaborators in this fight. One is a Durham pastor who has worked with our researchers to spread the word in the Durham community about how to prevent stomach cancer.

Another is a friend of DCI who has founded two nonprofit patient advocacy foundations. Her work has made a tremendous difference in helping people with serious illnesses all over the United States navigate insurance and financial concerns.

At DCI, we are working in all these arenas, and more, to discover, develop, and deliver the future of cancer care…now.

Will you please join us?

Michael B. Kastan, MD, PhD
Executive Director, Duke Cancer Institute,
William and Jane Shingleton Professor,
Pharmacology and Cancer Biology
Professor of Pediatrics

This message appeared in the Spring 2019 issue of Breakthroughs, a magazine produced twice yearly by Duke Cancer Institute Office of Development. Subscribe to Breakthroughs.

In This Issue

CANCER PREVENTION: MAKING IT EASY LIKE SUNDAY MORNING By Aliza Inbari
Researcher Meira Epplein, PhD, and Pastor Ronald L. Godbee worked together to educate Godbee’s congregation at The River Church in Durham about an easy way to prevent stomach cancer. Read

GETTING REAL WITH CLINICAL TRIALS By Angela Spivey
Most studies of new treatments don’t reflect the diversity of people in the real world. That’s a problem. Read

LIQUID BIOPSIES SMOOTH THE WAY FOR PERSONALIZED MEDICINE By Mary-Russell Roberson 
What if just two vials of your blood could tell doctors which cancer treatment would work best for you? Read

THE PATIENT ADVOCATE By Angela Spivey
Helping a friend battle cancer awakened Nancy Davenport-Ennis to all the ways that the health-care system fails patients. Then she did something about it. Read

A PLAN TO GIVE BACK By Angela Spivey

Ever since Duke Cancer Institute helped Meg Lindenberger survive breast cancer 10 years ago, she and her husband, Bill, have been faithful supporters. Read

Forward Steps

PROGRAM FOR YOUNG ADULTS WITH CANCER GETS A BOOST 
A $400,000 award from First Citizens Bank and Teen Cancer America will expand services. Read

CIRCLE PHOTO (TOP): PARTNERS IN PREVENTION: Pastor Ronald L. Godbee and Researcher Meira Epplein, PhD, worked together to spread the word in the Durham community about an easy way to prevent stomach cancer. (photo by Ken Huth).