Cancer | Image Credit: © Katsyarina – stock.adobe.com

LSU President, William F. Tate IV, LCMC Health President and CEO, Greg Feirn, and LSU Health New Orleans Chancellor Steve Nelson, MD are excited to announce that Lucio Miele, MD, PhD will serve as Director of the LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center. This announcement follows current Director, Dr. Joe Ramos’ acceptance of an executive leadership position at the Lundquist Institute in California. Dr. Miele and Dr. Ramos will work together through the end of January to ensure a smooth transition.

“Our collective efforts to combat the cancer burden in Louisiana rely on a strong LSU-LCMC Cancer Center,” stated LSU President William F. Tate IV. “Dr. Miele’s significant contributions to cancer research, along with his insightful understanding of the interconnection between basic research, clinical science, population studies, and evidence-based practice, uniquely position him to advance this life-saving initiative.”

A native of Naples, Italy, Dr. Miele currently serves as LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine Senior Associate Dean of Research, Chair of the Department of Genetics, and Cancer Crusaders Professor of Genetics. Before joining LSU Health, Dr. Miele served as Director of the University of Mississippi Medical Center Cancer Institute for five years and held notable leadership roles in Cancer Centers associated with Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and the University of Illinois Chicago. Dr. Miele is a distinguished and well-funded scientist with national and international stature in both basic and translational research and has been awarded multiple patents for his innovative research approaches.

“We are thrilled with the strides in research and community engagement made by our Cancer Center in just three years, and Dr. Miele is the ideal physician-scientist who will continue momentum toward NCI designation for Louisiana,” shared Dr. Steve Nelson, LSU Health Chancellor.

Since 2022, LSU Health and LCMC Health have been active partners in the pursuit of NCI designation for Louisiana and the Gulf South to ensure access to the most advanced approaches to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. Through a collective $100M commitment, the LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center works to expand cancer-focused research, community engagement, and multidisciplinary care programs for the people of our state and region.

LCMC Health President and CEO, Greg Feirn, stated, “The LSU-LCMC Cancer Center has improved how Louisianians address a cancer diagnosis, and more importantly, how they can work toward prevention. I am confident that Dr. Miele will further enhance our growth to benefit the community.”

LSU Health New Orleans educates Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's health sciences university leader, LSU Health New Orleans includes a School of Medicine with campuses in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, and Schools of Allied Health Professions, Nursing, and Graduate Studies. LSU Health New Orleans faculty take care of patients in public and private hospitals and clinics throughout the region. In the vanguard of biosciences research, the LSU Health New Orleans research enterprise generates jobs and enormous annual economic impact. LSU Health New Orleans faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, advance treatment or cure disease.

Established in 2009, LCMC Health is a Louisiana-based, not-for-profit hospital system serving the healthcare needs of the Gulf Coast region. LCMC Health currently manages Children’s Hospital New Orleans, East Jefferson General Hospital, Lakeside Hospital, Lakeview Hospital, New Orleans East Hospital, Touro, University Medical Center New Orleans, and West Jefferson Medical Center.

LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center has reimagined, reinvented, strengthened, and modernized how Louisianians tackle a cancer diagnosis and more importantly, how they can prevent it. Home to more than 100 cancer researchers, the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center’s research programs through the Stanley S. Scott Cancer Research Center of Excellence directly benefit the Louisiana community by conducting focused research necessary to better prevent cancer, detect it earlier when it can be more effectively treated, and to develop the new cancer therapies of tomorrow. Through funding and critical partnerships such as those with LSU, LCMC Health, Tulane University, and Louisiana Cancer Research Center, LSU LCMC Health Center brings together cancer care and research in Louisiana to focus on the specific challenges the state faces to reduce the inordinate cancer burden.

Articles

Dr. Lucio Miele has been appointed as the new Director of the LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center, succeeding Dr. Joe Ramos. Dr. Miele, a renowned cancer researcher, will work with Dr. Ramos to ensure a smooth transition. The LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center, supported by a $100M commitment, aims to achieve NCI designation and enhance cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in Louisiana. Dr. Miele's extensive experience in cancer research and leadership roles positions him to advance the center's mission. LSU Health New Orleans and LCMC Health are key partners in this initiative.

Lucio Miele, MD, PhD of LSU has been appointed as director of the LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center.

LSU Health Professor, Dr. Lucio Miele, Appointed as Director of LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center

LSU Health New Orleans is proud to announce the publication of a groundbreaking study led by Giulia Monticone PhD in the prestigious journal EMBO Reports.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s44319-024-00189-4

This study unveils that the antiviral effects of the COVID-19 drug remdesivir are primarily due to a novel immunological mechanism rather than direct antiviral activity.

The study details how remdesivir’s novel immunological effects are mediated by a newly described mechanism. This discovery paves the way for a new class of drugs that enhance immunity while also targeting viruses, potentially improving the effectiveness of vaccines against viruses and cancers and boosting immunity against certain cancers.

Dr. Monticone, the lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Lucio Miele’s team, collaborated with investigators from several LSUHSC departments and Dr. Kellie Jurado at the University of Pennsylvania. This research was funded by the US Department of Defense (DOD) Discovery Award (W81XWH-21-1-0078) and marks a significant advancement in immunological drug development.

Collaborative efforts with Southern Research (Birmingham, AL) are already underway to develop and optimize this new class of agents.

“We are thrilled to have our work recognized by EMBO Reports,” said Dr. Monticone. “This publication underscores our commitment to advancing knowledge in the field of immunology and drug development.”

LSU Health New Orleans Announces Groundbreaking Research on Remdesivir’s Novel Immunological Effects

The Gulf South Clinical Trials Network has been named a spoke in the ARPA-H Customer Experience Hub, one of 3 regional hubs that comprise 

 – a nationwide health innovation network and is dedicated to the needs of people.

“It is critical that we bring innovative cancer treatments directly to the patients that need them the most, and that includes some of the most underserved communities throughout the Gulf Coast,” said Dr Augusto Ochoa, principal investigator for the Gulf South Clinical Trials Network and deputy director of the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center. “Being selected as a spoke enables The Gulf South Clinical Trials Network to more effectively collaborate with partners to ensure we are making an impact in the communities in which we serve.”

Less than 10% of adult cancer patients participate in cancer clinical trials in the United States. These low numbers are worse for underserved patients in impoverished areas (suburban and rural) further perpetuating a major health disparity. The National Cancer Institute has highlighted the need to find novel approaches to increase patient participation in clinical trials and access to cutting-edge developments in cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment in underserved and rural areas of the country. The Gulf South Clinical Trials Network (an NCI NCORP program) is a partnership between LSU Health New Orleans, Ochsner Cancer Institute, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, and Feist Weiler Cancer Center (Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport). The Gulf South Clinical Trials Network has expanded access to clinical trials for patients in the Gulf South through more than 50 clinics in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

The purpose of the ARPA-H Customer Experience Hub is to ensure the active transition of health innovation in an expedient, safe, cost-effective, accessible, and sustainable manner that reaches all Americans. Together with the Stakeholder and Operations Hub and the Investor Catalyst Hub, these hubs and spokes create the ARPANET-H nationwide health innovation network.

The ARPA-H Customer Experience Hub, which has 284 spokes, provides a variety of services and capabilities to the government and to participating spokes. These include design services, rapid prototyping, stakeholder and ecosystem engagement, teaming and partnership opportunities, and regulatory support. The primary goal of the Customer Experience Hub is to make vital health innovations accessible to everyone, with a focus on traditionally underrepresented populations. Integrating patient feedback throughout the research and development process with the goal of ensuring that innovations will be widely adopted to effectively meet patients’ needs is a main strategy of the hub.

For more information about the Customer Experience Hub and its initiatives, visit 

About the Gulf South Clinical Trials Network

Formed in 2018, the Gulf South Clinical Trials Network is part of an NCORP grant funded by the National Cancer Institute to reach all cancer patients in Louisiana and surrounding states, but especially those in minority and underserved communities. This experienced network of four leading health care and research groups in the region — LSU Health New Orleans, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, Ochsner Cancer Institute, and Feist Weiler Cancer Center (Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport) - works to improve patient outcomes by expanding access to prevention and treatment studies as well as community outreach and education programs. Through additional partnerships with other health providers across the Gulf South, we offer these vital resources at more than 40 locations. This has doubled the number of sites offering clinical trials in the Gulf South, allowing more patients and physicians access to cutting-edge cancer treatments.

The Gulf South Clinical Trials Network has been named a spoke in the ARPA-H Customer Experience Hub, one of 3 regional hubs that comprise ARPANET-H. 

LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center

Articles

LSU Health Professor, Dr. Lucio Miele, Appointed as Director of LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center

LSU Health New Orleans Announces Groundbreaking Research on Remdesivir’s Novel Immunological Effects

Gulf South Clinical Trials Network Named a Spoke in the ARPA-H Customer Experience Catalyst Hub