OncLive Honors 12 Cancer Care Pioneers

For the 11th consecutive year, OncLive is honored to recognize oncology leaders whose innovations have contributed to immeasurable improvements in outcomes for countless patients. The 12 winners of the 2023 Giants of Cancer Care awards have made their mark with novel therapies and protocols across the spectrum of care.

Breast Cancer

Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School

Partridge is vice chair of medical oncology, the Eric P. Winer, MD, Chair in Breast Cancer Research, director of the Adult Survivorship Program, founder and director of the Program for Young Adults with Breast Cancer, and senior physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is also a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Her research has a particular focus on behavioral and communication issues surrounding younger women with breast cancer, a group with a higher risk of disease recurrence and mortality. She launched the YES Portal for young women with breast cancer to self-monitor physical and psychosocial symptoms.

Partridge contributed to the authorship of the 2006 American Society of Clinical Oncology guideline on fertility preservation in patients with cancer, which has led to an increase in research and changed clinical practice for survivors looking to maintain or restore fertility. The guideline addresses the importance of discussing fertility preservation approaches as early as possible in a breast cancer diagnosis.

As coleader of the landmark, international POSITIVE trial (NCT02308085), Partridge and coinvestigators evaluated the risks associated with pregnancy following breast cancer. Preliminary results presented at the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium showed that young women with hormone receptor– positive breast cancer can interrupt their endocrine therapy without an increased risk for short-term relapse.

She launched the first US multi-institutional cohort trial: The Young Women’s Breast Cancer Study (NCT01468246; also known as Helping Ourselves, Helping Others), which enrolled more than 1300 women between 2006 and 2016. For at least 10 years, researchers will conduct follow-up on the patients to track the medical and psychosocial matters they face during diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship.

Partridge was named chief scientific adviser for the Susan G. Komen organization in December 2022. Partridge coleads the executive committee that makes up Komen’s Scientific Advisory Board, which helps to identify the greatest needs and opportunities to invest in breast cancer research.

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Eileen M. O’Reilly, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

O’Reilly is the Winthrop Rockefeller Endowed Chair of Medical Oncology, section head, Hepatopancreaticobiliary & Neuroendocrine Cancers, and codirector, medical initiatives, of David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

She has been the principal investigator of numerous phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical studies in pancreatic cancer and specializes in targeted, neoadjuvant, and adjuvant therapeutics for the malignancy.

One of O’Reilly’s notable clinical trial involvements includes a coauthorship for the Cancer and Leukemia Group B 80303 trial (NCT00088894), which showed that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to gemcitabine did not improve survival in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

She was a coauthor of findings from the phase 3 POLO trial (NCT02184195), which demonstrated that maintenance olaparib (Lynparza) improved outcomes vs placebo in patients with germline BRCA–mutant metastatic pancreatic cancer that has not progressed after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. The agent was approved in 2019 for this indication.

O’Reilly is cochair of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Alliance Co-Operative Group Gastrointestinal Cancers Committee and a member of the NCI Gastrointestinal Cancers Steering Committee. She also serves on the medical and scientific advisory board of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, National Comprehensive Cancer Network Pancreas Panel, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology Guidelines Committee.

Genitourinary Cancer

Howard I. Scher, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Scher is cochair of the Center for Mechanism Based Therapy, head of the Biomarker Development Initiative, and the D. Wayne Calloway Chair in Urologic Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

In 2011, Scher and coauthors published findings from the NCT00638690 trial that demonstrated that abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) improved survival outcomes vs placebo in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and was the first to report findings from supersensitive assays involving mass spectroscopy levels that helped to redefine castrate-range testosterone levels.

Scher also developed the Clinical States Model of Prostate Cancer Progression, which offers a framework for assessing prognosis and management of prostate cancer and led the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Working Group in an international effort to develop standards for prostate cancer trials.

He is the primary investigator for the Memorial Sloan Kettering Prostate Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence, which uses a biomarker-based and risk-adapted approach to improve the understanding of the prostate tumor growth drivers.

Gynecologic Cancers

Robert F. Ozols, MD

Fox Chase Cancer Center (Retired)

Ozols was the first Audrey Weg Schaus and Geoffrey Alan Weg Chair in Medical Science at Fox Chase Cancer Center, where he also served as senior vice president and chief clinical officer until his retirement in 2008.

Ozols is recognized as a leader in chemotherapy research in ovarian cancer. Along with Robert C. Young, MD, a 2021 Giant of Cancer Care in gynecologic cancer, Ozols contributed to the understanding of how tumors develop resistance, as well as strategies for overcoming such resistance.

He has developed new clinical approaches to treating patients with ovarian cancer, such as combination chemotherapy regimens of carboplatin and paclitaxel. He also developed pharmacologic techniques to reverse resistance in anticancer therapies.

Ozols also served as head of the Experimental Therapeutics Section of the Medicine Branch at the National Cancer Institute.

In 2012, he was recognized with the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Distinguished Achievement Award for his oncology leadership and achievements.

Leukemia

Stephen J. Forman, MD

City of Hope

Forman is director of the Hematologic Malignancies Research Institute, a professor in the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, principal investigator of Lymphoma SPORE, director of the T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory, and codirector of the Hematologic Malignancies Program, Comprehensive Cancer Center, all at City of Hope.

His expertise lies in leukemia, lymphoma, and bone marrow transplantation, and he is a coeditor of the textbook, Thomas’ Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, which was published for clinicians, scientists, and health care professionals.

Within the laboratory, Forman works alongside translational research scientists in chimeric antigen receptor–engineered T-cell treatment. His research has led to the reduction of cytomegalovirus complications in transplant patients and of disease recurrences across malignancies.

He developed the primary plan for the City of Hope Lymphoma Specialized Program of Research Excellence, which is designed to create preventive strategies and novel treatments and bring them into the clinical trial setting for patients with lymphoma.

Forman’s early research to bridge gaps for nonrelated matched and partially matched donors through molecular typing culminated in decades of programs to expand treatment options such as through the creation of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Research Network, in which he served as an investigator.

Under his leadership, City of Hope has performed more than 17,000 bone marrow and stem cell transplantations. In 2019, it was stated that the center conducts nearly 800 transplants annually.

Lung Cancer

David P. Carbone, MD, PhD

The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–James

Carbone is director of the James Thoracic Center, coleader of the Translational Therapeutics Program, director of the Thoracic Oncology Center, and the Barbara J. Bonner Chair in Lung Cancer Research all at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–James.

His research focus is the molecular genetics of lung tumors, which includes understanding the specific cells and genetic markers in each patient’s lung cancer and developing targeted agents to these molecularly driven malignancies.

Carbone is highly regarded for developing molecular profiling in lung cancers and preneoplasia, especially mass spectrometry–based proteomics, and the development of novel therapeutics in response to those molecular factors. For example, he was senior author on a multi-cohort cross-institutional study showing that a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry algorithm was able to classify patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as having good or positive outcomes following EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy.

He has been an investigator on multiple phase 3 trials, including CheckMate 9LA (NCT03215706) of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) plus chemotherapy in NSCLC.

His previous positions include director of the Thoracic/Head and Neck Cancer Program at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, where he also served as director and principal investigator of the Vanderbilt Specialized Program of Research Excellence in Lung Cancer and principal investigator of the Strategic Partnering to Evaluate Cancer Signatures in Lung Cancer UO1 consortium. He is also a past president of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (2016-2017).

Lymphoma

Fernando Cabanillas, MD

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Cabanillas is chairman of Auxilio Centro de Cáncer in Puerto Rico, and a professor of medicine at University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine. He is an adjunct professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Cabanillas was among the first investigators to identify salvage therapies for patients with relapsed lymphomas and curative regimens for those with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphomas; these treatments included ifosfamide-based combinations.

He was the lead author for a study showing that MIME (methyl-GAG plus ifosfamide, methotrexate, and etoposide) extended relapse-free and median overall survival for patients with recurrent/refractory lymphoma.

He was also a coauthor for studies showing that adding rituximab to hyperfractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone (R-hyper-CVAD) improved outcomes for adults with Burkitt-type lymphoma and B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

In 2019, Cabanillas published data showing that gemcitabine, rituximab (Rituxan), and oxaliplatin followed by lenalidomide (Revlimid; GROC-Rev) was effective as a salvage regimen for patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Myeloma

Nikhil C. Munshi, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Munshi is the Kraft Family Chair, director of multiple myeloma immune effector cell therapy, and director of basic and correlative science at the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is also a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

He has been described by the International Myeloma Society (IMS) as a “major force” in both basic science and translational medicine, with research efforts dedicated to improving the understanding of genomic changes in multiple myeloma.

A further discovery in his laboratory was that telomerase inhibitors can induce telomere shortening, which, in turn, allows apoptosis to occur.

Through his investigations on immunotherapy and immune-gene therapy against novel targets and antigens in myeloma, Munshi discovered that a decreased number and activity of T-regulatory cells in myeloma could define the ideal time for peptide- and protein-based vaccination strategies.

Additionally, his laboratory team identified cytokines constructed in the bone marrow microenvironment that are responsible for T-regulatory cell dysfunction. This discovery allowed for the ability to target cytokines that then improve T-cell homeostasis.

Prevention/Genetics

Deb Schrag, MD, MPH

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Schrag is chair of the Department of Medicine and the George J. Bosl Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Her research efforts focus on care delivery innovation, which includes health system–level interventions and practical clinical trials. Previously, she established and led the Clinical Effectiveness Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Schrag is leading the ongoing, prospective, interventional, multicenter PATHFINDER study (NCT04241796), which is evaluating the application of an earlier version of the Galleri test in clinical practice. Galleri uses a single blood draw to detect multiple cancer types.

Findings from PATHFINDER, which enrolled 6600 patients, presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress 2022 showed the feasibility of Galleri as a potential screening method that complements existing modalities.

Schrag is the principal investigator for the ongoing, multicenter, National Cancer Institute–run phase 2/3 PROSPECT trial (NCT01515787), which is evaluating FOLFOX (folinic acid, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin) vs 5-fluorouracil/capecitabine and radiation therapy prior to surgery in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.

Supportive, Palliative, and/or Geriatric Care

Eduardo Bruera, MD

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Bruera is chair of the Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation, and Integrative Medicine, a professor of medicine, the F.T. McGraw Chair in the Treatment of Cancer, and medical director of the Department of Supportive Care Center at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Among his accolades, Bruera founded the first academic fellowship program in palliative care at the University of Alberta in Canada. At The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bruera established the Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine, which has become the largest clinical and academic palliative care program in the world.

He is credited with the development of the Edmonton Injector, the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System, and the patient-reported outcome–Edmonton Staging System for Cancer Pain. The latter considers pain mechanism, incident pain, psychological distress, addictive behavior, and normal cognition to classify and stage patients for optimal management of their pain.

Bruera has deepened the field’s understanding of autonomic failure in advanced cancer, led the development of hypodermoclysis and proctoclysis as methods of hydration, and pioneered the use of methadone for the management of cancer pain.

Bruera has helped to establish numerous palliative care programs in Latin America, India, and Europe. He has held leadership roles with the World Health Organization, the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, and the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care.

Surgical Oncology

Eleftherios “Terry” Mamounas, MD, MPH

Orlando Health

Mamounas is medical director of the Comprehensive Breast Program at the University of Florida Health Cancer Institute at Orlando Health, a professor of surgery at University of Central Florida College of Medicine, and clinical professor of clinical sciences at Florida State University College of Medicine.

He is chair of the NRG Oncology Breast Committee and past chair of the Breast Committee at the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP).

He was the lead author for subgroup analysis of the KATHERINE trial (NCT01772472), which showed that adjuvant ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; Kadcyla) induced clinical benefit across patient subgroups vs trastuzumab (Herceptin) for patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer without increasing risk for central nervous system recurrence.

Mamounas also led the NRG Oncology/NSABP B-42 trial (NCT00382070) establishing that, for women with postmenopausal breast cancer, extended letrozole treatment did not significantly improve disease-free survival following 5 years of aromatase inhibitor-based therapy.

In a combined analysis of 2 NSABP neoadjuvant trials that Mamounas led of patients with breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, results showed that age, clinical tumor characteristics before chemotherapy, and pathologic nodal status/breast tumor response after chemotherapy can predict risk for locoregional recurrence and optimize adjuvant radiation use in these patients.

Mamounas is a past member of the Susan G. Komen Scientific Advisory Council and has authored or coauthored more than 400 abstracts, manuscripts, and book chapters.

Translational Science

Charles Swanton, MD

The Francis Crick Institute University College London Cancer Institute

Swanton is chief clinician and director Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence, chair in Personalized Cancer Medicine at the University College London Hospitals, and principal group leader at the Francis Crick Institute.

Research efforts from his laboratory discovered that cancer cytotoxics, HLA loss of heterozygosity, cancer genome doubling events, DNA replication stress, and the APOBEC3B cytidine deaminase precipitate cancer diversity. In turn, this accelerates cancer evolution and is the foundation for treatment resistance and failure.

His laboratory, the Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory, has conducted several seminal firstin-human studies elucidating requirements for effective immune-based therapies, which uses a uniform population of ex vivo expanded antigen-specific T cells.

Swanton is the principal investigator of the TRACERx clinical trial (NCT01888601), which is investigating the genomic landscape of non–small cell lung cancer and is designed to determine how tumors evolve, metastasize, and develop resistance. The study aims to collect and analyze genomic data to identify patients who could benefit from trials of new targeted treatments in the United Kingdom.