• A newly identified genetic marker could potentially predict which patients are likely to respond to immunotherapy in cancer types that have lacked such tools until now, according to a study published in Cancer Immunology Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

• Led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, the study found that tumors with greater number of difficult-to-detect rearrangements of their genetic code — known as intragenic rearrangement burden — may respond better to immunotherapy. The findings could pave the way for more precise treatment decisions for patients with cancers such as breast, ovarian, esophageal, and uterine. Xiaosong (Johnathan) Wang, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology at Pitt and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, was senior author. 

• Research from the University of Pittsburgh explains why metastatic uveal melanoma is resistant to conventional immunotherapies and how adoptive therapy, which involves growing a patient’s T cells outside the body before reinfusing them, can successfully treat this rare and aggressive cancer.

• In a paper published in Nature Communications, the Pitt researchers also explain how they developed a new clinical tool that predicts which patients will respond to adoptive therapy. The work, led by Udai Kammula, MD, associate professor of surgery at Pitt and director of the Solid Tumor Cell Therapy Program at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, is helping improve personalized therapies and avoid futile treatments for metastatic uveal melanoma.

• “There’s evidence that when people get treatment for cancer at accredited facilities specializing in cancer care, they tend to have better outcomes,” says senior author Lindsay Sabik, PhD, associate professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Pitt School of Public Health and member of the Biobehavioral Cancer Control Program at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. “Our findings suggest that Affordable Care Act insurance expansions make a difference for increasing access to care at these centers.”

• A study led by University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center researchers shows that an enzyme called PARP1 is involved in repair of telomeres, the lengths of DNA that protect the tips of chromosomes, and that impairing this process can lead to telomere shortening and genomic instability that can cause cancer.

• In a study, published in Supportive Care in Cancer, Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, and her team developed an approach to implement exercise referral screening into cancer care, which led to 45% of patients being connected to exercise programs or rehabilitation services.

• Surgery involving sentinel lymph node biopsy for middle-aged women with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer may do more harm than good, according to a new study led by University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center researchers. The team used a novel artificial intelligence pipeline developed by Realyze Intelligence, a UPMC Enterprises portfolio company, to analyze electronic health records.

• The findings, published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, suggest that clinical guidelines for de-escalating surgery in women aged over 70 years with early-stage ER+ breast cancer may be safely extended to post-menopausal patients 55 or older. Emilia Diego, MD, associate professor of surgery and chief of the Breast Surgery Division at Pitt and co-director of the Breast Cancer Program at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, was senior author.

• University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center researchers have developed a novel prompt, or “nudge,” embedded in the electronic health record that could reduce overtreatment of older patients with early-stage breast cancer.

• In a paper published in JAMA Surgery, the team found that the rate of a surgical procedure called sentinel lymph node biopsy was almost halved among eligible patients after implementing the nudge, suggesting that this simple reminder could decrease the risks associated with lymph node surgery among older patients with breast cancer. Priscilla McAuliffe, MD, PhD, associate professor of surgery at Pitt School of Medicine and breast surgical oncologist at UPMC Hillman and UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital was senior author.

• University of Pittsburgh researchers uncovered how immunotherapies targeting the immune checkpoints PD1 and LAG3 work together to activate immune responses. The findings shed light on why combination therapies targeting both checkpoints can improve outcomes for melanoma patients compared to monotherapies targeting only PD1.

• Dario A. A. Vignali, PhD, chair and distinguished professor of the Department of Immunology at Pitt, was senior author on two of the papers. Other collaborators included John Kirkwood, MD, distinguished service professor of medicine at Pitt and director of the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Program at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and Tullia Bruno, PhD, assistant professor of immunology at Pitt, and lead author Anthony Cillo, PhD, assistant professor of immunology at Pitt.

• Cancer patients who received specialized mental health support as part of their treatment plan are more likely to see improvements in their quality of life and reductions in pain, depression and fatigue, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Their findings were published in The Lancet.

• Published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Center Network, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center researchers and colleagues found that the administration of G-CSF during neoadjuvant therapy was associated with worse oncologic outcomes and overall survival in patients with resected pancreatic cancer. Amer Zureikat, MD, chief of Surgical Oncology at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, was senior author of the study.

• Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, exercise oncology researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, has been selected by The President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition to receive a 2024 Lifetime Impact Award. Dr. Schmitz is a nationally and internationally known scientist in exercise oncology. In her more than 25-year career, her evidence-based research on the value and implementation of physical activity programs as part of cancer treatment plans has helped to transform the standard of care in cancer to include exercise.

• Steffi Oesterreich, PhD, received the 2024 AACR Distinguished Lectureship in Breast Cancer Research, presented by the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and American Association for Cancer Research. The award recognizes outstanding science that has inspired or has the potential to inspire new perspectives on the etiology, diagnosis, treatment or prevention of breast cancer.

• Dr. Wipf, co-director of UPMC Hillman’s Cancer Therapeutics Research Program and Distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry, is one of the universities most prolific and collaborative inventors. His 77 patents, and counting, are the most of any active Pitt faculty member. Dr. Greenberger, Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Radiation Oncology, is a pioneer in creating small molecules for preventing and treating radiation exposure damage, either from chemotherapy in cancer treatment, or exposure from nuclear power plants or weapons.

• UPMC Hillman researchers recognized were Drs. Greg Delgoffe, Kirk Erickson, Valerian Kagan, John Kirkwood, Jeremy Rich, Yulia Tyurina, Dario Vignali, and Simon Watkins.
  
  

• Yana G. Najjar, MD, is now chair of the Immunotherapeutics/Cancer Immune Monitoring and Analysis Centers Subcommittee within the Developmental Therapeutics Committee. Dr. Najjar is a translational investigator and cutaneous oncologist at the University of Pittsburgh and the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, where she is also an associate professor of medicine and director of the Clinical and Translational Research Center.
  
  

These physicians are part of the Top Doctors^® list, which is compiled by Castle Connolly. The Castle Connolly Top Doctor selection process is entirely merit-based. Castle Connolly’s peer-to-peer nominations and rigorous research process ensure only the most qualified physicians are included.

Gynecologic Oncology

Robert P. Edwards, MD
Alexander B. Olawaiye, MD
Paniti Sukumvanich, MD

Hematology

Lanie K. Francis, MD
Jing-Zhou Hou, MD, PhD
Stanley Marks, MD
Enrico M. Novelli, MD
Anastasios Raptis, MD
Alison R. Sehgal, MD

Medical Oncology

Afaq Ahmad, MD
Leonard J. Appleman, MD, PhD
Jason Bierenbaum, MD
Adam M. Brufsky, MD, PhD
Diwakar Davar, MD
Kathleen A. Dorritie, MD
Moon J. Fenton, MD, PhD
Vikram C. Gorantla, MD
Venus A. Hadeed, MD
John M. Kirkwood, MD
Hongmei Liang, MD, PhD
Sajid M. Peracha, MD
Dan P. Petro, MD
Kiran Kumar Rajasenan, MD
Vincent Edgar Reyes, Jr., MD
Roby A. Thomas, MD
Dan P. Zandberg, MD

Radiation Oncology

Parul N. Barry, MD
Steven Burton, MD
Sarahgene Gillianne DeFoe, MD
John Charles Flickinger, MD
Heath Devin Skinner, MD
Ryan P. Smith, MD
Felicia E. Snead, MD
John A. Vargo IV, MD

Surgical Oncology

Emilia J. Diego, MD
David A. Geller, MD
Matthew P. Holtzman, MD
Ronald Johnson, MD
Kenneth K. W. Lee, MD
Priscilla F. McAuliffe, MD, PhD
James F. Pingpank, MD

• Kristin Bialobok, MSN, RN, was named UPMC Hillman’s vice president of Clinical Research. Kristin comes to UPMC Hillman from Kaiser Permanente Northwest, where she most recently served as the clinic manager for the Center for Health Research, providing operational and fiscal oversight for their busy ambulatory clinical trials research clinic.

• Norman Wolmark, MD, received the Medallion for the Advancement of Surgical Care from the American Surgical Association. The American Surgical Association is our nation’s oldest and most prestigious surgical association.
  
  

• Jeffrey Brodsky, PhD, Yuan Chang, MD, and Patrick Moore, MD, MPH, faculty of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and professors of the University of Pittsburgh, were announced as members to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Academy is a beacon of excellence and leadership across a wide range of disciplines with the mission to unite leaders and innovators from every field of human endeavor to advance the public good.

• Bennett Van Houten, PhD, Richard M. Cyert Professor of Molecular Oncology, and professor of pharmacology and chemical biology in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, was among the 502 scientists, engineers, and innovators elected as a 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow.
  

• Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, will oversee our two population science programs, working closely with Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention and Biobehavioral Cancer Control program leadership and staff to roll out new initiatives designed to enhance our population sciences research portfolio.

• At UPMC Hillman, Dr. Moiseeva will develop an independently funded research program in genome stability, which includes collaborative efforts with basic and clinical faculty across the cancer center. She is primarily interested in the investigation of the initiation in DNA replication in human cells.

• Dr. Sheikh treats primarily pediatric and CNS malignancies. He’s also developing an active research program focusing on basic and translational research in pediatric cancers and will work to develop collaborations among other members of the Pediatric Cancers Disease Team and UPMC Hillman.

• As co-director of Magee Women’s Cancer Program, Dr. Balic provides overall direction for the breast cancer program at Pitt and UPMC in coordination with the other discipline co-leaders. As clinical co-leader of WCRC, she provides breast clinical science expertise to guide the mission of the center, represents WCRC at local and national events, and organizes educational and other events. She’s alsodeveloping an active research program focusing on clinical and translational research in breast cancers working closely with other members of the breast cancer disease team and of our cancer center research programs.

• Adam Mueller, MD, PhD, is a radiation oncologist at Mary Hillman Jennings Radiation Oncology at UPMC Shadyside. He is also developing an active translational research program focused on therapeutic resistance.
• Logan Myler, PhD, is developing an independently funded and nationally recognized research program in genome stability, including collaborating with both basic research and clinical faculty across UPMC Hillman. Michelle Williams, PhD, is developing an independently funded and nationally recognized research program in cancer biology, including collaborative efforts with both basic research and clinical faculty at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.

• Dr. Sikder oversees the HSC Lab and IMCPL, and partners with UPMC Hillman Cancer Center leadership to manage and bring in new projects, trials, and medical coverage for these facilities.

• As the inaugural Assistant Center Director for Community Outreach and Engagement, she works closely with the Associate Director for COE, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Community Advisory Board, and the Committee for Health Equity and Community Outreach and Engagement on strategic planning, implementation, and evaluation related to the COE specific aims for our cancer center.