Fox Chase Cancer Center News

PHILADELPHIA (October 15, 2010) – Prashant C. Shah, MD, has joined Fox Chase Cancer Center’s Department of Surgical Oncology as an attending surgeon in the Division of Thoracic Oncology. He specializes in complex thoracic cancer cases, minimally invasive foregut/esophageal surgery, VATS lung and mediastinal surgery, and the surgical management of mesothelioma. He also has specialized training in treating patients with many types of benign thoracic surgical problems, such as GERD, hyperhidrosis, Barrett’s esophagus, and achalasia.

PHILADELPHIA (October 12, 2010) – In an unexpected twist, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers find that the loss of a single protein, Nedd9, initially slows cancer formation but then makes the tumors that do arise more aggressive. The good news, though, is that the lack of Nedd9 also makes the aggressive tumors more sensitive to a class of drugs that are already used in the clinic.

PHILADELPHIA (October 10, 2010) – Fox Chase Cancer Center has received a grant from The Philadelphia Foundation’s Lola E. Douglass and Margaret E. Demment funds to launch Prostate REACH, a new initiative aimed at making Fox Chase’s existing Prostate Cancer Risk Assessment Program more accessible to high-risk men through convenient community locations and patient navigation services. 

PHILADELPHIA (October 10, 2010) – When it came time for Ariel Silverman, a 12-year-old Bat Mitzvah candidate from Upper Dublin, to choose her mitzvah project, the choice was clear. She decided to combine her love of dogs with her willingness to support cancer research by raising money for Fox Chase Cancer Center’s annual charity dog-walk—Paws for the Cause.

PHILADELPHIA (September 21, 2010) – Molecularly targeted therapies can reduce tumors rapidly. However, not all tumors respond to the drugs, and even those that do often develop resistance over time. Looking for a way to combat the problem of resistance, researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center hypothesized that hitting already weakened cancer cells with a second targeted agent could kill them—but only if it was the right second agent.

PHILADELPHIA (September 21, 2010) – Barbara Pro, MD, has joined Fox Chase Cancer Center as an attending physician for the department of medical oncology. 

PHILADELPHIA (September 14, 2010) – Fox Chase Cancer Center’s Board of Directors has elected corporate finance lawyer Michael J. Heller to a three-year term of membership. 

PHILADELPHIA (September 7, 2010) - Aurora-A kinase (AurA) is an enzyme that is hyperactive in many cancers and drives tumor cell proliferation. Several AurA inhibitors are currently being tested in clinical trials to see if they slow tumor growth. Now, researchers in the Developmental Therapeutics Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center have identified an activation signal for AurA.