The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, a part of the NIH, awarded a $6.1 million grant over the next five years to Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) to establish the Center of Excellence for Health Disparities in Washington, DC. Lucile L. Adams-Campbell, PhD, Associate Dean for Community Health and Outreach for GUMC, is a Co-Principal Investigator of the grant. Dr. Adams-Campbell is also Associate Director for Minority Health and Health Disparities Research at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.  
     
Olaide Ifelola Ajayi, MBBS, joined the medical staff at Tennessee Oncology’s Clarksville location, serving as a medical oncologist and hematologist.  
     
Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, was awarded a five-year Clinical Research Professorship grant from the American Cancer Society. The $400,000 award is a renewal of a previous grant to Dr. Arteaga in 2007 and will support his research, which is focused on the study and development of molecule-targeted therapies in breast cancer.  
     
A study led by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators has identified a gene expression pattern that may explain why chemotherapy prior to surgery isn’t effective against some tumors and suggests new therapy options for patients with specific subtypes of breast cancer. Justin M. Balko, PharmD, PhD, served as lead author of the study, which was published online June 10, 2012, inNature Medicine, in advance of print publication.  
     
Hematologist/oncologist Kenneth A. Dressler, MD, received the St. Vincent de Paul Mission Award as St. Vincent’s Medical Center’s 2012 Physician of the Year. Dr. Dressler is Chief of St. Vincent’s Hematology/Medical Oncology Division.  
     
Paul Eder, MD, was named Director of Experimental Therapeutics at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven.  
     
Geraldine M. Jacobson, MD, MPH, MBA, joined the West Virginia University School of Medicine as the founding Chair of the newly established Department of Radiation Oncology.  
     
Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, joined Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven as lead of the genitourinary cancers medical oncology team at Smilow Cancer Hospital, Director of the prostate cancer research group, and Co-Director of the Signal Transduction Research Program.  
     
A new free app developed at the University of Michigan (U-M) Health System allows users to create a photographic baseline of their skin and photograph suspicious moles or other skin lesions, walking users step-by-step through a skin self-exam. Michael Sabel, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery at the U-M Medical School, was the lead physician involved in developing the app.  
     
Max S. Wicha, MD, of the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center, served as senior author on a study that found that an IL-6 inhibitor in combination with trastuzumab may be a valuable addition for treating patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. Results of the study were published in the August 24, 2012, issue of Molecular Cell.  

In Memoriam

J. Michael Carroll, MD
David DeBiose, DO
Isaac Djerassi, MD
James J. Fischer, MD, PhD
Herbert D. Kerman, MD, FACR, FASTRO
Louis D. Meta, MD
James G. Morphis
John R. Mueh, MD
Thomas E. Murphy, MD
Roger W. Rodgers, MD, FACP
Paul W. Scanlon, MD
Stephen Shibata, MD
Hiroya Takiuchi, MD, PhD
Edward E. Tennant
Valentina I. Tzekova, MD, PhD

Please send your submissions for Member News & Networking to ascoconnection@asco.org.

Eligible Members— Cast Your Vote in the 2013 ASCO Election

Voting for new ASCO leaders will open on October 15. The open positions are President-Elect, three seats on the Board of Directors, and three seats on the Nominating Committee. Information on each candidate will be available on ASCO.org.

Eligible voting members are Full Members and Emeritus Members who used to be Full Members.

In order to vote, you will need your ASCO username and password to log in to the voting site.

The election closes on November 20, and results will be announced by January 2013.

Any questions should be directed to ascoelection@asco.org or (571) 483-1316.