Fox Chase Cancer Center News

PHILADELPHIA (August 10, 2010) – Rohit Walia, MD - Staff Radiologist, Radiology, has joined Fox Chase Cancer Center’s Department of Diagnostic Imaging as a staff radiologist.  His clinical expertise is in body imaging, nuclear medicine, and neuroradiology.

PHILADELPHIA (August 5, 2010) – In an important step toward continuing its leadership in providing world-class care to current and future cancer patients and conducting leading-edge research, Fox Chase Cancer Center today appointed Jonathan Chernoff, MD, PhD, to the critical role of Chief Scientific Officer. 

PHILADELPHIA (July 29, 2010) – Over millions of years of evolution, retroviruses, which insert their genetic material into the host genome as part of their replication, have left behind numerous bits of their genetic material in vertebrate genomes. Now, in an unexpected discovery, a team of researchers reports that human and other vertebrate genomes also contain many ancient sequences from two deadly virus families.

Philadelphia (July 15, 2010) – Fox Chase Cancer Center is once again ranked among the leading cancer centers in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report's annual "Best Hospitals" listing. For 16 consecutive years, Fox Chase has been one of the top-ranked cancer centers in all of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. In the nation, the Center is ranked 28th overall this year and 16th in reputation, a measure of how oncology peers assess Fox Chase's expertise in cancer research and treatment.

CHICAGO, IL (June 7, 2010) – Patients with HER2-positive cancers can have dramatic responses to HER2-targeted drugs but eventually develop resistance to the agents. With that problem in mind, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers are testing a novel type of antibody called MM-111 in patients with HER2-positive disease who have progressed on standard therapy.

CHICAGO, IL (June 6, 2010) – Newly reported results from a major clinical trial show that adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to standard frontline chemotherapy for women with advanced ovarian cancer and then continuing a maintenance dose of the drug afterwards significantly extends progression-free survival. Women receiving the new treatment regimen saw no worsening of their disease for 14.1 months, compared to 10.3 months for women receiving standard therapy.

CHICAGO, IL (June 2, 2010) – Fox Chase Cancer Center investigators find that pancreatic cancer patients who have circulating tumor cells tend to have worse outcomes than patients without circulating tumor cells. Additionally, the team has uncovered evidence that not all circulating tumor cells are the same, and some may predict worse outcomes than others.

CHICAGO, IL (June 2, 2010) – Research from Fox Chase Cancer Center shows that patient’s with stage IIIA NSCLC who receive surgery, lobectomy in particular, have increased overall survival compared to those who received chemoradiation alone––those receiving lobectomy plus chemoradation had survival rates that were higher than previously reported as well.