Lori Hazlehurst, PhD, named co-leader of MBRCC Osborn Program

Lori Hazlehurst, PhD, has been named the new co-leader of the MBRCC Alexander B. Osborn Hematopoietic Malignancy and Transplantation Program.  Formerly an associate member of the tumor biology program at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL, Dr. Hazlehurst is a well-established and federally funded researcher in hematologic malignancies, particularly myeloma. Read More

MBRCC spotlights individual winners of the 2014 Awards of Excellence

Beginning this week, MBRCC E-news will shine the spotlight on each faculty and employee of the Cancer Center and the WVU Healthcare Cancer Service Line who won an Award of Excellence in a particular category during the 2014 Awards of Excellence reception at the Cancer Center.  The awardees were nominated by their peers for distinct recognition of exceptional performance in one of several categories including:

• Quality
• Innovation
• Teamwork
• Accountability
• Service

Those categories represent the guiding principles of the MBRCC.  The awardees in the Quality category are:
		Devon Crabtree, RN, BSN, OCN Nurse, 9W-BMTU Ruby Memorial Hospital WVU Healthcare
		Cortney Montgomery, RN, BSN Research Nurse Clinical Trials Research Unit Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center

The Cancer Center began the MBRCC Member and Employee Recognition Awards Program to recognize faculty, physicians, nurses, healthcare staff and other staff and professionals of the Cancer Center and the WVU Healthcare Cancer Service Line in 2012.  

The intent of the program is for colleagues to nominate and recognize excellence amongst WVU faculty and employees, who devote their professional lives to cancer care or cancer research in any and all capacities and roles.

Congratulations to Steven Frisch, PhD

Steven Frisch, PhD, leader of the MBRCC Molecular Mechanisms of EMT and Metastasis Program, has been awarded a grant from the Mary Kay Foundation.  Dr. Frisch’s lab is developing a method for preventing the long-term recurrence of breast cancer subsequent to primary chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.

Mary Kay reviewed more than 60 applicants from some of the most respected institutions in the country and awarded 13 grants in the amount of $100,000 each to researchers whose projects were determined to be the most promising.  The Mary Kay Foundation’s Cancer Research Grant Program is focused exclusively on cancers affecting women. 
Click here to read the news release on the Mary Kay grants

WVU Health Outcomes Research Ph.D. students receive accolades at international meeting

Ph.D. students from the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy were recognized as award recipients at the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) 20th Annual International Meeting. The meeting was held May 16-20 in Philadelphia.

The WVU student chapter of ISPOR received second place for the ISPOR Outstanding Student Chapter Award. Ph.D. students Rahul Garg, chapter president; Doug Thornton, vice president; Arijita Deb, secretary; and Rashmi Goyat, treasurer, along with their chapter adviser, Dr. Kimberly Kelly, associate professor in the WVU School of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical Systems and Policy, accepted the award. Dr. Kelly is also a member of the MBRCC Health Services and Intervention Research Program.
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Special sunscreen concerns covered in WVU Health Report Some occupations, sports or other day-long pursuits may require you to be at the mercy of the sun’s rays for hours on end. Does that sound like your typical summer day? In this WVU Health Report, WVU Medicine's Rolly Sullivan, M.D., speaks with Dermatologist Zachary Zinn, M.D., about special sunscreen concerns.
Watch the video

Congratulations to our colleagues who recently graduated from WVU’s Mountaineer Leadership Academy (MLA), an innovative leadership development initiative at WVU.

They are (l-r) Darla Moats, LPN, clinical research manager of the MBRCC Biospecimen Processing Core Karen Hayes, PhD, post doctoral fellow in Dr. Ivan Martinez’s laboratory Patricia Beal, RN, lead research nurse in the WVU Clinical Trials Research Unit Laila Wallace, OnCore administrator in the WVU Clinical Trials Research Unit Additional MLA graduates missing from the picture are Sue Collins, MSN , RN, Clinical Research Project Manager in the WVU Clinical Trials Research Unit and Alan Thomay, MD, in the WVU Department of Surgery.
Click here to read more about the MLA

WVU Medicine, Garrett County Memorial announce opening of Cancer Center, Clinical Affiliation.

A new Cancer Care and Infusion Services Center, located at Garrett County Memorial Hospital (GCMH) in Oakland, Md., will be a satellite of WVU Medicine’s Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center.

Construction of the new center is slated to begin this month. The facility will welcome its first patient in January 2016.
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Lan Guo, PhD acheives rank of Professor

Congratulations to Lan Guo, PhD, for achieving the rank of professor.  Dr. Guo is an R01 funded researcher in WVU's Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Science at the School of Public Health (SoPH) and the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center.  Guo's lab studies lung cancer prognostic biomarkers and regulatory factors in lung cancer progression.  Her work on lung cancer prognostic gene signatures was nominated for the 2007 CDC Excellence in Science Award.  Her lab also seeks to identify mechanisms and biomarkers predictive of multi-walled carbon nanotube induced pulmonary disease.