The James Cancer-Free World Podcast

The OSUCCC - James Drug Development Institute is helping great scientists take their new discoveries and cancer-fighting drugs from the "bench" in the lab to the "bedside" to help patients. Dr Patrick takes us through the long, difficult and expensive process.

The cancer rates are often higher for minority groups. The diagnoses come at later stages, when the cancers are harder to treat. Fewer African Americans and other minority groups undergo screenings, get vaccinations and enroll in clinical trials - and the overall death rate is higher for minorities, especially for black men. Why? Dr Gray discusses the reason and how he and many others at the James...

Dr. Ramaswamy explains how clinical trials work, and why they are so important in creating a cancer-free world. “Every drug we use today was once part of a clinical trial," she said. "And we’re curing more and more people because of clinical trials.”

Peter is the Deputy Director of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center … and a lung cancer expert. In this episode, he fills us in on the Pelotonia-funded Beating Lung Cancer in Ohio (BLC-IO). In this new clinical trial, Stage 4 lung cancer patients from all over Ohio receive advanced genetic testing to determine the best treatment for their cancer. This cutting-edge program will sa...

CAR T-cell gene therapy is a new treatment with great promise. T cells from the body's immune system are removed, genetically altered to make them stronger and more efficient - and then put back in a patient's body, where they attack and kill cancer cells. Dr. Jaglowski describes the process ... and talks about her own cancer journey and how it changed her life.

Three of the top docs from the James discuss their own cancer journeys. How their diagnosis and treatment changed them as doctors and scientists, how it changed them as spouses and parents. And how a cancer diagnosis made them even more determined to help create a cancer-free world.

Dr. Carbone is the Director of the James Thoracic Center and is a lung cancer specialist. He’s also an expert on a new and very exciting cancer treatment: Immunotherapy. Immunotherapy helps the body’s immune system recognize, attack and kill cancer cells and is a big step forward in creating a cancer-free world.

The Ohio Prevention and Treatment of Endometrial Cancer (OPTEC) initiative is a statewide program funded by Pelotonia. It provides genetic testing and precision cancer treatment to about 700 Ohio women diagnosed with endometrial cancer. About 61,000 women are diagnosed every year with endometrial cancer and about 17 percent will die. The goal of OPTEC is to change the standard of care, identify at...

The James is saving lives through the Ohio Colorectal Cancer Preventive Initiative. This Pelotonia-funded statewide initiative tested more than 3,000 Ohio colon-cancer patients to determine if they had Lynch Syndrome, an inherited genetic mutation that greatly increases their risk and possibly their families risk of several types of cancer. Genetic testing is the key if someone knows they have Lyn...

Pelotonia is a an incredible community of people united for one cause: To End Cancer. This growing community of riders, virtual riders and volunteers includes many James doctors and researchers. Here are the top Pelotonia memories from Mike Caligiuri, Dave Cohn, William Farrar, Raphael Pollock, Electra Paskett, Sameek Roychowdhury, Heather Hampel, David Carbone and Jennifer Hargett

Join us as we get to know the new director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Pollock has had a remarkable career as an oncology surgeon, specializing in soft-tissue sarcomas, as a researcher and as a leader. He's excited about the new challenge of leading one of the nation's top cancer research centers, and fills us in on some future research directions.

Dr. Farrar is the interim CEO of The James. His career began in 1975 under the mentorship of Dr. Arthur James, the hospital's namesake, who as early as the 1950s had a vision for a world-class free standing cancer hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Farrar has been in a leader in cancer treatment and research at The James and the Spielman Comprehensive Breast Center, and he had a front row seat as Dr....

March 4 is HPV Awareness Day. The HPV vaccination could virtually eliminate cervical cancer and greatly reduce the incidence of several other types of cancer. But myths and misunderstandings have kept the number of children who receive the vaccine alarmingly low. Dr. Paskett walks us through the ABCs of HPV and the life-saving importance of the vaccination.

Genetic mutations can cause cancer. In today’s episode, we talk with Heather Hampel, LGC, a genetic counselor at The James. She’ll discuss the breast cancer gene and the colon cancer gene, the difference between hereditary and acquired mutations … and the red flags in someone’s family history that indicate problems.

In the premier episode of The James Cancer-Free World Podcast, we talk with a cancer detective: Sameek Roychowdhury, MD, PhD. He’ll explain how breakthroughs in genetic coding now allow doctors to detect and target the mutations causing a patient’s cancer … and, in many cases, bring patients back from the brink.