The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute has received the prestigious Accelerator Award from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation for contributions to multiple myeloma research and particularly patient enrollment to clinical trials.
The foundation announced the recipients of the Accelerator Award, as well as the Innovator Award and the Collaborator Award, at the recent 57th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla. Previous winners of the Accelerator Award include some of the top myeloma programs in the country, such as the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Emory University.
"This award reflects the hard work of our entire team," said Jeffrey Zonder, M.D., leader of the myeloma multidisciplinary subgroup for Karmanos and professor of Oncology for the Wayne State University School of Medicine. "Each and every member of the Karmanos myeloma and amyloidosis team -- the doctors, physician extenders, study nurses, our research program coordinator, and the regulatory and data management specialists in the clinical trials office -- contributes to our mission of advancing the field and ensuring that the most innovative therapies are available to patients across Michigan.
"It is particularly gratifying that Karmanos was one of the top enrolling centers to trials conducted by the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium in a year with record-breaking enrollment across all trials," he added.
Each year, the MMRF recognizes the exceptional work of its partners from industry and academia that have played a critical role in fulfilling the mission of the foundation, which is to relentlessly pursue innovative means that accelerate the development of next-generation multiple myeloma treatments to extend the lives of patients and lead to a cure.
"This award underscores the fact that Karmanos is a world leader in cancer research and patient care," said Gerold Bepler, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Karmanos and chair of Oncology for the WSU School of Medicine. "Every day, our doctors work tirelessly to create the therapies that other hospitals will use in the future. I congratulate Dr. Zonder and his entire team for this coveted award and for the exceptional work they do for the benefit of our patients."
Dr. Zonder also shared the results from a randomized Phase II study examining the utility of carfilzomib, plus the novel drug filanesib as therapy for multiple myeloma, in an oral presentation at the ASH meeting. Read about the research here: https://ash.confex.com/ash/2015/webprogram/Paper86432.html.
Additionally, Dr. Zonder chaired and spoke at the highly-regarded Satellite Symposium titled, "Untangling Amyloidosis," which took place before the ASH meeting. Karmanos sponsored the program, which was organized by Silva Pregja, myeloma program coordinator at Karmanos.
Amyloidosis is a rare disease related to multiple myeloma. The symposium covered standard and emerging therapies for amyloidosis, including an investigational immunotherapeutic approach described this month in a Journal of Clinical Oncology article, of which Dr. Zonder was co-author. Read the article here: http://jco.ascopubs.org/cgi/doi/10.1200/JCO.2015.63.6530.
The ASH Annual Meeting is the world's premier event in malignant and non-malignant hematology. The meeting provides an educational experience and an opportunity for oncologists to review thousands of scientific abstracts highlighting updates in the hottest topics in hematology.