? WOMEN?S CANCER PROGRAM The Duke Cancer Insitute?s Women?s Cancer Program (WC) is a multidisciplinary clinical, basic, and translational research effort whose overall goal is to improve outcomes for women with breast and gynecologic cancers. The broad, long-term goal of the WC Program is to build on and extend current knowledge in the field of breast and gynecological cancers and to develop novel strategies for improving therapeutic results. Significant progress has been made in identifying pathways of pathological importance in cancer and in validation of steps in these pathways as therapeutic targets. However, genetic heterogeneity among cancers, and the utilization of different growth and survival pathways by different tumor types, have made it difficult to realize the therapeutic potential of even the most tractable targets. Thus a central theme of the research being undertaken by members of the Women?s Cancer Program is biological study of breast and gynecological cancers and development of therapeutic strategies tailored to specific cancer subtypes. These efforts have led to identification of potential targets, the modulation of which are likely to selectively impact triple negative breast cancer, endocrine-resistant ER-positive breast cancers, inflammatory breast cancer, or gynecologic cancers. This successful strategy will be continued with efforts to: (a) Elucidate the biological basis of breast and gynecologic cancers with a focus on defining therapeutically actionable pathways and relevant biomarkers; (b) Develop and accrue to innovative clinical trials that build upon the scientific expertise of the program members; (c) Facilitate health services research that optimizes use of health care resources in a cost-effective manner while accounting for personal characteristics of individual patients such as genetic variation in risk and patient preferences; and (d) Provide structured mentoring and career development programs for junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows and students. Reflecting the breadth of the interests and expertise of its constituency, the Program?s activities establish, maintain, and strengthen infrastructure that fosters scientific interaction for research to generate novel strategies for the prevention, detection, and treatment of breast and gynecological cancers. The program is comprised of 29 primary members and 8 secondary members from 11 different departments and 4 schools within Duke University. Total direct funding for primary program members is $14.5M, of which $11.4M is peer reviewed, including $3.5M from the NCI. From 2014-2018, program members published 747 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 26% were intra-programmatic collaborations and 44% were inter-programmatic collaborations. During the current grant period, the program enrolled 2,829 subjects to all trials, 933 to interventional trials, and 342 to treatment trials.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 513 publications
