Philadelphia - The board of directors of Fox Chase Cancer Center has selected Michael V Seiden, MD, PhD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center to become president and chief executive officer of Fox Chase effective June 1, board chairman William J. Avery announced.

A board-certified medical oncologist, Dr. Seiden, 48, currently leads the gynecologic cancer program at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and is chief of the clinical research unit in Massachusetts General Hospital’s Division of Cancer Medicine.

“I am honored and excited to be joining Fox Chase Cancer Center and working with a committed team of individuals in improving the lives of people with cancer now and in the future,” Dr. Seiden said.

At Fox Chase, Seiden will succeed Robert C. Young, MD, as head of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, which treats some 6,500 new patients a year and employs more than 2,500 people. Last fall Dr. Young, 67, announced his intention to step down after serving 18 years as Fox Chase president. The board elected Seiden following a highly competitive national search.

“Michael Seiden is a strong visionary with a bold plan for Fox Chase,” Avery said. “His impeccable leadership background promises remarkable success for Fox Chase in the coming decades. “He is a compassionate clinician and an insightful scientist with an unwavering commitment to both patient care and cancer research that is matched by a keen business judgment. His passion for the abundant opportunities presented by new discoveries about cancer and new research and clinical technology assures that Fox Chase will continue to take the lead in innovative cancer treatment and prevention strategies and internationally acclaimed cancer research.

“The recruitment of such an outstanding clinical scientist is a stellar example of how a world-class cancer center can obtain the very best leaders,” Avery added. “We welcome him to Fox Chase and to Philadelphia.”

In addition to heading clinical research and gynecologic oncology programs, Dr. Seiden’s present responsibilities include serving as associate professor of medicine at Harvard and physician coordinator of the cancer stem-cell project at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC). His research focuses on clinical and translational studies in ovarian cancer. He also trains and mentors fellows and junior faculty within the ovarian cancer program.

He is principal investigator for the ovarian cancer tumor biology laboratory at Massachusetts General and co-principal investigator of DF/HCC’s NCI grant for a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in ovarian cancer. His laboratory has also begun studies to identify and characterize the ovarian-cancer stem cell through SPORE and support through the Harvard Stem Cell Institute at Harvard Medical School.

Born in Queens, N.Y., Seiden received his undergraduate degree magna cum laude at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, in 1980. In 1986, he simultaneously earned his MD and PhD through the Medical Science Training Program in Immunology at Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Seiden completed his internship and residency in medicine at Massachusetts General, serving as chief resident in 1991. He was a fellow in medicine at Harvard, held a three-year clinical fellowship in medical oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and completed a one-year bone-marrow transplant fellowship there. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular pathology at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Seiden joined the Harvard medical faculty as an instructor in 1991 and became an assistant professor in 1994 before becoming associate professor in 2003.

His recent honors include being named as Massachusetts Breast Cancer Scholar in 1995 and again in 2000 and 2001. He has successfully competed for a Clinical Interface Award funded through the Doris Duke Foundation. He also has been an invited lecturer at the international ovarian cancer forums sponsored by England’s Helene Harris Memorial Trust in 2001, 2005 and 2007. Seiden is active in many professional organizations and editorial boards and serves on national and international committees and advisory boards.

Fox Chase Cancer Center was founded in 1904 in Philadelphia as the nation’s first cancer hospital. In 1974, Fox Chase became one of the first institutions designated as a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center. Fox Chase conducts basic, clinical, population and translational research; programs of prevention, detection and treatment of cancer; and community outreach.

Fox Chase Cancer Center Offers GPS-like Tracking Technology

During Prostate Cancer Treatment

Fox Chase Cancer Center is the first institution in the eastern United States to offer real-time tracking of the prostate gland during radiation treatment with IMRT (intensity-modulated radiation therapy).

Called Calypso, the new technology works like a GPS system for the prostate allowing continuous monitoring of the gland during the treatment for the most precise delivery of high-dose radiation.

Precision is paramount when targeting tumors with high radiation doses. Organs such as the prostate can shift position. Tracking the organ’s movement during treatment lets physicians adjust the treatment as necessary.

The implantation of tiny seeds in the prostate permits the real-time tracking. Called Beacon® Electromagnetic Transponders, these tiny transmitters continuously send signals to receivers in the radiation treatment room. The receivers are linked with a computer that alerts technicians when the prostate moves an unacceptable amount (usually a few millimeters) during treatment. The treatment can be adjusted based on this movement to ensure greater accuracy.

“We treat with high doses of radiation, which provides the best chance of a cure for prostate cancer,” explained Eric Horwitz, MD, clinical director in the radiation oncology department at Fox Chase Cancer Center. “It’s critical that we precisely target the prostate and minimize radiation dose to the healthy structures nearby such as the rectum and bladder.”

Dr. Horwitz says movement of the prostate during treatment can be caused by normal bladder and rectum functions. If these structures receive more radiation than is intended, the patient could have unwanted side effects such as increased bowel and bladder frequency and urgency.

The Calypso system received FDA clearance in July 2006.
Surgeons at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital are First in Pennsylvania to Implant
Jarvik 2000 Heart Assist System in Heart Failure Patient

On Monday morning, March 19, cardiac surgeons Scott Silvestry, MD and Linda Bogar, MD at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital opened the chest of a 55-year-old man suffering from chronic heart failure and implanted a Jarvik 2000 Heart Assist System to save his life. The Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant team at Jefferson University Hospital is the first in the state to implant the new device.

In a little more than four hours, the Jarvik 2000 Heart Assist System was helping the man’s heart resume its normal blood flow. Rather than take over for the biological heart, the Jarvik 2000 Heart Assist System augments the weakened heart’s blood output to help to restore a normal flow throughout the body.

“The Jarvik 2000 Heart Assist System is the next generation of assist devices-a smaller, more durable pump that is implanted into the left heart ventricle itself,” explains Dr. Silvestry, surgical director, Heart Transplant Program. “At Thomas Jefferson University Hospital this smaller assist device was implanted without the use of the heart-lung machine through an incision in the left chest. It enables us to provide a less invasive option for use in BTT indication-bridge to transplant-to help patients to become stronger and in better physical condition for a new heart.”

“The Jarvik 2000 Heart Assist System is designed to complement the heart’s own function,” says Paul Mather, MD, director of the Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Center at Thomas Jefferson University, “not to entirely replace it. Our patient should be able to resume a somewhat normal life while wearing the device.”

This device, implanted as part of an FDA-authorized clinical trial, is currently only available in Pennsylvania at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. This is the 200th implant globally of this device.

The Jarvik 2000 Heart Assist System is the smallest and simplest left ventricular assist device available. It is about the size of a C battery and fits directly inside the heart’s left chamber. In the patient’s chest, it pumps blood from the heart at up to seven liters per minute.

Members of the Jefferson Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Center who were involved with the first Jarvik 2000 Heart Assist System to be implanted in Pennsylvania include: transplant surgeon Dr. Silvestry, who is also assistant professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College; Paul Mather, MD, associate professor of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College; Linda Bogar, MD, transplant surgeon and assistant professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College; Linda Sundt, MD, clinical assistant professor of Anesthesiology at Jefferson Medical College and James Diehl, MD, clinical professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College and director, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

A Closer Look Inside Our Lungs: Penn Researchers Develop Two Novel Imaging Techniques Aiming for Earlier Detection of Disease

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are harnessing two new, non-invasive techniques to look more closely inside the working lungs - leading to early detection of diseases, like emphysema, before it becomes evident in other modes of imaging.

“Up until now, imaging the way lungs function in real time has been limited by conventional methods which result in rather low resolution images,” comments Warren Gefter, MD, chief of Thoracic Imaging in the Radiology Department at Penn. “We are developing a way to get a better look inside the lungs by polarizing atoms — making them all spin in the same direction — with magnetic resonance [MR], which allows the atoms to have a strong signal for sharper images.”

Hyperpolarized 3He gas allows radiologists to observe the lung as gas flows in and out, giving them high resolution images of human ventilation. Combining several techniques enables researchers to measure the rate of diffusion of these helium gas molecules, which reflect the size of the air sacs in the lung. This, in turn, allows researchers to detect very early emphysema, even before it’s evident on CT (computed tomography) - providing physicians with additional information in which to make diagnoses and offer treatment.

Dr. Gefter adds, “We have moved from imaging the structure to imaging the function of the lung to a scale well below a millimeter in size. It’s truly groundbreaking.”

To use this extremely powerful research tool, which provides accurate and precise measurements, patients must inhale the helium at the exact right time, after it’s been exposed to a laser light to make all of the atoms spin in the same direction, creating the polarized helium, which then enters the lung.

Utilizing another new MR technique, Penn imaging researchers are pushing the scale of what we see in the lung down to an even smaller level — to the cellular and intracellular level. Investigators have figured out a way in which they hope to look for a “marker” of disease inside the body. In animal models, they are injecting polarized carbon-13-labeled molecules and watching its conversion in real time. They can take images of the carbon-13 as it shuffles through the metabolic steps inside the cell.

Rahim Rizi, PhD, associate professor of Radiology at Penn, explains, “We observe the polarized carbon-13 labeled molecule as it breaks down and releases energy. What this ‘flagged molecule’ converts into could tell us whether the cell is normal or abnormal. This is a whole new approach to molecular imaging. For the first time, we can now follow the C-13 molecule, in real time, as it moves throughout the body to pinpoint the location of disease. It’s real-time molecular imaging. This is revolutionary to MRI technology.”

Penn is one of only a few sites in the world, and the only site on the East Coast, with this capability. Penn researchers hope to translate this technique for use in humans before the end of 2007.

SOURCE: www.hellenicnews.com