The Research Evangelist

I often write about how “we are all in this together”.   Though I’m a lung cancer survivor, I am a passionate advocate for cancer research for all different types of cancer. And as we are learning, precision medicine is more about identifying the genetic abnormalities that cause cancer, and less about where the cancer presents itself.   And so it was an honor to attend the recent press conference and reception announcing a broad coalition of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, basic and clinical investigators and representatives from GBM advocacy communities, including the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR), who gathered at the National Press Club today to announce “GBM AGILE,” a next-generation clinical trial for brain cancer. This year approximately 12,000 adults in the United States and tens of thousands more around the globe will receive a diagnosis of GBM, the most aggressive and deadliest form of brain tumor. These patients fac

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, but I hadn’t thought about how I would participate as a lung cancer survivor until late last week.   As it turned out, I had a great weekend that helped me kick off the month. On Friday, I had meetings in Boston, so I made plans to also have lunch with Janet Freeman-Daily , who was in Boston for the Partners Connected Health Symposium. Janet is a well-known lung cancer advocate who spends her time “supporting others in online forums, raising awareness (through writing, blogging and public speaking), collaborating with lung cancer nonprofits and researchers, and participating in a clinical trial. I tweet as @JFreemanDaily and share moderator duties for Lung Cancer Social Media (#LCSM) tweetchats on Thursdays at 8 PM ET.” What an honor to meet and spend time with Janet, and share our lung cancer journeys. She is so committed to education and advocacy! On Saturday, I had the privilege of joining Chris Draft and Linnea Duff at the Boston

The final piece of the puzzle is now in place. I’ve been writing about the promise of liquid biopsy in cancer detection and treatment for several months and specifically about Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) research being done at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) by Dr. Daniel Haber, Director of the MGH Cancer Center.   On Thursday, I met Dr. Haber to discuss his research, and now I am even more determined and excited to support his work. Though the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) has supported Dr. Haber’s research since 2004, I had never personally met him.   NFCR support had helped lead to a $30 million strategic relationship with Johnson & Johnson to commercialize his CTC Chip, so I was obviously impressed by his work.   But because I have a personal mantra that “It’s about relationships”, it was important for me to meet Dr. Haber to solidify my commitment to raising funds to support his research. So let me tell you that I am equally impressed with Danie

  My heart is broken. Dave Bjork, Cancer Research Evangelist has had a tough week. My friend Stephen Muir passed away yesterday. He was 45 years old, never smoked, but died of stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer. Wow. Diagnosed August 8 th , died September 4 th .   Wow. I’ve been gearing up for a major fundraising effort this fall to support the research of Dr. Daniel Haber, the Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. The sad irony is that my friend Stephen’s story is so profoundly relevant to the research I am supporting. I feel like there is a reason and a purpose for my friendship with Stephen to make a difference in the work that I do at the National Foundation for Cancer Research. Tumors change over time, often developing resistance to treatment. To remain effective, targeted therapies need to address these tumor changes as they occur. That requires constant monitoring of tumors, so that doctors can make appropriate adjustments to patients’ treat

I’ve been writing a lot about the Precision Medicine Initiative because I am excited about this approach to cancer treatment, and the advancements being made.   The National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) has supported cancer research for all cancers since 1973, and is taking a leadership role in educating the public about how cancer treatment has less to do with the location of the tumor, and more to do with the genetic abnormalities.   Yet today, it’s still the case in most medical care systems that cancers are classified mainly by the type of tissue or part of the body in which they presented—breast, lung, brain, colon, etc. But thanks to advances in scientific knowledge and DNA sequencing technology, things are changing, and researchers are discovering that cancers that arise in totally different parts of the body can sometimes have a lot in common. This is leading to rethinking how we approach clinical trials. For example, The NCI-Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choi

Cancer hit close to home for me again this week.   A friend of mine in Washington, DC was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer – age 44 non-smoker.   My heart is broken for him and his beautiful family.   At the same time, it reinforces my commitment to raising money for cancer research, including research that would help my friend. It also reminds me of how fortunate I am to live in Massachusetts, and to participate in the scientific community of innovation in Boston and Cambridge.   The National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) has supported cancer research in laboratories in Boston for many years, at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dana Farber, Beth Israel and MIT.   Greater Boston truly is one of the most important centers for innovation in the world, and I spend a lot of time here, exploring potential collaborations with leaders in the biotech, venture capital, and academic medical research communities. Boston and Cambridge are home to so many innovative scientific organiz

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved Iressa (gefitinib) for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors harbor specific types of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations.      This new approval extends only to patients whose tumors express specific mutations, originally identified by National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR)-supported scientist Daniel Haber, M.D., Ph.D. at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), which make them especially responsive to the drug. With this approval, metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients whose tumors have EGFR mutations now have three personalized treatment options.   It was Dr. Haber’s landmark research in 2004 that first identified the specific EGFR mutations that predict which patients will have a positive response to Iressa. In making its ruling, the FDA cites a recent clinical trial , which directly credits Dr. Haber’s research as instru

I continue to be encouraged by advances in the use of circulating tumor cell (CTC) analysis in cancer treatment, but so much work needs to be done.   In a recent study led by Martine Mazel from University Medical Centre in Montpellier, France , researchers have demonstrated the ability to gauge PD-L1 expression from liquid biopsies of metastatic breast cancer patients.   Immune checkpoint regulators are becoming increasing important and have given rise to the development of immunotherapies for cancer treatment. PD-L1 is an immune checkpoint regulator targeted by a number of approved and developmental oncology therapies.    Using the CELLSEARCH® System developed by Janssen Diagnostics, researchers tested blood samples from 16 women with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer and found 11 patients had a subpopulation of CTCs with weak or strong PD-L1 expression. These results indicate that CTC analysis for PD-L1 expression is feasible and when confirmed,

So here’s the promise.   I’ve written before about circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and blood biopsies, as many of us in the cancer research community continue to see tremendous opportunities.   Currently, the most immediate applications for CTC technology are likely to be the genotyping of cancers for which mutation-targeted therapies are effective.    According to a paper published in Cancer Discovery , Drs. Daniel A. Haber and Victor E. Velculescu hypothesize that these will involve “predominantly the approved indications for non–small cell lung cancer ( EGFR and EML4–ALK mutations) and melanoma (BRAF), as well as upcoming applications for BRAF + EGFR–directed therapies in colorectal cancer and PIK3CA - targeted treatments in breast cancer and other cancers.” Further, “these applications are likely to increase as additional genotype-driven therapies are developed, and though they constitute a small subset of all cancers, broad testing even in cases at relatively low risk is impor

It’s been a whirlwind month for the Play4TheCure program at the National Foundation for Cancer Research ( NFCR ).   In June I saw firsthand the transformation from pink to lavender as student athletes continued to support cancer research for ALL CANCERS - with lacrosse joining the field hockey and soccer communities to Play4TheCure.   Because as we are learning from the  Precision Medicine Initiative and the NCI MATCH trials, potential treatments actually follow a new paradigm: based on targeted treatment of specific “actionable” molecular abnormalities in cancers independent of the organ site. This is a fundamental shift in thinking in driving better results, it is in part an outcome of genomic research and reflective of the research approach NFCR has been supporting for many years. As the Vice President of Development for the National Foundation for Cancer Research, I watched my Play4TheCure team work with The New Hampshire Youth Lacrosse Association and New England Coa

  I spent Sunday in Niantic, CT at the New England Coastal Lacrosse (NECLAX) year-end tournament, the Coastal Jam.   It’s an annual event, where hundreds of youth lacrosse athletes and their families convene for a friendly competition, and celebrate another season of lacrosse.   Play4TheCure is privileged to join the event this year as a charity partner, working with the teams to raise money for cancer research and shine a spotlight on the game of lacrosse.   Play4TheCure is a signature fundraising program of the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR). Through this program, young athletes use their passion for sports to “Play4” loved ones affected by cancer.   The program started as a tribute to a mother fighting cancer and has grown to a powerful movement of tens of thousands of student athletes, playing for the cause. Now Play4TheCure is taking hold in lacrosse programs like NECLAX . But those of us raising money for cancer research know that, like the research i

It’s difficult for the general public to understand how hard it is for the scientific community to make profound discoveries in the laboratory.   Sure, it’s easy to be excited when an announcement is made about some game changing breakthrough.   But it’s not so easy to see how hard it is to get there.   We hear a lot now about the genetics of cancer, the genetics of resistance, and the genomics of a patient that is leading us to “precision medicine”.     It’s bold, and holds so much promise, exactly what we all hope for.   But of course, the boldest ideas have the longest road to travel.   The out-there science is slow to translate into real-life cures for patients.    As I discussed in my last post, there is a real crisis in the cancer research field and in science in general, because young scientists and those who want to be scientists, are finding it difficult to get financial support. The U.S. must recognize that if there are no young scientists, there will be no pipeline, there

This past week, I had the pleasure of meeting Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and Harvard Medical School Professor of Genetics, Dr. Fred Alt. They were both in Washington, DC for the presentation of the 2015 NFCR Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research, which was awarded to Dr. Alt and keynoted by Sen. Markey.   The common theme I heard from both of these distinguished leaders was captured in a Huffington Post article written by Sam Stein , who attended the event . Stein succinctly wrote that “U.S. Science has never been more imperiled”. He noted that the lack of funding for basic scientific research not only prevents new discoveries, but it also means that we are losing promising scientists whose work can’t get funded.    10 years ago, nearly a third of qualified research was funded by NIH.   Now that number is only 14% (actually even lower for oncology, near 9%).   As Sen. Markey said, “sadly, support for scientific research in our country is fragile”.   And whe

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), tumor cells that are shed from primary tumors in the body and carried through the circulation, were discovered some 140 years ago.   Researchers have struggled to create an efficient way of capturing these elusive and rare cancer cells, and perform genetic analysis to learn about their growth characteristics and molecular evolution. I’m inspired and encouraged by the work of Dr. Bert Vogelstein, at Johns Hopkins.   Dr. Vogelstein is credited with having proved that damaged DNA causes cancer.   Nearly every type of cancer sheds DNA into the bloodstream, so Vogelstein and his colleagues are trying to prove that cancer can be diagnosed much earlier -- perhaps decades earlier -- using a procedure called "liquid biopsy." But the technology isn't clinic-ready yet, and the screening process is still too expensive.   We are nowhere near the reality of liquid biopsy being used in, for instance, your annual check-up.   Making such screening

I’ve been thinking about these two words recently. Yesterday marked the 17th anniversary since my lobectomy surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. This deeply personal experience has led me to embrace gratitude and trust as key components to both my personal life and career. So I’m in kind of a unique position to hopefully make an impact on the world.   I have abundant gratitude personally for being a lung cancer survivor.   And I sincerely believe trust is the foundation of every relationship, every encounter in my personal and professional life.   My motivation and commitment are based on sincere interest in helping move cancer research from the laboratory to the patient bedside, because I have been there. It defines me. This is the blending of my personal story and my professional life.   Gratitude and Trust . Gratitude: Surviving cancer…what could you be more grateful for?   But it’s more than that.   It has made me appreciate everything.   My gratitude is e

My life really has been quite an odyssey. I looked up the definition of odyssey recently: " a long series of wanderings or adventures, especially when filled with notable experiences, hardships, etc." My lung cancer experience was one of those hardships I guess.  But more importantly, it totally changed the way I looked at everything; my family, my friends, my work, my future... When you are told you have a life threatening illness like cancer, you become vulnerable.  But you also gain an inner strength to not only fight the disease, but do something!  I wanted to help other cancer patients get information to make informed decisions about their treatment options.  I was lucky, I lived in Boston, and had access to great care at Massachusetts General Hospital.  But being from Minnesota, where many of my relatives lived in rural areas, I wanted them to have the same benefit. So I became an advocate for patient education, and started to learn about cancer research.

I remember the exact moment as if it was yesterday. I was out for dinner with friends when my cell phone rang. It was my doctor from Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Lee Kaplan. I thought it was strange for him to call me at night. “Dave, it’s Lee. You need to come in to see me…we found a tumor on your lung.” My world stopped. I was a young, nonsmoker with boys were 5, 3 and 1 years old. This news stopped me dead in my tracks. If you've been diagnosed with cancer, or a loved one has, you know EXACTLY what I felt.  My life was forever changed. There were appointments with respiratory specialists, CT scans, MRIs, surgeons, and lots of time to worry “am I going to die?” After the lobectomy (removal of half of my left lung), came months of treatment and painful recovery. I kept telling myself, “one day at a time…one hour at a time…one minute at a time”. I am so thankful for my wife Missi who helped take care of me, while keeping things together for our family. It made me see the wo