Fred Hutch

Sometimes it snows (a bit) in Seattle's South Lake Union Neighborhood. ❄️ Despite the weather, all of our clinics are open and operating on a normal schedule today. Please check weather conditions and keep your safety top of mind as you travel to your appointment(s).

It can be difficult and prohibitively expensive to diagnose cancer in low- and middle-income countries without advanced laboratories, trained technicians or even reliable electricity. And when diagnosed, many patients are unable to afford life-saving medicines. Fred Hutch clinical researcher Dr. Jerald Radich and Pat Garcia-Gonzalez, CEO of The Max Foundation, began a partnership that tackles both of these challenges. Their mission is to bring treatment for CML to all patients around the globe. Radich and his team developed an innovative, inexpensive and low-tech approach to diagnostic testing: doctors spot a patient’s blood onto special paper and send it through regular “snail” mail to the Radich lab in Seattle. There, technicians use advanced PCR methods to detect the BCR-ABL gene, a specific genetic mutation that underlies CML. Once a positive diagnosis is made, the Max Foundation links patients to low- or no-cost medications that can save their lives, thanks to their unique and long-standing partnership with Novartis and other pharmaceutical companies. Last year, they provided diagnostic results to 210 people across 9 countries. 🌍 Read more: https://bit.ly/3QaGcJD #WorldCancerDay

Fred Hutch Cancer Center Senior Vice President and Director of the Clinical Research Division Sara Hurvitz, MD, recently received the inaugural Smith Family Endowed Chair in Women’s Health. The new endowed chair, established by Kathy Surace-Smith, a former life sciences industry executive, and Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, will provide an enduring source of flexible funding to help fuel efforts to improve survivorship and quality of life for women with cancer. “It’s an absolute honor that Kathy and Brad have chosen to support me with an endowed chair and invest in this research,” Hurvitz said. “It’s also a tremendous acknowledgement of the importance of this work on behalf of women. So it’s an honor and a great responsibility.” Read more: https://bit.ly/4aIOYbA

The Merkel Cell Carcinoma Collaborative Institute, the world’s only entity dedicated to this rare and aggressive skin cancer, was launched this week at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dubbed “MC3,” the institute was formed by restructuring patient care, training, and research programs across Fred Hutch Cancer Center, the UW Medicine Department of Dermatology, and the lab of Dr. Paul Nghiem, who is the director of the Skin Oncology Clinical Program at Fred Hutch. “Twenty years ago, I started a lab with three people. That’s grown to 25 or more,” said Dr. Nghiem. “We directly and indirectly take care of people around the world. We developed two blood tests that have become standard for determining whether someone’s cancer is returning. We get patients into research trials. Our website’s simple language educates doctors and patients. We collaborate with dozens of labs worldwide. Forming an institute made sense.” Dr. Nghiem envisions that the institute will award pilot grants to member research labs that otherwise lack funding and serve as a virtual meeting place to encourage collaboration on studies. Read more: https://bit.ly/3PYbljt

Yesterday, Fred Hutch smoking cessation expert Dr. Jonathan Bricker provided testimony in support of HB 1203 to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco, nicotine and vapor products in Washington state. "Flavors lead youth to take up tobacco use, and flavors impede quitting tobacco in people of all ages," Bricker said during his testimony. "Flavoring reduces irritation, causing people to inhale more deeply and in turn boosting the binding of nicotine with brain receptors that cause addictions. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3WDmmKX

Did you know that human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause cancer in men and women? HPV vaccine can prevent multiple cancers, including cervical, anal, penile, vulvar, and throat cancer. Most people will get #HPV at some point, and each year, nearly 700,000 people are diagnosed with HPV-related cancers. The good news? Vaccination prevents 90% of them! Read about Fred Hutch's research that laid the groundwork for the #HPVvaccine: https://bit.ly/3Ejrm12 #cancerprevention #cervicalcancerawarenessmonth #research

What gives tumors the power to grow unchecked? Much about how tumors metastasize — spread and take up residence in faraway sites — still remains a mystery, said Fred Hutch's Dr. Kevin Cheung. His research recently showed that dead & dying cells within a tumor might create an environment that makes it easier for living tumor cells to get out & spread. Read more: https://nyti.ms/3Cpg3DT

When legendary baseball player Fred Hutchinson’s life was cut short by cancer, his brother, Seattle surgeon Dr. Bill Hutchinson, set out to build a center dedicated to studying cancer. In 1975, he founded Fred Hutch Cancer Center — an institution that would pursue bold science, develop a cure for blood cancers and change medicine as we know it. As Fred Hutch looks beyond what’s possible today, we invite you to discover our vision for the future and join the Campaign for Fred Hutch: https://bit.ly/3EaApkE #FH50

A new study shows that oral fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a feasible and safe addition to preventing graft-versus-host disease in patients undergoing stem cell transplantation for blood cancers. The study, published Jan. 25 in Nature Communications, is part of a phase 2 clinical trial led by clinicians at Fred Hutch. The study builds on earlier research of the role of the gut microbiome in helping patients recover after stem cell transplantation. “The gut microbiome is an organ in itself, and it is connected to the immune system,” said lead author Armin Rashidi, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist at Fred Hutch. “Since the process of stem cell transplantation damages the gut microbiome, we want to see if FMT will help restore microbial diversity and promote the beneficial bacterial species that support a healthy immune system.” Read more: https://bit.ly/40STwZi

“There are some people whose light shines so brightly that you cannot help but to see it and you cannot unsee it after you have seen it. That was Bridgette.” Dr. Paul Buckley, Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Fred Hutch, joins other Fred Hutch faculty in remembering Bridgette Hempstead, a fierce patient advocate and research partner who died last month of metastatic breast cancer. https://bit.ly/40vlAAN