Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

In recognition of the Olympics coming to a close, we are highlighting one of our MSK colleagues who's made a major splash – both at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and past Olympics events. Dr. Valeria Silva Merea, an MSK laryngologist and two-time Olympic swimmer, comes from a long line of athletes. “Both of my parents played volleyball, and my mom competed in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal in the sport.” But Dr. Silva chose the pool. She began swimming when she was five years old and started competing just two years later. “I fell in love with the water and challenging myself in the pool’,” she says. After narrowly missing the qualifying time for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, she felt more motivated to improve, especially on the international stage. She went on to compete in the 100m breaststroke in both the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, representing her home country, Peru. “It was a true dream, and two of the best days of my life,” she said. She’s since used that determination and dedication when treating patients at MSK. “There are certainly parallels between my current work and competing and training for the Olympics,” Dr. Silva says. “It’s similar in that there’s a team of people behind you, supporting you. For the Olympics, you have coaches, trainers, your family, sports psychologists. Here at MSK, I have my nurses, disease management team, coordinators, and more coming together to provide the best possible care for the patient.” Dr. Silva continues to swim recreationally, and loves spending time with her 3-year-old son and her husband.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) played a key role in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee’s landmark decision to accept measurable residual disease (MRD) as an intermediate clinical endpoint for accelerated approval of new drugs and indications in multiple myeloma clinical trials. MSK experts Dr. Saad Usmani, Chief of Myeloma at MSK, and Dr. Sean Devlin, a biostatistician at MSK, discuss insights into this milestone decision and what it means for patients and advancing multiple myeloma research: https://bit.ly/4fCUbn7

A team of researchers led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and collaborators at Emory University are shedding new light on deadly fungal infections that develop in bone marrow transplant patients “This was truly a global collaboration with the aim of preventing deadly infections in some of our most vulnerable patients,” says Dr. Tobias Hohl, Head of the Infectious Diseases Service at MSK. The research shows how fungi can bypass the antifungal measures by developing resistance that cannot be detected by standard laboratory detection methods. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4dwN6CF

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new drug that slows the growth of low-grade diffuse gliomas with a certain gene mutation. "This represents the first new treatment option in low-grade diffuse glioma in more than 20 years.,” says Dr. Ingo Mellinghoff, Chair of Department of Neurology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), who led a clinical trial showing the drug’s effectiveness. The drug, vorasidenib, targets a mutation in IDH genes, which are present in 80% of low-grade gliomas. IDH-mutant gliomas make up about 20% of diffuse gliomas in adults, by far the most common malignant primary brain tumors. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3LWniUV

Researchers in the Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) are studying the science of acupuncture, and how this approach might help relieve some of the symptoms and side effects commonly experienced by people with cancer. “Pain is one of the most common and feared symptoms for cancer patients and survivors,” says Dr. Jun Mao, Chief of MSK's Integrative Medicine Service. “There is a critical need to study the evidence so we can make informed recommendations for clinicians and patients." Learn more about how MSK is researching and using acupuncture to help patients: https://bit.ly/3WSKARI

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval for the immunotherapy afami-cel for the treatment of adults with a rare soft tissue cancer called synovial sarcoma. Afami-cel is the first engineered T cell therapy to receive FDA approval for a solid tumor cancer. The clinical trial that resulted in the drug’s approval was led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) sarcoma specialist and immunotherapy expert Dr. Sandra D'Angelo. “This treatment offers an important new option for people with this rare cancer,” Dr. D’Angelo says. “It is also an important step forward in the development of T cell therapies for solid tumors, which has been a major challenge.” Learn more: https://bit.ly/3YFmqvD

Imagine finding out that your bone marrow or blood stem cells could save the life of someone who needed it. That's exactly what happened to MSK nurse Grace Yang who, in the spring of 2024, donated to a stranger who needed her cells for a stem cell transplant. “This is definitely something I was never expecting to happen to me,” Grace says. “But because I work in the Bone Marrow Transplant [BMT] Service, I knew the impact it could have on somebody else’s life. It felt like a privilege to be able to help in a different way.” Stem cell and bone marrow donations can offer people with blood cancer and other blood diseases the best chance for a cure. There is an urgent need for more donors between the ages of 18 and 40, especially donors of non-European and mixed ancestry. Grace, who is of Asian ancestry, was 29 when she donated. One way that donors are found is through NMDP, which maintains a registry for connecting unrelated volunteer donors with patients in need. Grace signed up for the NMDP registry through a community drive. More than a decade later, she learned she was a match with a patient. “I encourage all the people around me to sign up,” she says. “They are shocked that it’s so easy.” Grace has not yet learned anything about the patient who received her cells, but hopes to in the coming months. “I just feel so lucky that I was able to do something amazing for somebody else,” she says. Learn more about MSK's BMT Service, and about the process of donating: https://bit.ly/3SxhrsH

This Olympic season, we are reminded that passion and commitment can make dreams become reality. We celebrate the work of every team member at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), who show medal-worthy dedication to compassionate care, specialized education programs, and innovative research as part of our mission of ending cancer for life.

Thanks to new drugs, such as checkpoint inhibitors, people with advanced melanoma now have improved survival rates. “The landscape for melanoma has changed dramatically,” says Dr. James Smithy, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), who specializes in treating advanced forms of the disease. “Our group at MSK was involved in the early trials of checkpoint inhibitors more than 15 years ago. Since that time, we have been working on how to best use these drugs in many disease settings. There are exciting opportunities for further improvement.” Learn more about these treatments and MSK's involvement in the research: https://bit.ly/3SzvyOx

New research from the American Cancer Society shows a rise in incidence of certain cancers, such as colon cancer, breast cancer, and uterine cancer, in young adults and is potentially due to early changes in the environment or lifestyle. “What this study shows is that some cancers which were previously not prevalent in young adults, are now rising in incidence," says Dr. Andrea Cercek, a gastrointestinal oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). "It is not known why these cancers...are rising in incidence in young adults, but we believe this rise is likely due to early exposure to an environmental factor or factors." Read more: https://cnn.it/3WrYgBP