James MICU Earns Gold Beacon Award for Excellence
The James Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) has earned a gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). Gold is the highest level Beacon Award that can be achieved. The Beacon Award, considered to be a milestone on the path to exceptional patient care and healthy work environments, honors individual units that distinguish themselves by improving every facet of patient care.
Units that achieve this three-year, three-level award with gold, silver or bronze designations meet national criteria consistent with ANCC Magnet® Recognition, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the National Quality Healthcare Award. Other James units that have achieved a Beacon Award are the Blood and Marrow Transplantation Unit (gold level) and the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (silver level).
NCI Grant Will Help Assess New Treatment for Deadly Brain Tumor
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded a five-year grant of nearly $2.83 million to help a research team at the OSUCCC – James conduct a clinical trial that will assess a potential new treatment for patients with glioblastoma, a lethal primary brain tumor with limited treatment options.
The grant was awarded to a team led by co-principal investigators Vinay Puduvalli, MBBS, professor and director of the Division of Neuro-Oncology at Ohio State and member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James, and Deepa Sampath, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Hematology at Ohio State and member of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James.
The current standard treatment for glioblastoma – chemotherapy with a drug called temozolmide combined with radiation therapy – yields a median survival of only 16-18 months, underscoring the need for novel therapies involving drugs that can overcome tumor resistance to chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Novel Anticancer Vaccine Shows Promise in Phase I Study
Promising results from an OSUCCC – James phase I clinical trial on a novel peptide vaccine suggest an important potential benefit of this vaccine and warrant its continuing development for treating patients with metastatic or recurrent solid tumors that overexpress the HER-2 protein. Led by principal investigator Pravin Kaumaya, PhD, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Ohio State and member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James, the trial demonstrates that the vaccine, called B-Vaxx, is well tolerated and can generate sustained anti-HER-2 immune response compared to humanized monoclonal antibodies, to which most patients develop resistance.
The present study shows preliminary indication that peptide vaccination may help patients avoid therapeutic resistance and offer a promising alternative to monoclonal antibody therapies such as Herceptin® and Perjeta®.
Federally Funded Project Seeks to Reduce Colorectal Cancer Burden in Ohio & Kentucky Appalachia
A five-year, multimillion-dollar grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) will help investigators at the OSUCCC – James and the University of Kentucky collaborate to increase screening and follow-up for colorectal cancer (CRC) in central Appalachia, a medically underserved region of the United States that is recognized as a “hotspot” of CRC mortality.
The grant, part of the NCI Cancer Moonshot initiative to boost cancer research nationwide, will support a multisite project called Accelerating Colorectal Cancer Screening Through Implementation Science (ACCSIS) in Appalachia. The goal is to increase rates of guideline-recommended CRC screening, follow-up and referral to care among residents aged 50-74 in 12 counties of Appalachian Kentucky and Ohio. Principal investigators are Mark Dignan, PhD, MPH, a professor at the University of Kentucky, and Electra Paskett, PhD, MSPH, associate director for population sciences and leader of the Cancer Control Program at the OSUCCC – James.