Heard in the Blogosphere
BACK of the BOOK
On June 29 , Vice President Biden hosted a Cancer Moonshot Summit in Washington , DC , as part of a national day of action that also included more than 270 regional events across the United States . At the Summit , Vice President Biden asked physicians , researchers , and advocates to share how they # CanServe in the fight against cancer .
Vice President Biden
@ VP
I ’ ll be here at the summit all day . Participating in roundtables . Joining conversations . This is a mission in which all of us # CanServe .
The Promise of Genetic Testing in Medicine
Genetic tests are increasingly used for health-care diagnosis and tailored treatments , but is the enthusiasm over genome sequencing overblown ? Experts weighed in in The New York Times .
“ Whether mass genome sequencing will improve health depends , in large part , on how well the application of treatments based on genetic information is regulated . … Should private labs continue to go unregulated , it may become impossible for the FDA to stop marketers from cluttering clinical medicine with misleading and unproved claims – including claims about what we can learn from our DNA .”
— Joshua Sharfstein , MD , the associate dean for public health practice and training at Johns Hopkins genetic information . The truth is that in spite of our ability to sequence DNA with unprecedented alacrity , our medical understanding of the human genome remains meager . For the vast majority of us , our genomes are ( thankfully ) boring .”
— James Evans , MD , director of Clinical Adult and Cancer Genetic Service at the University of North Carolina
“ When any new medical technology emerges , it usually benefits those with good insurance and high levels of education . … The potential for improving health , and health disparities , on an individualized or community basis is tremendous , but this effort must be pursued as a collaborative and interdisciplinary study that involves the communities meant to benefit from it .”
Sylvia Burwell
@ SecBurwell
“ Improving human health on a large scale will be a long , hard slog , as will countering unrealistic expectations of miracle cures based on
— Lisa Cooper , MD , director of the John Hopkins Center to Eliminate Cardiovascular Disparities
You # CanServe . Tell a story . Commit . Share an idea . Every American owns a stake of the @ VP ’ s cancer initiative .
ASH
@ ASH _ hematology
Honored to be here w / @ VP at the # MoonshotSummit discussing our # myeloma data sharing initiative # CanServe
Just Another Day as an Adult Living With Sickle Cell Disease …
More patients with sickle cell disease ( SCD ) are living to adulthood thanks to advances in care , but access to that appropriate care is limited by social and health-care system factors . In The Washington Post , SCD patients and clinicians who care for them discuss the experience of living with and managing the disease .
Atul Butte , MD , PhD
@ atulbutte
“ They triage you based on severity , and pain is not something that they consider as severe as other conditions . One doctor even said , ‘ Your labs are okay , so you ’ re not in pain .’ It was crazy and insulting at the same time .”
— Janoi Burgess , an adult SCD patient
“ There is no disease bigger than sickle cell in terms of bias and disrespect . Many clinicians dislike taking care of people with SCD because of issues around pain management . When you add in race , it ’ s a perfect storm .”
— Mary Catherine Beach , MD , MPH , a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
“ Some people with SCD are actually living to be elderly , and the majority of patients are adults . We don ’ t have a health-care system ready for that .”
— Wally Smith , MD , internal medicine professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University
Medical Center
“ The number of hematologists available to provide that care is far too small to address the need .”
— Michael DeBaun , MD , MPH , director of the Vanderbilt-Meharry-Matthew Walker Center for
Excellence in Sickle Cell Disease
Just thinking : if cancer doc doesn ’ t inform / enroll patient into useful clinical trial , isn ’ t that a “ quality of care ” problem ? # CanServe
Michael Fisch , MD , MPH
@ fischmd
The power of @ SWOG : 12,466 members strong , at 1,032 sites , in 46 states , 7 countries . # SWOGOnc # CanServe
Follow ASH and ASH Clinical News on :
@ ASH _ Hematology , @ BloodJournal , and @ ASHClinicalNews
Facebook . com / AmericanSocietyofHematology
@ ASH _ Hematology
ASHClinicalNews . org ASH Clinical News
45