Yvette Fay Francis-McBarnette , MD ( 1926 – 2016 )
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Yvette Fay Francis-McBarnette , MD ( 1926 – 2016 )
Yvette Fay Francis-McBarnette , MD , a pioneer in treating children with sickle cell anemia , died on March 28 , 2016 , at the age of 89 .
Dr . Francis and her family emigrated from Jamaica to Harlem , New York , where she enrolled at Hunter College when she was just 14 . She went on to earn a Master ’ s Degree from Columbia University and became the second black woman to enroll at Yale School of Medicine when she was 19 .
During her time directing a clinic at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens , New York , Dr . Francis was credited with successfully using antibiotics to treat children with sickle cell anemia 15 years prior to the confirmation of the drug ’ s effectiveness . She also co-founded the Foundation for Research and Education in Sickle Cell Disease .
She was named to a White House advisory committee under President Richard Nixon , and later influenced the passing of the 1972 National Sickle Cell Anemia Control Act , which granted federal funding for screening , counseling , health education , and research for the disease .
Dr . Francis made many meaningful changes for a patient population where many , at the time , did not survive into adolescence .
She is survived by her husband Olvin R . McBarnette , and five children ( Bruce , Camilla , Yvette , Ellen , and Andrea ), as well as three grandchildren and a brother . Dr . Francis had another daughter , Elayne , who passed away .
Vice President Biden Names Cancer Moonshot Leader , Scientific Panel Members
Vice President Joe Biden has named Greg Simon as the executive director of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative . Mr . Simon , who was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in
Greg Simon
2014 , was the founding president of FasterCures , a non-profit organization with the goal of speeding up the translation between basic research and critical medicines .
The National Cancer Institute ( NCI ) also announced a Blue Ribbon Panel of scientific experts , hematologists and oncologists , and patient advocates that will inform the NCI ’ s scientific direction and goals as part of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative . “ This Blue Ribbon Panel will ensure that , as the National Institutes of Health allocates new resources through the Moonshot , decisions will be grounded in the best science ,” the Vice President said in a statement . “ I look forward to working with this panel and many others involved with the Moonshot to make unprecedented improvements in prevention , diagnosis , and treatment of cancer .”
The Blue Ribbon Panel members represent a spectrum of scientific areas , including biology , immunology , genomics , diagnostics , bioinformatics , and cancer prevention and treatment . Scientific members also include investigators with expertise in clinical trials and cancer health disparities . Members of cancer advocacy groups and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are also represented .
Sources : FasterCures press release , March 18 , 2016 ; National Institutes of Health press release , April 4 , 2016 .
American Cancer Society Awards New Research and Training Grants
The American Cancer Society ( ACS ) has announced funding for more than 100 grants , totaling nearly $ 44 million , in the first of two funding cycles for 2016 . The grants will fund investigators at 74 institutions across the United States ; 95 are new grants , while eight are renewals of previous grants . The grants go into effect on July 1 , 2016 .
Thomas Gajewski , MD , PhD , of the University of Chicago , is the first recipient of the ACS – Jules L . Plangere Jr ., Family Foundation Professor in Cancer
Thomas Gajewski , MD , PhD
Immunotherapy award . His laboratory will receive $ 80,000 per year for five years to study the use of integrative genomics to identify resistance in immunotherapy .
Other highlights of the current cycle include :
Sarah Deng , PhD
Eric Hastie , PhD
Sarah Deng , PhD , of the New York University School of Medicine , will study a DNA repair pathway called alt-NHEJ that may be involved in the progression of cancer and in shaping the mutational landscape that causes chemotherapy drug resistance .
Eric Hastie , PhD , of Duke University , will study finger-like structures called invadopodia that extend from cells and appear to contribute to metastasis , the process by which cancer spreads throughout the body .
Kimberly Pyke-Grimm , MN , of the University of California , San Francisco , will receive the Scholarship Grant to support the development of a research program focusing on treatment decision-making by adolescents and young adults with cancer .
Source : American Cancer Society press release , April 1 , 2016 .
CDC Announces Winners of Its Blood Clot Prevention Challenge
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) has recognized eight hospitals and health-care systems as winners of its Healthcare-Associated Venous Thromboembolism ( HA-VTE ) Prevention Challenge . The HA-VTE Champions range from a small community hospital to larger health systems , and winners were chosen for their success in implementing innovative and effective ways to prevent VTE . The CDC also recognized four organizations that received Honorable Mentions for their innovative and unique approaches to prevention in special populations and settings .
Health-Care Network or Multi-Hospital System ( Large Reach )
• Mayo Clinic , Rochester , MN
• University of California Health , Center for Health Quality and Innovation , Oakland , CA
Health-Care Network or Multi-Hospital System ( Medium Reach ):
• University of Wisconsin Health , Madison , WI
• Intermountain Healthcare , Murray , UT
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