MD Anderson’s Hagop Kantarjian, M.D., awarded highest honor from American Society of Clinical Oncology

Kantarjian to receive David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award for lifelong contributions to leukemia research and patient care

2023-04-26

(Press-News.org) The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) will present the 2023 David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award to Hagop Kantarjian, M.D., chair of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, for his contributions to leukemia clinical research and his dedication to improving the lives of patients.

“Cancer research and patient care have been my life’s passion and mission and, I am honored to be recognized by ASCO with the society’s highest scientific award,” Kantarjian said. “I am grateful for all of the outstanding investigators in the Leukemia Department and outside colleagues whom I have had the privilege of working with throughout my career.”

The David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award has been presented annually since 1970 to recognize an oncologist who has made outstanding contributions to cancer research, diagnosis and/or treatment. Kantarjian will be presented with the award and will give a scientific lecture at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting.

For the past four decades, Kantarjian has led practice-changing national and international clinical trials at MD Anderson for the treatment of all leukemia subtypes. These trials resulted in multiple Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs and delivered new standards of care across leukemias, significantly improving quality of life and survival rates across several leukemia subsets. Over the last two decades, Kantarjian has led national and international studies of innovative next-generation BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

“Throughout a remarkable career, Dr. Kantarjian has contributed immensely to our mission of ending cancer. He not only advanced new treatments and furthered our knowledge of leukemia, but his leadership has inspired so many in the MD Anderson community,” said Peter WT Pisters, M.D., president of MD Anderson. “We congratulate Hagop on this exceptional achievement, and we thank him for the countless lives he has saved around the world.”

Among Kantarjian’s many contributions to the field of leukemia, highlights include:

Developing the HYPER-CVAD regimen as a standard-of-care frontline therapy for adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This regimen led to a change in the treatment approach to stop the disease from spreading to a patient’s central nervous system by administering a chemotherapy injection into the spinal fluid instead of treating with radiation therapy. Establishing clinical biology parameters of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), including definitions of CML phases and cytogenetic responses as well as establishing new prognostic factors, which were subsequently adopted in studies of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Leading the development of decitabine and epigenetic hypomethylation therapy for treating myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and older/unfit patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). He designed and conducted the Phase III trials that resulted in FDA approval of decitabine for MDS in 2006 and the European approval in older/unfit AML patients in 2012. Pioneering research with hypomethylating agents (HMAs) in combination with venetoclax, which resulted in FDA approval of HMA-venetoclax combinations in older/unfit patients with AML in 2017. Championing the development of clofarabine, conducting animal toxicology studies, and leading subsequent Phase I, Phase II and pivotal Phase III and Phase IV trials that resulted in FDA approval of clofarabine for pediatric patients with ALL. Developing several FLT3 inhibitors, IDH inhibitors and venetoclax, which all received FDA approvals for the treatment of AML and its subsets. Leading the clinical development of multiple monoclonal antibodies for treating ALL, including inotuzumab and blinatumomab, and leading the multi-institutional national studies of these monoclonal antibodies in adult patients with ALL. Developing regimens containing inotuzumab and blinatumomab combined with chemotherapy for adults with pre-B ALL. Working on the development of imatinib, dasatinib, nilotinib, bosutinib, ponatinib and omacetaxine, which all received FDA approval for CML therapy. In addition to his own research contributions, Kantarjian has dedicated his career to the training and mentoring of clinicians and researchers focused on leukemia research and patient care, many of whom now provide exceptional treatment at institutions worldwide. These relationships have broadened Kantarjian’s impact in the field and helped to extend knowledge far beyond the walls of MD Anderson.

“Dr. Kantarjian’s long list of accomplishments and groundbreaking discoveries are a testament to his lifelong commitment to impactful cancer research and patient care,” said Giulio Draetta, M.D., Ph.D., chief scientific officer at MD Anderson. “As a community that strives to deliver cancer breakthroughs every day, we are immensely proud of him for receiving this well-deserved honor from ASCO.”

Since 1995, Kantarjian has served as chair of MD Anderson’s Department of Leukemia. In 2000, he established the MD Anderson Leukemia Fellowship Program, which now trains 10 fellows each year. To date, he has published over 2,400 peer-reviewed articles in many top peer-reviewed journals. Kantarjian has received many honors throughout his distinguished career, including the American Lebanese Medical Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Association for Cancer Research’s Joseph H. Burchenal Memorial Award, and the Leukemia Society of America’s Outstanding Service to Mankind Award. He also was named an ASCO Fellow and a Leukemia Society of America Special Fellow and Scholar.

He has served on multiple ASCO committees throughout the years and served on the ASCO Board of Directors from 2010-2015. In 2012, Kantarjian co-founded the Society of Hematologic Oncology, which focuses on the research and education of rising oncologists interested in hematologic malignacies.

Kantarjian has been a vocal advocate for key issues in patient-centered cancer care including issues pertaining to cancer drug shortages and costs. He currently is a non-resident fellow in health care at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Bioindicator for the occurrence of PFAS

2023-04-26

The researchers focused on 66 PFAS compounds for their study. These can be grouped into three categories: 1) PFAS groups that have been regulated for some time; 2) new PFAS that industry uses as substitutes for regulated PFAS; and 3) precursors that can degrade to other, more persistent PFAS. However, because these individual analyses can detect only a small fraction of the more than 10,000 PFAS used by industry and because many polyfluorinated compounds cannot be measured because of the lack of analytical ...

Prolonged droughts likely spelled the end for Indus megacities

2023-04-26

New research involving Cambridge University has found evidence — locked into an ancient stalagmite from a cave in the Himalayas — of a series of severe and lengthy droughts which may have upturned the Bronze Age Indus Civilization. The beginning of this arid period — starting at around 4,200 years ago and lasting for over two centuries — coincides with the reorganization of the metropolis-building Indus Civilization, which spanned present-day Pakistan and India. The research ...

Advanced X-ray technique unveils fast solid-gas chemical reaction pathways

2023-04-26

For the rational design of new material compounds, it is important to understand the mechanisms underlying their synthesis. Analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance and spectroscopy are usually employed to study such mechanisms in molecular reactions. However, reaction pathways governing the formation of solid-state crystalline compounds remain poorly understood. This is partly due to the extreme temperatures and inhomogeneous reactions observed in solid-state compounds. Further, the presence of numerous atoms in solid crystalline compounds ...

Paradoxical quantum phenomenon measured for the first time

2023-04-26

Some things are related, others are not. Suppose you randomly select a person from a crowd who is significantly taller than the average. In that case, there is a good chance that they will also weigh more than the average. Statistically, one quantity also contains some information about the other. Quantum physics allows for even stronger links between different quantities: different particles or parts of an extensive quantum system can "share" a certain amount of information. There are curious theoretical predictions about this: surprisingly, ...

Automated soybean seed counting: Ppgrading existing methods for improved accuracy

2023-04-26

Farming is one of the oldest activities in the world and has always been at the forefront of technological innovation. With mechanized equipment, modified seeds, and digital devices, every aspect of farming, from planting to harvesting is gradually getting optimized. These benefits have also translated to better crop yield estimation for crops such as soybean. Deep learning-based yield estimation models use approaches like regression, traditional bounding boxes, or density maps to make counting of seeds easier. Compared ...

Do fish bay at the moon? Can their odd songs identify Hawaiian mystery fish? Eavesdropping scientists progress in recording, understanding ocean soundscapes

2023-04-26

Using hydrophones to eavesdrop on a reef off the coast of Goa, India, researchers have helped advance a new low-cost way to monitor changes in the world’s murky marine environments. Reporting their results in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA), the scientists recorded the duration and timing of mating and feeding sounds – songs, croaks, trumpets and drums – of 21 of the world’s noise-making ocean species. With artificial intelligence and other pioneering techniques to discern ...

This killer protein causes pancreatic cancer

2023-04-26

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common form of pancreatic cancer. It’s also one of the deadliest. More than 90% of PDAC patients die within five years of diagnosis. Usually, by the time the cancer is identified, it has already spread. “PDAC is often found too late for treatments like chemotherapy and surgery to be very effective,” Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Adrian Krainer says. “But if we can clearly understand the underlying genetic mechanisms of PDAC, this might lead to earlier diagnoses and new types of therapies.” Krainer ...

Novel ‘registration’ method identifies plant traits in close-up photos

2023-04-26

Modern cameras and sensors, together with image processing algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI), are ushering in a new era of precision agriculture and plant breeding. In the near future, farmers and scientists will be able to quantify various plant traits by simply pointing special imaging devices at plants. However, some obstacles must be overcome before these visions become a reality. A major issue faced during image-sensing is the difficulty of combining data from the same plant gathered from multiple image sensors, also known as ‘multispectral’ or ‘multimodal’ ...

Introducing GPMeta: Ultrarapid GPU-accelerated pathogen identification approach

2023-04-26

Metagenomic sequencing (mNGS) is a powerful diagnostic tool to detect causative pathogens in clinical microbiological testing. Rapid and accurate classification of metagenomic sequences is a critical procedure for pathogen identification in the dry-lab step of mNGS tests. However, this crucial step may be improved by classifying sequences within a clinically relevant timeframe. To address this challenge, a BGI Genomics team led by Xuebin Wang has recently launched GPMeta, an ultra-fast pathogen detection approach, and published these highlights ...

Alarming rates of teen suicide continue to increase in the US

2023-04-26

In the United States suicide has become the second leading cause of premature death among those ages 10 to 24; it is the leading cause of death among teens ages 13 to 14. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators conducted a study exploring trends in rates of suicide among 13 to 14 year olds in the U.S. from 1999 to 2018. They also explored possible modifications by sex, race, level of urbanization, census region, month of the year and day of the week. Results, published online ahead of print in the journal Annals of Pediatrics and Child Health, showed that among children ages 13 to 14, suicide rates ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

University of Tennessee, Lockheed Martin expand Master Research Agreement

Testing thousands of RNA enzymes helps find first ‘twister ribozyme’ in mammals

Groundbreaking study provides new evidence of when Earth was slushy

International survey of more than 1600 biomedical researchers on the perceived causes of irreproducibility of research results

Integrating data from different experimental approaches into one model is challenging – this study presents a community-based, full-scale in silico model of the rat hippocampal CA1 region that integra