The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted multiple aspects of oncology, including patient care, research, continuing medical education (CME), and cancer care providers' psychological well-being, according to survey data presented today at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020. "The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and ensuing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is challenging cancer care and services worldwide," report the investigators, led by Guy Jerusalem, MD, PhD, Head of Medi...

The COVID-19 pandemic has created multiple challenges to cancer care, ranging from the risk of exposure to novel coronavirus involved in having patients come to the hospital or clinic for treatment to the risks that immunosuppressive cancer treatments––and cancer itself––may pose in making patients more susceptible to COVID-19. How should these risks be balanced against the necessity of life-preserving cancer therapies? Mark A. Lewis, MD, Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Intermountain He...

At oncology meetings, nearly one third of oral presentations on cancer clinical trials where the primary end point was not met presented a positive, or "not negative," conclusion about a formally negative result, according to results of a quality improvement analysis now published in JAMA Oncology. "Presentations at medical meetings have great resonance within the scientific community, especially following the diffusion of social media," write the investigators, led by first author Massimo Di Ma...

​A recent study by Mudit Chowdhary, MD, and colleagues revealed that a substantial gender gap remains in academic oncology leadership: in a web query of 265 of the 273 accredited medical, radiation, and surgical oncology training programs, only 35.9% of faculty members were women. Representation was substantially lower among department chairs, with 21.7% of medical oncology programs, 11.7% of radiation oncology programs, and a mere 3.8% of surgical oncology programs chaired by women. In this int...

Pre-activity assessment data from i3 Health's nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) activity "Understanding and Optimizing CAR T-Cell Therapy for Patients With B-Cell Malignancies" has revealed significant baseline knowledge gaps regarding the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for the treatment of patients with B-cell malignancies. Of the 584 learners who took the pretest and began the activity, 539 saw it through to completion. The learners who completed the act...