Professor William J. Gradishar: individualized treatment scheme for breast cancer
Introduction
Professor William J. Gradishar (Figure 1) is the Betsy Bramsen Professor of Breast Oncology and Professor of Medicine and Deputy Chief in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Feinberg School of Medicine. He is also Director of the Lurie Cancer Center’s Maggie Daley Center for Women’s Cancer Care, where he develops and implements clinical trials of new therapeutic approaches for breast cancer.
Dr. Gradishar has served as Chair of the Lurie Cancer Center’s Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium, a nationally recognized, 4-day meeting for the practicing clinician, since its inception in 1998. His research focuses on the development of adjuvant therapies and novel therapeutics for the treatment of breast cancer.
Societies and publications
A fellow of both ASCO and the American College of Physicians, Dr. Gradishar is also a member of the American Association for Cancer Research and the American Federation for Clinical Research. He has held numerous leadership positions in ASCO and has been a member of numerous Study Sections for funding agencies, including the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health, the Komen Foundation, and the American Cancer Society. He has served as a consultant to the US Food and Drug Administration’s Oncology Drug Advisory Committee. He is a member of the Breast Cancer Core Committee of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group.
Dr. Gradishar is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Clinical Breast Cancer, Current Treatment Options in Cancer, European Journal of Medical Oncology, and Oncology. He is Editor-in-Chief of NEJM Journal Watch: Oncology and Hematology.
Dr. Gradishar is Chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Breast Cancer Guideline Panel and a member of the Breast Cancer Prevention Panel. He was recently appointed Chair of the Breast Cancer Working Group for the MoonShot 2020 Initiative, which will spearhead the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of breast cancer.
Interview
During the 2016 China-America Summit Forum on Breast Cancer, I was honored to meet Dr. Gradishar and invited him for a brief interview to share his expert opinions on therapy of Breast Cancer (1).
Dr. Gradishar shared with us the highlights of 2016 ASCO meeting. He pointed out that there were many things discussed in ASCO relating to Breast Cancer. One was that the newer CDK4/6 inhibitor was beginning to be developed; abemaciclib is the particular one. Abemaciclib and the already available drugs palbociclib and ribociclib, all had activities in ER+ breast cancer and were thought can enhance the effect of endocrinotherapy of breast cancer and possibly overcome some of the resistance. The second one was the availability of biosimilar drugs which can decrease the cost of healthcare when they were developed and to be available around the world. The third one was the discussion of whether or not longer duration of endocrinotherapy may be beneficial. Dr. Gradishar thought that we should individualize the treatment decision with respect to endocrinotherapy.
As the Founding Chair of the Annual Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium, Dr. Gradishar told us that he ran along with other colleagues for almost 20 years to bring experts from around the world to serve as faculty, trying to identify the key issues of Breast Cancer to take good care of patients. The meeting to be held in the fall in Chicago will be exciting for those practicing clinicians.
For more details about this interview, readers can refer to the following video (Figure 2).
Acknowledgements
None
Footnote
Conflicts of Interest: The author has no conflicts of interest to declare.
References
- Lin C. Prof. William J. Gradishar: Individualized Treatment Scheme for Breast Cancer. Available online: https://youtu.be/DCcSkbKtdME
- Lin C. Professor William J. Gradishar: individualized treatment scheme for breast cancer. Asvide 2016;3:411. Available online: http://www.asvide.com/articles/1183
(Science Editor: Celine Lin, CCO, editor@thecco.net)
