News from UC Davis Cancer Care Network

New study results show compliance with smoke- and tobacco-free policies on college campuses could be more effective with the rollout of a Tobacco Tracker that can also influence behavior and attitudes.

The 7^th annual Crush Challenge returned this year to vineyard-lined avenues in the Napa Valley as bicyclists helped raise money for UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and its research into non-toxic treatments for blood cancers.

The owners of Shingle Springs Subaru, inspired by their daughter’s successful cancer treatment at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, donated $82,671 through the Share the Love Event to Lor Randall’s research in sarcoma in adolescents and young adults.

A “mammovan” will be dispatched to rural areas as part of new breast cancer initiatives spearheaded by the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. It is all part of an effort to improve breast health and cancer prevention along with early detection in underserved communities.

The new radiology chair was on a mission to detect breast cancer early in women so it can be found in time, and then suddenly faced her own breast cancer diagnosis. Fortunately, she only had to turn to colleagues for her treatment.

UC Davis Health is marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month by offering free mammograms to uninsured women in the community who are 40 and older and have no current symptoms.

UC Davis Health encourages patients to take advantage of the availability of Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 booster shots after the CDC recommends third doses of the vaccine for certain individuals.

The National Cancer Institute renewed the “comprehensive” designation of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center in recognition of its breadth and depth in cancer research, clinical care, cancer control and population sciences.

The American Cancer Society’s 25th Annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk is on Oct. 17 at the west steps of the California State Capitol. Staff will be on hand at the UC Davis Health “Return to Screening” booth to talk about the importance of breast cancer screenings and why delaying care during the COVID pandemic could put your health at risk.

UC Davis School of Medicine will receive funds set aside but no longer needed to settle a class-action lawsuit against Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. The award will fund projects focused on women of color and in underserved communities.

Luis G. Carvajal-Carmona, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, has been selected as a fellow for the third cohort of the Presidential Leadership Academy by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.

Retired NFL linebacker Chris Draft, who lost his wife to lung cancer, presented white ribbon plaques to UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center in recognition of the advancements being made to save lives from the deadliest of cancers.

The annual Crush Challenge, raising money for research into innovative, cancer treatments, is back for a 7^th year and includes a cycling excursion through the Napa Valley along with food and wine events on Oct. 9.

A new UC Davis study shows how using telehealth and technology during the pandemic, together with bilingual/bicultural outreach, increased hepatitis B screenings of underserved populations and will likely save lives.

Patients whose immune systems are compromised are at higher risk of complications from COVID-19. Now UC Davis Health is offering a protective third shot to immunocompromised patients who received initial doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Here’s who qualifies for the “booster.”

The highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant is prompting new visitor and masking rules starting Aug. 16 for people accompanying patients to the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Free sunscreen stations, provided by UC Davis Health, make it easy to enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of being outdoors while protecting skin and preventing cancer.

UC Davis faculty with cancer don’t have to go far to get care. A leading national expert on COVID-19 who was diagnosed with colon cancer at the height of the pandemic is back on the job quickly after robotic surgery is performed by his peer.

The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center teamed up with UCLA Health to launch Learn & Lounge during the COVID-19 pandemic, a virtual monthly meetup for adolescent and young adult cancer patients and survivors.

Multiple myeloma patient Dara Kara, from Benicia, receives first outpatient stem cell transplant at UC Davis Health. Also referred to as a bone marrow transplant, performing the procedure on an outpatient basis is expected to shorten recovery times and save health care costs.

Roger Mendoza has helped UC Davis Health stay connected, with the installation of more than 2,300 miles of IT cabling infrastructure. But it’s his connections with the health system’s providers that have kept him healthy through multiple cancers, a brain hemorrhage and more.

The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center received a $50,000 grant from the Safeway Foundation. The funding will allow researcher Mili Arora to study whether the spice turmeric can provide pain relief for breast cancer patients on oral anti-estrogen drugs.

Researchers at UC Davis Health are “toxineering” venom from the Peruvian green velvet tarantula into a non-opioid medication that could help people with chronic pain. Approximately 20 percent of the adults in the U.S., or about 50 million, are affected by chronic pain.

Department of Radiology Chair Elizabeth Morris, with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, was awarded a Susan G. Komen® grant to develop artificial intelligence models to predict breast cancer risk at a more personalized level.

The National Cancer Institute is providing another $3.98 million federal grant to increase the number of cancer researchers at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.

2021 Christine and Helen Landgraf Memorial Research Award will help further recipient Janai Carr-Ascher’s work studying sarcomas and testing new therapies.

Ramsey Badawi, co-inventor of the UC Davis Health total body scanner EXPLORER, earns prestigious 2021 Distinguished Investigator Award from the Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research.

UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center scientist Chengfei Liu has been unrelenting in his pursuit to find out why a type of prostate cancer becomes drug resistant. He recently earned a highly coveted National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant to further his research.

New tobacco cessation grant gives Asian American community in Sacramento One More Reason to Quit to prevent complications from COVID-19.

Three UC Davis scientists, including Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, are sharing an international award in recognition of their work on click-chemistry technology.

People from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in the Sacramento area encouraged to participate in a UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center research study aimed at reducing the cancer burden in underrepresented communities.

Top cancer centers, including the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, are sounding the alarm about a drop in the HPV vaccination rate. They attribute the change to a decrease in well-child visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center is celebrating National Cancer Survivors Day in June with a virtual healing arts exhibit. The goal is to show how creative expression can help patients recover from cancer.

The American Cancer Society Relay For Life event put on by the UC Davis Colleges Against Cancer chapter is virtual this year, with participants wearing pajamas to “Say Goodnight to Cancer.”

General thoracic surgery chief David Tom Cooke becomes the first African American to be elected president-elect of the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association.

During its 16^th annual CTSC Scholar Symposium, UC Davis celebrated the graduation of its newest cohort of scholars who conduct innovative applied health research.

COVID-19 safety precautions are prompting a virtual version of this year’s Sacramento St. Baldrick’s Shave Party to raise money for childhood cancer research. So far, more than $23,000 has been raised to help fight pediatric cancer.

A new study, conducted by three UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers, studies young adult smoking trends three years after the start of California’s law raising the sales age of tobacco to 21.

April is esophageal cancer awareness month and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center is using robotic surgery technology to change the odds of surviving this rare cancer.

The UC Davis FLIm technology is a novel optical imaging system that could allow neurosurgeons to more precisely and thoroughly remove malignant brain tumors.

Down syndrome remains a strong risk factor for childhood leukemia, a new study led by UC Davis and UC San Francisco researchers has found.

In one of the largest research projects of its kind, a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open looks at nearly 900,000 individuals and close to 2 million mammograms to come up with a new way detect the most breast cancer cases with the fewest exams.

The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center’s virtual breast cancer outreach study called Screen 2 Screen is offering free educational webinars and mammography to lower breast cancer rates in Asian American communities.

UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center will help improve national cancer guidelines after being elected into the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The organization has established more than 80 clinical practice guidelines covering most types of cancer as well as prevention and supportive care.

The Sacramento St. Baldrick’s Shave Party to raise money for childhood cancer research is usually held at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center on St. Patrick’s Day, but COVID-19 safety precautions are prompting a virtual adaptation this year on April 23.

Jennifer Dunn was only 39 years old when she began having symptoms. In 2019, she made what would be a critical visit to the emergency room. A CT scan identified multiple lesions and a later biopsy confirmed her colon cancer was advanced.

New lung screening guidelines will give more Black people, women, and younger people, who smoke less, access to life-saving lung cancer scans. The guidelines will help address health disparities and catch more cases of lung cancer, earlier. The goal is to reduce the odds of dying from the biggest cancer killer in America.

Colorectal cancer is now a leading cause of cancer death among people under 50, with rates of new diagnoses rising. Young mother and cancer survivor Teri Rivera was told she was too young to have colon cancer and is glad she listened to her body after finally getting screened, only to find out her cancer was stage III.

A new study published in JAMA Open Network indicates Black women and Latinas as well as less-educated and lower-income women have not been able to obtain 3D mammography as easily as white, well-educated and higher-income women.

UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Primo “Lucky” Lara, Jr. helped author a clinical trial testing the best treatment for metastatic papillary kidney cancer. The promising results are published in The Lancet.

There is a sixfold increase in patients getting tobacco treatment thanks, in part, to training medical staff to proactively reach out to patients who could benefit, especially during the pandemic when smoking can lead to COVID-19 complications.

Addressing health disparities is key to raising awareness on World Cancer Day and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center is asking women of color to help by participating in an important breast cancer study.

The first report in the state to track tobacco-related cancers looks at the nexus between tobacco use and cancer risk by examining regional data based on ethnicity, gender and age.

Winter 2021 Synthesis magazine is now available online. The issue spotlights cancer care in the era of COVID-19 as well as lessons learned during the pandemic that will help UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center combat health inequities through outreach to rural communities.

Thanks to a new National Cancer Institute grant, the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center is expanding its study into why certain populations are more hesitant than others to get the HPV vaccine. The new study, called UC HPV, starts this week and runs through June 30, 2021.

Dr. Elizabeth Morris was appointed chair of the UC Davis School of Medicine Department of Radiology, assuming the post January 18, 2021.

The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center is collaborating with 17 other cancer centers to study the impact COVID-19 is having on cancer prevention, control and survival, thanks to a grant from the National Cancer Institute. The UC Davis work will focus on diverse communities.

To prevent a wave of post-pandemic deaths, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center experts say it’s critical that patients keep on schedule with mammograms, annual check-ups and other key screenings or diagnostic tests. And, if any treatment is required, it is important it isn’t postponed.

A new initiative aims to address the emotional, practical and financial struggles facing families when their child is undergoing cancer treatment. It will be the topic of a virtual event hosted by the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center on Wednesday, December 16, starting at 4:15 p.m. 

UC Davis experts hold Facebook roundtable to support participation in the Great American Smokeout and give tobacco users tips for quitting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center will help kick off Sacramento’s virtual PurpleStride event to raise awareness about Pancreatic Cancer and raise money to fight the disease. 

The global reach of UC Davis expertise includes teaching cancer surgeries to top surgeons around the world – with audiences sometimes as large as 1,000 people.

Adolescent and young adult patients treated for acute myeloid leukemia have a high risk of developing several long-term health complications after treatment.

Less than 40% of women in the U.S. know that breastfeeding lowers breast cancer risk.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, keeping your lungs healthy has never been more important. One of the best steps you can take is to give up tobacco products, which can put people who get COVID-19 at risk for complications.

Pancreatic cancer has a very low five-year survival rate, but UC Davis Health is working to improve the outlook for patients with this difficult disease through new research and treatment and by teaming up with other comprehensive cancer centers in California.