Recently, the officers of the American Bladder Cancer were invited to spend some time at the NCI Center for Cancer Research at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. to learn about their efforts in bladder cancer treatment and research. Ed and Cynthia Kinsella and I were fortunate to be able to attend. It was truly an "awesome" experience!!
We met in the HUGE NIH Clinical Center where we were greeted by a number of people from the National Cancer Institute and our guide, Caryn Steakley, Deputy Clinical Director of the Center for Cancer Research.
We were able to spend time with three clinical researchers and their teams: (I have included a link to their individual web sites so that you can also meet them!)
Deborah Citrin, MD
ccr.cancer.gov/Radiation-Oncology-Branch/deborah-e-citrin
Andrea Apolo, MD
ccr.cancer.gov/Genitourinary-Malignancies-Branch/andrea-b-apolo
Piyush K. Agarwal, MD
ccr.cancer.gov/urologic-oncology-branch/piyush-k-agarwal
I have to admit that one of the highlights of the day was the opportunity to actually USE the DaVinci device! In the attached picture, Cynthia and I are being instructed by Dr. Agarwal. Of course we were using a training unit, and only got to move little rings onto little uprights....but note our complete surgical outfits
!
We were also very impressed with the degree of collaboration among the three clinical teams, who have a truly interdisciplinary approach to clinical research into bladder cancer and other genitouriary cancers.
In the very near future we hope to be able to share with all of you timely news about clinical trials at NCI, as well as opportunities for obtaining second opinions and recommendations for treatment in complicated cases.
It was really exciting to see that the National Cancer Institute is now working to push the boundaries of bladder cancer treatment! The next few years will be fast-moving in this area.
We are very grateful for all of those wonderful people we met for sharing their research with us. And we owe a special thanks to those who arranged our visit and guided us through it, Laurie Cynkin of the NCI Office of Advocacy Relations and Aubrey Wachter from the CCR Office of the Director.
PS TO VIEW THE PIX, CLICK ON "ATTACHMENTS" BELOW
