GAME CHANGING APL CLINICAL TRIAL

Winship oncologist Anand Jillella is spearheading a clinical trial for patients with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) that could change the mortality rate for this disease on a major scale. Often called the heart attack of leukemias, APL is a highly aggressive disease that is curable if treated early. A third of patients, however, do not survive the first month of treatment. By observing and analyzing the problem, Jillella and his team of physicians, nurses, and research staff came up with a collaborative approach that decreases mortality from 30 percent to about five percent. This new trial is open to patients all across the country.

Jillella has found that some physicians who treat patients with APL may not be familiar with the potential complications that can develop during treatment. He took a very detailed treatment algorithm and boiled it down to a three-step process that can be easily shared. “As soon as we get a call from a community physician, we send the simplified algorithm via smart phone,” says Jillella. “We come up with a treatment plan based on what the patient is experiencing and follow up with them regularly to get them through that difficult first month.”

Improving Pediatric Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Winship’s Natia Esiashvili will travel to Slovenia in June to provide training to other pediatric radiation oncologists. Esiashvili, an associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, received a $30,000 grant from the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to lead the rare hands-on teaching experience for practitioners.

New Winship Leadership Appointments

Winship Cancer Institute named Sagar Lonial as the chief medical officer (CMO) and Charles A. Staley as chief quality officer (CQO) effective February 2015. Both physicians join Winship’s senior leadership team and will advance Winship’s clinical programs and services within all of its clinical facilities.

Winship Cancer Institute member physicians provide cancer care at the following locations: tinal cancers. He previously served as Winship’s CMO and now assumes responsibility for the institute’s quality improvement processes across all disciplines and campuses.

• Winship Clifton Road Campus

• Emory University Hospital

• Winship at Emory University Hospital Midtown

Winship Cancer Institute member physicians provide cancer care at the following locations:

• Winship Clifton Road Campus

• Emory University Hospital

• Winship at Emory University Hospital Midtown

• Winship at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital

• Winship at Emory Johns Creek Hospital

• Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence at Grady Memorial Hospital

• Atlanta VA Medical Center

Lonial, professor and executive vice chair of Emory’s Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, is an internationally recognized authority in the management and research related to B cell malignancies, including multiple myeloma. As Winship CMO, he will oversee all clinical care initiatives impacting both clinicians and patients.

• Aflac Cancer Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

Lonial and Staley will collaborate on tracking and improving patient services and satisfaction as well as focusing on cancer outcomes at Winship.

• Winship at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital

• Winship at Emory Johns Creek Hospital

• Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence at Grady Memorial Hospital

• Atlanta VA Medical Center

• Aflac Cancer Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

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Staley, a professor and director of Emory’s Division of Surgical Oncology, specializes in the management of patients with gastrointes-

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Esiashvili specializes in the treatment of complex pediatric cancers and hematological malignancies in adults. She is an international expert in her field and is the only pediatric radiation oncologist in the state of Georgia. Follow facebook.com/winshipfightscancer

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Carla J. Berg was named Winship’s associate director for population sciences. Berg, an associate professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, will be responsible for the strategic growth of population science activities at Winship. Population science studies in cancer examine patterns and behaviors relating to cancer prevention, detection, and treatment.

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Faced with an aggressive prostate cancer, Gerald Alexander embarked on a decisive and effective treatment plan with medical oncologist Bradley Carthon.