DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

Dear UVM Cancer Center community,

This issue of Innovations highlights some of the exciting initiatives ongoing at the University of Vermont Cancer Center. We have an incredibly successful partnership with UVM Athletics, Mascoma Bank and the UVM Foundation in the Rally Against Cancer Games, raising money for cancer research and cancer care initiatives. Many thanks to all those who donated and to Mascoma Bank for providing a dollarfor-dollar match!

On the research front, Cancer Center members Dr. Sarah Nowak and Dr. Brian Sprague found that changes in breast cancer screening guidelines resulted in fewer mammograms even for women in the highest risk age groups and that Vermont had the second highest reduction in screening mammograms among all the states in the United States. This work highlights how UVM Cancer Center research is focused on cancer issues directly relevant to the population we serve in Vermont and northern New York. We work to reach out and engage this population in various ways including a quarterly patient newsletter which has been enthusiastically embraced by cancer patients and their caregivers and families—check out the recipe from a recent newsletter on page 3 of this issue of Innovations

Finally, an important part of the mission of the UVM Cancer Center is to engage with community stakeholders to ensure that our research, education, clinical care and community-based programs address their most important needs. To that end, our Community Advisory Board plays a critical role and we’re thrilled to have added three new members from the northern New York part of our catchment area—Donna Winchell (CR Wood Cancer Center, Glens Falls, NY), Jessica Morley (Richard E. Winter Cancer Treatment Center, Ogdensburg, New York) and Kay Zimmer (Canton-Potsdam Cancer Center, Potsdam, NY).

Randall F. Holcombe, M.D., M.B.A.

J. Walter Juckett Chair in Cancer Research Director, University of Vermont Cancer Center Associate Dean for Cancer Programs, Larner College of Medicine Chief, Division of Hematology & Oncology

ON THE COVER: IMAGES FROM UVM CANCER CENTER’S RALLY AGAINST CANCER EVENTS