Changing the shape of leukemia research and clinical care
A physician-scientist and thought leader whose research has helped change the clinical care of leukemia patients, Kevin Shannon, MD, continues to shape the field. \n\nIn this conversation, Dr. Shannon takes us through the challenges and hopes of leukemia research and describes what has him most excited about the state of cancer research.\n\nKevin Shannon, MD, is Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, where he holds the Roma and Marvin Auerback Distinguished Professorship of Molecular Oncology. For his seminal research accomplishments, Dr. Shannon was named an American Cancer Society Research Professor.\n\n2:09 \u2013 What are leukemias? \n\n4:37 \u2013 What people should know about the state of leukemia research: \u201cLeukemia has been one of the diseases where we\u2019ve been able to apply the principle of understanding the underlying molecular basis of the disease to developing better treatments, and then implementing those treatments in the clinic.\u201d\n\n7:13 \u2013 How he decides which mutations in the DNA are the most important to study\n\n9:53 \u2013 The difference between a DNA mutation and chromosomal abnormality, the problems they cause, and how they can even occur together\n\n16:06 \u2013 What it means to say something is \u201cdruggable.\u201d \n\n18:36 \u2013 How leukemias become resistant to treatment\n\n21:48 \u2013 How do you treat a disease that\u2019s constantly changing? \n\n25:12 \u2013 How his research provides insight into some of the broader questions in cancer research, beyond leukemia\n\n27:56 \u2013 What excites him most about the state of cancer research today\n\n32:19 \u2013 The impact of American Cancer Society funding on his career\n\n36:35 \u2013 The outsize value of Institutional Research Grants, small pilot awards that the American Cancer Society awards to organizations such as the University of California at San Francisco\n\n39:25 \u2013 His thoughts on the partnership between the American Cancer Society and St. Baldrick\u2019s Foundation \u201cto raise $11 million to fund the most innovative biological and clinical laboratory studies that have the greatest potential to quickly deliver new and improved treatments for kids with cancer.\u201d (http://pressroom.cancer.org/StBaldricks2019)\n \n42:26 \u2013 A message for cancer patients and caregivers