May Newsletter
MCGI Forum updates
We would like to extend our thanks to the greater Maine oncology community for the enthusiastic response to the MCGI Forum in April. The second annual MCGI Forum attracted more than 120 participants including 50 physicians along with oncology nurses and navigators, leaders from the Maine healthcare environment and Maine Medical Association volunteers. The program offered six and a half Continuing Medical Education credits, American Board of Internal Medicine Maintenance of Certification points and included distinguished speakers from InterMountain Health and New Century Health. Working sessions focused on clinical scenarios surrounding communication with patients regarding cancer somatic testing as well as discussions about aspects of implementing cancer somatic testing in the community oncology setting. These sessions allowed participating clinicians to engage in a collective discussion that will inform the future direction of MCGI.
Of Note, our event began with opening remarks in the form of a video greeting from US Senator Susan Collins. See Senator Collins remarks.
Also, we are happy to share the latest progress updates for the Maine Cancer Genomics Initiative. To date, 242 patients have been registered and 67 clinicians at 10 sites are participating in the Study.
Spotlight
By Jens Rueter, M.D. and Andrey Antov, Ph.D., M.B.A.
This month we feature Roger Inhorn, M.D. Dr Inhorn is the Principal Investigator for the MCGI Study at the Mercy Hospital site and a member of the MCGI Clinical Steering Committee.
Roger Inhorn is the Chief of Oncology at Mercy Hospital in Portland, Maine. A native Madisonian, he studied mathematics and molecular biology at the University of Wisconsin. He is a graduate of the MD/PhD program at Washington University Medical School. He completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital followed by a medical oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Inhorn practiced in St. Louis for seven years, where he was associate director of hematology/oncology at St. John's Mercy Medical Center, prior to relocating to Maine. He has a special interest in breast cancer and clinical trials.
The MCGI has scheduled more than 30 Genomic Tumor Boards sessions in 2018. Feel free to reach out to us at mcgi@jax.orgfor full list of GTB dates this year and details on CME offered for participants.
May
- Thurs, May 31 at 4:00 pm hosted virtually from EMMC
June
- Tues, June 12 at 12:00 pm hosted virtually from Mercy
- Tues, June 19 at 12:30 pm hosted virtually from HACCC
- Thurs, June 21 at 4:00 pm hosted virtually from EMMC
- Tues, June 26 at 7:30 am hosted virtually from Waldo
July
- Tues, July 17 at 12:30 pm hosted virtually from HACCC
- Wed, July 25 at 12:30 pm hosted virtually from PBMC
- Tues, July 26 at 4:00 pm hosted virtually from EMMC
Dates for Genomic Tumor Board sessions are subject to change. Contact us at mcgi@jax.org with any questions or for current list of session dates.
To learn more about MCGI, please visit our website at www.jax.org/mcgi, including biographies of Clinical Steering Committee members and our External Advisors. We are thankful to our External Advisors and Steering Committee members for all they do to support the Initiative. We are also thankful for the many Maine oncologists, clinicians and research staff participating in the Study.
You shared, we listened
By Petra Helbig
During this first full year of the MCGI study, we have worked with participating practices new to help streamline processes and provide resources based directly on your feedback.
As a result, two new print material resources were published that support the goals of the Maine Cancer Genomics Initiative.
The first is a two-sided flyer that provides an overview of the Maine Cancer Genomics Initiative including goals and key features for a general audience. This flyer highlights our commitment to provide genetic tumor testing to Maine patients at no cost and our dedication to support clinician knowledge and collaborative research.
The second is an eight-page booklet, which is designed with patients and their family members in mind. It is intended for those who want to know more about cancer somatic testing. This is a resource that talks about genomic testing of the cancer tumor itself (as opposed to hereditary genomic cancer testing), provides key definitions, and discusses the benefits and options such testing may have for patients. It notes that test results could potentially be used to help the clinician decide on a course of treatment.
This booklet discusses cancer genomic testing in general and does not speak specifically about the Maine Cancer Genomics Initiative. This allows clinicians participating in the study to provide resources to patients and maintain clinical decision making power about whether the patient is a good fit for the MCGI study.
Both the flyer and the booklet are available by contacting us at mcgi@jax.org. Email the MCGI central office and we will be happy to ship some to your practice.
MCGI in the News
The latest edition of Clinical OMICs features a photo of Edison Liu, M.D., president and CEO of JAX on the cover and a feature article about JAX's MCGI. The article is the result of a visit from the publication's editor to JAX at the end of 2017.
Bio-IT World announced that the JAX Clinical Knowledgebase is a finalist in the 2018 Bio-IT World Best Practices competition. This year, 21 projects from 30 different organizations were chosen for the final round of competition, and winners will be announced on May 17 at the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo.
An article in Search Magazine discusses JAX's new speaker event series, JAXtaposition. The first TED-style talk held at the Cumberland Club in Portland, ME featured JAX's Francesca Menghi and Chuck Hewett, and focused on cancer research and the MCGI program.
Edison Liu was the focus of an interview with MedicalResearch.com, in which he discussed his recent study showing that chemotherapy choice can be aided by assessing the tandem duplicator profile (TDP) profile.
Edison Liu was also quoted as an expert in an Xconomy article about immunotherapy's current and future role in lung cancer treatment.
Edison Liu has been elected to Board of Directors of American Association for Cancer Research.
The Connecticut Technology Council distributed a press release about the winners of this year's "Women of Innovation" awards, including JAX's Honey Reddi. Coverage of the awards included an article in The Hartford Courant which featured a photo of Reddi accepting her award. In addition her hometown paper ran a story with a more personal feel with input from the JAX CLIA lab team.
On May 2 Jens Rueter, M.D. spoke about MCGI at the Maine Breast and Cervical Health Meeting.
On May 5 Andrey Antov, Ph.D., M.B.A. was a member of a panel on Genetics & Genomics at the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators 2018 Midyear conference.
On May 26 Jens Rueter, M.D. spoke about MCGI at the Maine Chapter of the American College of Surgeons Meeting.
The mission of the Maine Cancer Genomics Initiative (MCGI) is to enable widespread access to clinical cancer genomic tests for the Maine oncology community and to increase the understanding of cancer genomics by Maine oncology clinicians. The MCGI, enabled through the generous financial support from The Harold Alfond® Foundation, leverages the strengths of key medical and bioscience research institutions in Maine to create and alliance focused on precision cancer diagnostics and treatment.
The MCGI central office team is dedicated to ensuring your practice's engagement and experience with genomic cancer testing. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or comments. Email us at mcgi@jax.org.