Interviews

In an interview at this year’s American Heart Association Scientific Sessions meeting in Chicago, Tochi M. Okwuosa, DO, cardiologist and director of cardio-oncology at Rush University Medical Center, discussed the importance of addressing cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention in patients with cancer who are undergoing treatment.

As patients come into clinic and receive appropriate follow-up, we can hopefully find ways to mitigate the increase in alcoholic hepatitis, said Nancy Reau, MD, section chief of hepatology at Rush University Medical Center.

Get type 1 diabetes (T1D) communities involved in solving the problem and implementing T1D interventions in your country, said Tom Robinson, vice president of global access at JDRF.

There is a major role for telehealth in oncology care, not only for its convenience but also for giving clinicians the ability to scale nononcologic visits, explained Emeline Aviki, MD, MBA, FACOG, assistant attending gynecologic cancer surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City and lead of the MSKCC Affordability Working Group.

Jason Ezra Hawkes, MD, MS, FAAD, board-certified dermatologist and associate professor of dermatology at the University of California Davis in Sacramento, discussed why it is important for dermatologists to educate patients on atopic dermatitis (AD) and keep an open mind on variations in disease presentation by skin color.

Liz Lightstone, MBBS, PhD, FRCP, professor of renal medicine for the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, spoke on issues regarding the current standard of care for lupus nephritis, including steroid overuse, pregnancy, and dose-related toxicity.

Vineet Arora, MD, MAPP, dean for medical education at UChicago Medicine, discusses the qualities that led her to nominate Ishani Ganguli, MD, MPH, to receive the Seema S. Sonnad Emerging Leader in Managed Care Research Award. The American Journal of Managed Care® presented the 2022 award to Dr Ganguli at the 2022 Patient-Centered Oncology Care® meeting.

A combination of possible factors could be contributing to a recent uptick in hospitalizations for alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, said Nancy Reau, MD, section chief of hepatology at Rush University Medical Center.

While each country has a different priority when it comes to type 1 diabetes (T1D) diagnosis and treatment, there is a fairly consistent outcomes checklist across nations, said Tom Robinson, vice president of global access at JDRF.

Jana K. Dickter, MD, associate clinical professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, City of Hope, discusses a patient's experience being the oldest person to successfully undergo a stem cell transplant while living with HIV and leukemia.

Stephen M. Schleicher, MD, MBA, chief medical officer at Tennessee Oncology, addresses the “huge problem” of financial toxicity among patients with cancer, which can be attributed in part to both the high price of targeted treatments and even from ordering only necessary testing.

The disease groups that make up the OneOncology clinical pathways program cover 90% of patients with cancer and develop best practices for treating cancer in the majority of patients, said Edward “Ted” Arrowsmith, MD, MPH, managing partner and director of research, East Tennessee Division, Tennessee Oncology.

With multiple biosimilars approved for a reference product and different payers preferring particular products, communication between the clinical pharmacy team and the managed care team is crucial, said Timothy Murphy, MD, FACP, medical oncologist/hematologist with Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers.

Currently, there is no treatment approved for resectable cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC), nor do we have biomarkers to predict treatment response, noted Neil D. Gross, MD, FACS, head and neck surgeon and director of clinical research in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Joseph Alvarnas, MD, vice president of government affairs at City of Hope and chief clinical adviser of AccessHope in Duarte, California, spoke on how the California Cancer Care Equity Act will allow oncologists to escalate the care of patients with advanced cancers toward established centers that can better meet their needs, as well as implications from the decision to exclude genomic testing coverage in the bill.

The OneOncology Annual Conference is being held November 11-13 in Nashville, Tennessee, and brings together practice leaders, physicians, and advanced practice providers to discuss the business of oncology and scientific advancements, explained Davey Daniel, MD, chief medical officer of OneOncology.

Melissa O'Connor, PhD, MBA, RN, FGSA, FAAN, endowed professor in community and home health nursing, M. Louise Fitzpatrick School of Nursing, Villanova University, and director, Gerontology Interest Group, spoke on the early use of technology in assessing older adults in the home setting and what research is required to improve best practices for their use.

Disease symptomatology may be the same, but the presentation of heart failure (HF) and heart attacks differ between women and men, explained Amresh Raina, MD, of the Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Liz Lightstone, MBBS, PhD, FRCP, professor of renal medicine for the faculty of medicine, Imperial College London, discussed recently approved therapeutic options for patients with lupus nephritis and what unmet needs persist in the management of the disease.

For the US health care system to be appropriately patient-centered, clinical trials need to be reflective of the country's diversity, said Joseph Alvarnas, MD, vice president of government affairs and senior medical director for employer strategy at City of Hope.

Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, executive vice president of public policy and strategic initiatives at Texas Oncology, expands on her keynote address at the 2022 meeting of Patient-Centered Oncology Care®, which focused on DESTINY-Breast04 study findings and their applicability to managed care.

Representatives across 12 disease groups make up a council that sets clinical recommendations for oncology care and those decisions are being pushed out in the electronic medical record for decision support at the point of care, said Jeffrey Patton, MD, CEO, OneOncology, and executive chairman of the board, Tennessee Oncology. Patton will lead off OneOncology's Physician Leadership Conference, which runs November 11-13 in Nashville.

Ishani Ganguli, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, reacts to receiving the 2022 Seema S. Sonnad Emerging Leader in Managed Care Research Award.

Population health brings an important lens to both oncology practice and research, said Neil Iyengar, MD, associate attending physician, breast medical service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Nancy Reau, MD, section chief of hepatology at Rush University Medical Center, elaborates on survey results showing providers have varying awareness and understanding on guidelines for chronic liver disease.

Kashyap Patel, MD, president of Community Oncology Alliance and chief executive officer of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates, previews the Patient-Centered Oncology Care® (PCOC) 2022 meeting happening this week in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tochi M. Okwuosa, DO, cardiologist and director of cardio-oncology at Rush University Medical Center, delivered several presentations at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions this year. Chief among them were the importance of cardiovascular health in cancer survivors and cardio-toxicity from cancer treatments.

Kausik K. Ray, MB ChB, MD, MPhil, is professor of public health and a consultant cardiologist at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom. At this year’s American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions, he presented findings from a 4-year open-label extension study of inclisiran, a small interfering RNA that targets proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C).

Keith C. Ferdinand, MD, FACC, FAHA, FASPC, FNLA, professor of medicine and the Gerald S. Berenson Endowed Chair in Preventative Cardiology, Tulane University School of Medicine, discusses the results of the recently halted FRESH trial, why there is such a great need for new antihypertensive agents, and possible contributory factors to outcome disparities between Black and White patients.

The DELIVER trial is the largest trial to date of SGLT2 inhibitor use in heart failure, and these latest data on dapagliflozin in heart failure with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction show an extensive benefit on health status, noted Mikhail Kosiborod, MD, cardiologist at St. Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri.