Underscoring Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s ability to attract top clinical and research talent, Deputy Director Renier Brentjens, MD, PhD, has named physician-scientist Peter Maslak, MD, as Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs and Technical Director of the Clinical Flow Cytometry Laboratory.

Patients with esophageal cancer typically face a poor prognosis, largely because the disease is advanced at the time of diagnosis — and progress toward more-effective therapies has lagged. Now, armed with encouraging results from previous clinical trials, researchers at Roswell Park have launched two phase 2 clinical trials for esophageal cancer. Their goal: to determine whether a beta blocker called propranolol (brand name Inderal) can improve the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy. Approved by the FDA in 1968, propranolol is commonly used to treat high blood pressure.