Dr. Neppalli’s challenge: to help doctors from other countries find ways to deliver fast, accurate diagnoses using the materials and facilities they have back at their home centers.

The old book doesn’t look like much. Its red fabric cover is faded. The edges of the pages have yellowed, and there are no photos or illustrations inside — just page after page bearing the signatures of eminent people, including world-renowned scientists who changed the course of history.

Dr. Odunsi and his colleagues observed that the tumors of some patients were full of T cells that had managed to work their way inside the tumor. When there were many of these T cells, the patients tended to live longer.

Surgical advances, such as video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), have replaced the Chamberlain procedure and offer the surgeon a better way to examine the lungs, determine the extent of the disease and get higher-quality biopsies.

A combination of two immunotherapy drugs shows promise in treating patients with skin cancer that has spread to the brain, according to a study published this week the New England Journal of Medicine.

It can be difficult to make decisions, especially when you’re faced with a cancer diagnosis. For most cancers, there are many treatment options, depending on the type and extent of the disease, any other health conditions you have and other treatments you have received.

By studying similarities in high-risk individuals and tracing connections between their blood relatives, researchers are helping solve the mysteries of a disease that is usually diagnosed in the late stages, when it is harder to treat.