Press Releases

Roswell Park has appointed Crystal Rodriguez-Dabney, Esq., as Chief Diversity Officer and Senior Vice President — a senior leadership position with direct influence on initiatives across the organization.

Every year, more than 30,000 people contact the New York State Smokers’ Quitline for help in ending their dependence on commercial tobacco products. That lifeline will remain in place, thanks to the New York State Health Department’s renewal of its contract with Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, home of the Quitline since it began 23 years ago. Awarded on a competitive basis, the $20 million contract ensures funding for the program for the next five years.

Nationally prominent attorney Leecia Eve, Esq., has been named Interim Chair of the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Board of Directors. A Buffalo native, she was named to the post by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, becoming the first woman and the first person of color to serve as Board Chair.

Becker’s Hospital Review, a leading healthcare industry news source, has recognized Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center President Candace S. Johnson, PhD, among its “177 Women Hospital Presidents and CEOs to Know,” noting her accomplishments as a pioneer in her field and a passionate advocate for emerging leaders.

High-risk breast cancer patients who most closely followed cancer-prevention guidelines published by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and American Cancer Society (ACS) before, during and after chemotherapy experienced a 37% reduced risk of disease recurrence and a 58% reduced risk of death, according to a study led by Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Researchers hope the information can be used to educate patients about ways they might improve their own outcomes even after diagnosis.

Evidence-based practice changes led by nurses from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center will be highlighted – and a longtime Roswell Park nurse recognized – at the 48th annual Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Congress April 26-30, 2023, in San Antonio, Texas.

Metastasis, or the spread of cancer from one site in the body to another, remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Understanding how solid tumors spread is crucial to the effort to improve patient outcomes. A team of scientists led by Scott Abrams, PhD, at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center uncovered a pathway associated with metastases to the lung, a common site for cancer spread. The work, just published in the journal JCI Insight, has potentially significant implications that may point the way to new cancer therapies.

Approximately one-third of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were treated with the targeted therapy sotorasib (brand name Lumakras) survived for at least two years after enrolling in a large clinical trial that evaluated the drug — significantly longer than what can be expected from patients treated with standard chemotherapy.

Little is known about how radiation therapy to kill cancer cells affects immune cells and other components of patient tumors. But a study out of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is shedding light on that process, providing information that could be key for planning treatment regimens that combine immunotherapy and radiation therapy. The authors outline their findings in a new study in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.