Press Releases

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is proud to announce the promotion and appointment of three leaders to executive roles overseeing key aspects of research, education and facilities management.

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Chief of Colorectal Surgery Steven Nurkin, MD, MS, FACS, is slated to speak at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 2023 Annual Conference, happening March 31-April 2 in Orlando.

Research conducted at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center shows that the types of T cells circulating in the blood of patients with recurrent ovarian cancer may predict the likelihood that their disease will respond to an anti-PD1 immunotherapy. The findings, which grew out of a phase 2 clinical trial led by Emese Zsiros, MD, PhD, FACOG, Chair and Director of Research, Department of Gynecologic Oncology, will be highlighted at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, March 25-28 in Tampa, Florida.

Two Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center faculty leaders will give invited talks during symposium sessions as the Society for Surgical Oncology (SSO) gathers this week for the 2023 International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care in Boston, Mass.

In recognition of the superior experience it has provided for patients over several years, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has been designated by Press Ganey as a 2022 Human Experience (HX) Pinnacle of Excellence Award winner.

As it celebrates the achievements of some of the nation’s most respected and accomplished doctors, healthcare information resource Castle Connolly has recognized seven Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center physician-oncologists as Exceptional Women in Medicine.

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.

Vaping cannabidiol (CBD), a compound found in marijuana, leads to more severe lung damage than vaping nicotine, according to a study out of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Until now, research on the health effects of vaping, or using e-cigarettes, has focused almost exclusively on vaping nicotine as opposed to CBD. Previous research has documented the effects of smoking cannabis, but the effects of vaping cannabinoids such as CBD were not previously known.