Press Releases

Recognizing his steadfast dedication to his patients and their care, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer has promoted Steven Nurkin, MD, MS, FACS, to Chief of Colorectal Surgery.

In 1873, Russian doctor J. von Rusitzky coined the term “multiple myeloma” after finding eight different types of bone marrow tumors in a single patient. Nearly 150 years later, using advanced cell sequencing technology and state-of-the-art imaging techniques, researchers at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center have provided a molecular and biological explanation for this finding, discovering that different myeloma clones can be present in a single patient and linking these distinct genetic changes in myeloma cells to the development of myeloma bone disease.

It’s just 60 seconds long, but explains a lifetime of dedication. Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s local television commercial, “My Why,” which will air in the Buffalo market during the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 13, shares the very personal motivation that has driven a Roswell Park genetics expert to commit her life to cancer research.

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is the first center to treat patients in a newly opened advanced-stage clinical trial utilizing the brain cancer vaccine SurVaxM, offering a new treatment option for patients who are dealing with a rare but deadly form of the disease. The multicenter randomized clinical trial is sponsored by MimiVax LLC, a company spun off from Roswell Park in 2012.

Scientists at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a potential new target for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. The study, published today in Cancer Cell, outlines the team’s discovery of a fungus-activated pathway that fuels the production of a molecule present in cancerous cells in the pancreas, opening a possible new treatment avenue for patients with this devastating disease.

Opioid painkillers are very effective when used to manage cancer-related pain, but they’re also highly addictive. Because abuse and misuse of this class of drugs is common, and because opioid overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in New York State, doctors who treat patients with cancer face unique challenges when prescribing pain relievers.

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists successfully competed for more than $36 million in grants from government agencies and private funders awarded in the second half of 2021 — including two prestigious “R01” Research Project awards from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for more than $3 million each.

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center President and CEO Candace S. Johnson, PhD, has been named to City & State’s 2022 Health Care Power 100 list, released today. The weekly news magazine counts Dr. Johnson — who has been at the helm of Roswell Park since — as one of the “New York leaders who are saving lives.”

In 2012, Seneca Nation Businessman J.C. Seneca formed the JC Seneca Foundation (JCSF) with a mission to form partnerships that promote the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual well-being of Native people and their surrounding communities. Since then, Seneca has realized that mission by supporting charitable programs such as It Takes a Tribe, providing sponsorships for initiatives including Bikers Against Child Abuse and The Ride for Dialysis, and forming partnerships with community health organizations such as G-Health Enterprises and Harmonia Collaborative Care. As JCSF moves into its second decade, Seneca is taking steps to further his foundation’s impact.