Read the latest issue of Promise & Progress featuring research advances in cancer drug discovery and development, promising new cancer drugs, patient stories and more. From scientific meetings to our own dinner tables, conversations about better treatments for cancer are among the most frequently discussed health care topics. Everyone wants them—the doctors and scientists who […]
Issues & Perspectives

Differences and Disparities in Cancer
Posted by Valerie Matthews-Mehl | Issues & Perspectives, Prevention/ScreeningThe good news is that there is an ongoing 1.5 percent annual decline in cancer death rates. The more troubling news is that cancer does not affect all equally. Read Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson’s editorial in Cancer Today, a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Jan 8, 2018 No comments

Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month
Posted by Valerie Matthews-Mehl | Issues & Perspectives, treatmentIt’s Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, so we wanted to gather our best Kimmel Cancer Center resources for you. Learn more about cancer vaccines and other ways our experts are working to get the immune system to fight pancreatic cancer. Watch leading pancreatic cancer and immunology expert Elizabeth Jaffee, M.D., talk about new work from our […]
Nov 8, 2017 No comments
Do you qualify for Social Security disability as a cancer patient? 5 tests
Posted by admin | caregiving, Issues & Perspectives, treatment, UncategorizedSocial Security pays benefits for a medical condition that is expected to last for at least a year, or may result in death. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) supports the aged, blind or disabled who have little or no income, providing cash for basics like food, clothing and shelter. According to social workers at the Johns Hopkins […]
Jul 27, 2017 No comments

Historic cancer drug approval has roots at Johns Hopkins and its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute laboratories and clinics
Posted by admin | Issues & PerspectivesBreaking news today as, for the first time, a drug has been FDA-approved for cancer based on disease genetics rather than type. Developed from 30 years of basic research at Johns Hopkins and its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute, pembroluzimab now can be used for colon, pancreatic, stomach, ovarian and other cancers if genetic testing reveals defects in […]
May 23, 2017 No comments

Lung cancer immunotherapy options expand
Posted by admin | Issues & PerspectivesPatients and doctors received news this week of the FDA’s approval of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab in combination with platinum doublet chemotherapy as first-line therapy for all patients with non-small cell lung cancer, irrespective of patients’ tumor PD-L1 status. The new approval follows the FDA’s decision last November to approve pembrolizumab as a first-line therapy for some […]
May 12, 2017 No comments
Kimmel Cancer Center Joins Nation’s Cancer Centers in Supporting HPV Vaccination
Posted by admin | Issues & PerspectivesThe Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center joined all of the nation's cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute in endorsing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to prevent cancers caused by the ubiquitous virus. HPV infections are known to cause most cervical, anal, oropharyngeal and other genital cancers. Vaccines are available to prevent infections of certain […]
Jan 27, 2016 No comments
Insights from Katie Couric, keynote speaker at A Woman’s Journey
Posted by admin | Issues & PerspectivesThis quote from Katie Couric's keynote speech at A Woman's Journey sums up the hard work of cancer scientists, clinicians, patients, families and friends.
Nov 19, 2013 1 comment
Do You Have a Cancer Screening Buddy?
Posted by Valerie Matthews-Mehl | Issues & PerspectivesI heard a story about actors Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Tom Hanks forming a colonoscopy slumber party of sorts. They get together at one of their homes the day of the bowel prep and bring in a caterer to make them broth and gelatin, play poker all night, and the next day they have […]
Oct 11, 2013 1 comment
The Healing Power of Music
Posted by Michelle Potter | Issues & Perspectives, UncategorizedI never thought I’d be exposed to such a wide variety of expert musicians and performers working as a communications coordinator in the Cancer Center. Through the Cancer Center’s Art of Healing Performing Arts Series, I have the exciting opportunity to work with high caliber musicians from the Peabody Institute, local ballet dancers, and even a […]
Mar 6, 2012 1 comment