2024 Impact Report: University of Cincinnati Cancer Center
INTRODUCTION
Since becoming the unified University of Cincinnati Cancer Center four years ago, our momentum has brought several key achievements to fruition. Over this past year in particular, we have made great progress in our journey to seeking National Cancer Institute designation.
We are providing our patients with access to more than 100 clinical trials, with the newest emerging therapies. By joining the prestigious NCI Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN), our patients will have even greater access to more and earlier treatments.
We celebrated the opening of the UC Blood Cancer Healing Center, offering three floors of outpatient and inpatient care services and a home to the region’s only adult academic health system phase 1 clinical trials unit.
With your partnership, we are building a strong, thriving cancer center that will continue to advance discovery and prepare future cancer leaders, transforming cancer care across the lifespan.
We are so grateful to you for supporting this important work that will improve lives here in Greater Cincinnati and around the world.
PROGRESS IN NCI JOURNEY
Below is the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center’s working Phases toward NCI application. In partnership with Huron consultants and our Cancer Center leadership, this timeline adapts and evolves as we continually assess our progress. Phase
Build critical mass of cancer researchers
• Evaluate NCI baseline metrics
• Assessment of NCI readiness
• Prepare for NCI evaluation
Initiation of Oversight Committee
Appointment of co-directors
Revision of mission, vision and core values
Establishment of Scientific Advisory Council
Design of unified UCCC logo
Draft action plan
Streamline clinical research operations
Establish and launch critical NCI components
Establish External Advisory Board
• Assessment of administrative core
• Finalize action plan
• Evaluation
Highlights since last report update:
Building critical components
In 2023, we hosted 26 cancer symposiums and seminars plus two major cancer conferences. For our young researchers, we began a Trainee Associate Membership program to provide mentoring and networking opportunities, and we funded more than $1 million in pilot projects to support nascent investigations.
We are using the NCI’s rigorous standards to guide our program development and investments. Our robust research—spanning basic science and clinical trials—allows us to test novel approaches, and quickly assess what works and what does not work. Just a few examples of the recent scientific breakthroughs developed by our researchers include growing our understanding of:
• the pathogenesis of leukemia, leading to novel targets and therapeutic approaches.
• the contribution of environmental factors to cancer incidence and outcomes.
Established External Advisory Board
As part of our current phase of NCI readiness, an external advisory board—comprised of peer cancer center directors and leading experts from current and aspiring NCI designated institutions—met with the Cancer Center in October to review our current core grant application draft. This pivotal meeting served as a mock site visit, to assess the strength of our planned application and identify areas for growth and further development.
HIGHLIGHTS
150% increase in active clinical trials since 2019
$36.9M in cancerrelated grant funding (51% increase over last year.)
Increase in publications over one year: 224 to 382
272 Cancer Center members
RESEARCH
Building the bench in expertise and resources
When Michael V. Knopp, MD, PhD, professor of radiology joined the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, he brought with him 30-plus years of experience, more than two dozen members of his research team, an ongoing affiliation with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and experience at the German National Cancer Institute (DFKZ).
He also brought to Cincinnati the prestigious Wright Center of Innovation in Biomedical Imaging and Digital Health and his leadership role at the NCI’s Imaging and Radiation Oncology Core (IROC), along with more than $2 million in NCI grant funding.
Knopp’s research team in imaging is providing precise information about tumor type and location to allow more targeted and personalized therapy delivery. Promising advancements include molecular imaging to allow clinicians to visualize biological processes at the cellular and subcellular levels while still in the body, and theranostics, an exciting and fast-growing discipline that uses radiotracers to find and bind to cancer cells to deliver targeted radiation.
Advancements in clinical trials
The University of Cincinnati Cancer Center has joined an elite network of cancer research institutions that provides patients with the earliest access to the most novel and cutting-edge cancer treatments. In October 2023, the Cancer Center was accepted into the National Cancer Institute’s Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN).
“There are two main mechanisms to do clinical trials: NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network and ETCTN,” says Davendra Sohal, MD, associate director for clinical research at the Cancer Center and professor of internal medicine in the UC College of Medicine. “We’ve been part of the first for years. The ETCTN is more exclusive with very carefully and rigorously selected institutions. Only large, established cancer centers get to be a part of it, so for us to be accepted shows that the NCI acknowledges our expertise in clinical trials.”
The ETCTN consists of nine subgroups, each with its own portfolio of trials. UC has joined the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Hillman Cancer Center’s network which includes the University of California-Irvine and the Montefiore Medical Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Pancreatic cancer vaccine trial first in the Midwest
The Cancer Center is the first site in the Midwest to begin enrolling patients in a Phase II clinical trial for a vaccine to treat pancreatic cancer. The vaccine uses mRNA technology to teach the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. Each vaccine is tailored to the individual genetic profile of a patient’s tumor. In the Phase I trial, 8 of 32 patients were completely cured, which is double the current survival rate. “This could be a game changer,” says Davendra Sohal, MD.
TALENT AND GROWTH
The Department of Urology officially became the UC College of Medicine’s 24th academic department on July 1, 2024. It had been a division of the Department of Surgery since 1960. The change follows a national trend for urology divisions being elevated to departments.
In August, Alberto Martini, MD, joined the faculty as an assistant professor of urology. Martini has a clinical and research focus in urologic cancers, specifically prostate, bladder and kidney cancer, and is fellowship-trained from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. He will serve as the research director for the department, which currently has six full-time faculty, 10 residents and seven advanced providers.
Ayman Mahdy, MD, was named interim department chair, sees potential for quick growth in the new department. Plans include creation of fellowships with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and an expansion in care services within the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center.
New faculty joining the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center include:
“The Blood Cancer Healing Center embodies a new chapter in cancer care. With personalized, holistic care and pioneering research coming together under one roof, we are not just treating patients; we are giving them hope for a brighter future. This facility represents a significant step forward in our mission to provide the best possible care for those affected by blood cancers.”
John C. Byrd, MD
Senior Advisor, University of Cincinnati Cancer Center Gordon and Helen Hughes Taylor Professor and Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
NEW FACILITIES, NEW COLLABORATIONS
UC Blood Cancer Healing Center
The opening of the UC Blood Cancer Healing Center marks a historic milestone in cancer care for the region and beyond.
Opening events in June 2024 celebrated the beginning of clinical services in the facility, while additional spaces are scheduled to open into 2025—including research labs for new cancer treatment discoveries as well as wellness areas for food as medicine and mind and movement therapies.
Scan the QR code to watch the video presented at the grand opening of the Blood Cancer Healing Center.
Cincinnati Children’s Advanced Leukemia Therapies and Research Center
One new illustration of the Cancer Center’s commitment to leading research and care for patients with the most aggressive forms of leukemia and lymphoma, is a collaboration between UC and Cincinnati Children’s. The Advanced Leukemia Therapies and Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s and the UC Blood Cancer Healing Center will unite basic science research, clinical trials and patient care in the same locations. This will accelerate collaboration between researchers and clinicians at Cincinnati Children’s, UC Health and the UC College of Medicine.
“The launch of the Blood Cancer Healing Center along with the Advanced Leukemia Therapies and Research Center further galvanizes what we’re trying to do to expedite innovations,” says Daniel Starczynowski, PhD, associate director for basic science research at the Cancer Center and director of the Advanced Leukemia Therapies and Research Center.
The first-of-its-kind leukemia center opened in September 2023, uniting Cincinnati Children’s leukemia research and clinical teams in one location. Basic science researchers access human biospecimens across the continuum of care, physician-scientists provide real-time feedback directly to the research team, and patients can participate in clinical trials for emerging therapies.
O. RICHARD BUNDY, III
President, UC Foundation
Vice President for University Advancement, UC Rich.Bundy@foundation.uc.edu
