Support goes beyond treatment
Annual Report 2019
Teamwork is a hallmark of MD Anderson. Everything we do revolves around one goal: to end cancer for our patients and their families. This year’s Annual Report highlights these efforts through stories illuminating our patients’ courage, our supporters’ thoughtfulness, our trainees’ drive to innovate, and our employees’ strength, resilience and innovation.
Back in the game after a brain tumor in the bladder
An unusual diagnosis of a brain tumor in the bladder was no match for the treatment planned by MD Anderson’s experts – or for University of Oklahoma soccer player Jazzy Richards.
The hours and days after hospital discharge can be overwhelming. Now, askMDAnderson is ensuring cancer patients and caregivers get the help they need when they need it.
A new research collaboration is exploring personalized options for pelvic cancer surgery.
MD Anderson’s Brain Metastases Clinic is streamlining treatment and offering more options for patients with brain tumors that are notoriously difficult to treat.
Caring for a loved one with cancer can pose unique challenges. Support groups for caregivers are giving caregivers a voice – and a chance to connect with others going through the same thing.
What happens when men receive prostate cancer treatment from multidisciplinary clinics? New research shows they’re more likely to receive better treatment and to have a voice in their care.
Technology can play a vital role in managing health care online. But apps, social media and other online activities can be intimidating for some older cancer patients and caregivers. That’s where technology help sessions offered at MD Anderson come in.
After losing her mother to pancreatic cancer at age 55, Florencia McAllister, M.D., is driven to find new ways to treat and diagnose the disease.
A small but mighty team of volunteers plays a vital role in supporting cancer patients and caregivers at MD Anderson’s locations in League City, The Woodlands, Sugar Land and West Houston.
MD Anderson’s first-of-its kind Hemovigilance Unit is enabling care teams to virtually monitor cancer patients before, during and after a blood transfusion. That means quicker detection, response to and prevention of blood transfusion reactions.
Van Morris, M.D., benefited from the guidance of others. Now he does the mentoring.
For cancer patients who smoke, quitting tobacco can make treatment more effective and improve the chances of survival by 30% to 40%. Enrollment in MD Anderson’s Tobacco Treatment Program can make an even bigger difference, increasing participants’ chances of quitting successfully.
When pediatric cancer patients have a challenging diagnosis, it’s important for doctors and nurses to discuss treatment options and goals with their parents. A conversation guide and visual aids developed by Karen Moody, M.D., are designed to improve these conversations.
A unique collaboration is giving medical students from Puerto Rico the opportunity to receive mentoring and training at MD Anderson as they work toward becoming physician-scientists. By closing the gap in research, education and training, the program seeks to eliminate cancer health disparities in under-served populations in Puerto Rico and Texas.
Newlyweds Lauren O’Malley and Jake Woodward have both undergone cancer treatment – for ovarian cancer and thymoma respectively. But before they started their treatments, the couple worked with MD Anderson fertility specialists.
Toni Vasquez Jordan’s experience as a breast cancer survivor has provided valuable insight for Ishwaria Subbiah, M.D., as she develops clinical trials and develops ways to enhance patient care.
An experimental treatment called CAR NK therapy finally helped B-cell lymphoma patient JC Cox overcome cancer after years of trying different options. Now, researchers are exploring how to expand this treatment to more cancer patients and cancer types.
By day, members of Checkmates are working to end cancer. But by night, this band of musicians that includes Nobel Prize-winning researcher Jim Allison, Ph.D., lets loose by jamming and performing together.
A type of immunotherapy called TIL therapy uses T cells from the tumor itself to fight cancer. And it’s showing promise for treating a growing number of cancers, including cervical cancer.
Historically, anaplastic thyroid cancer patients have had few treatment options, and those that existed often came too late. But MD Anderson’s FAST clinic is speeding up the start of treatment for this aggressive cancer – and giving patients new treatment options, including clinical trials.
Previous Issues
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Annual Report 2016
75 years of Making Cancer History
Annual Report 2015
Research
Annual Report 2014
Cancer can’t surprise us
Annual Report 2013
Open minds, new frontiers
Annual Report 2012
The time is now to educate
Annual Report 2011
From our president
Annual Report 2010
Many voices help tell the story
Annual Report 2009
From the President