MD Anderson continues mission of discovery, caring

And they have different kinds of cancer: low-grade serous ovarian, mantle cell lymphoma, thyroid, pancreatic pNET, chronic myeloid leukemia, tongue and rhabdomyosarcoma.

But one thing significantly unites them. They are seven of the increasing number of MD Anderson patients whose rare cancers are being successfully treated with therapies developed by the institution’s scientists and clinicians during the past five years. For a snapshot of the breakthroughs that have them leading meaningful lives, read their stories:

• Mantle cell lymphoma: Marvin Kimmel
• Low-grade serous ovarian cancer: Dotsy Elliott
• Head and neck cancers: Harry Sheppard
• Rhabdomyosarcoma: Madeline Cashion
• Chronic myeloid leukemia: Justin Ozuna
• Advanced thyroid cancer: Mindy Morris
• Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor: Miriam Jauregui

MD Anderson carries on carrying on

While MD Anderson forges ahead with its groundbreaking Moon Shots Program — an unprecedented, comprehensive assault on cancer announced in September 2012 — the institution’s health care providers and researchers continue to do what they have done for the past 72 years: find new therapies for rare and common cancers and offer hope to a multitude of patients.

Over the past five years, MD Anderson faculty have:

• led clinical trials, contributing to 22 of the 71 cancer drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration;
• been awarded more than 50 multi-investigator grants, including 12 National Cancer Institute Specialized Programs of Research Excellence grants, 10 National Institutes of Health (NIH) PO1 program project grants and 13 NIH U-series cooperative agreement grants;
• published more than 12,000 papers in distinguished journals spanning prevention to survivorship, nearly half of which were authored by multidisciplinary teams, reflecting the institution’s collaborative spirit; and
• kept MD Anderson as the top grantee of the National Cancer Institute.