Compassion inspires cholangiocarcinoma support

While the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation recently awarded $50,000 to support the basic research of Milind Javle, M.D., associate professor in Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, it’s his compassion as a physician that impresses the nonprofit’s supporters.

“We have a lot of confidence in Dr. Javle, but first and foremost, we have confidence in his character as a clinician,” says Stacie Lindsey, the foundation’s president and founder.

Thousands of patients from the U.S. and across the globe “who respect and love Dr. Javle” visit the foundation’s discussion board, she notes.

“They feel confident in his care,” says Lindsey. “He’s available to them and their families, and they feel that he truly cares about them and their situations.”

“Patients whose cancers have mutations in the BAP1 gene have an aggressive prognosis with cancers that spread frequently to the bony skeleton,” says Javle. These patients also don’t typically respond well to usual treatment such as chemotherapy, he says.

The foundation’s gift will help advance Javle’s genetic research by developing a mouse model of cholangiocarcinoma, a bile duct cancer, with the BAP1 mutation.

“This will allow us to test new targeted agents that hold promise against this mutation and will ultimately have an impact on patient outcomes,” Javle says. “We’re grateful to the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation for its support.”

Javle will coordinate the research with Anirban Maitra, M.B.B.S., professor in Pathology Administration.

“We appreciate Dr. Javle’s willingness to collaborate with other professionals,” says Lindsey. “He’s respectful of others’ skills and well-respected himself. He has relationships throughout the world that he’s called on to assist us at the foundation. Institutions must work together for these smaller patient groups if we want to make an impact on their care now and in the future.”