2 by the numbers 14 siblings unite - fred hutch · saw survival in scientific teamwork. she’d...
TRANSCRIPT
TEAMING UP TO TARGET THE PERFECT SCIENTIFIC APPROACH FOR CURES
FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTERSUMMER 2016
Her odds were
fading. Her cancer was
prevailing. But Kristin Kleinhofer
saw survival in scientific teamwork.
She’d read stories of leukemia patients
like her, people once out of options yet now in
remission due to immunotherapy. The science
was built on decades of alliances spanning
many institutions, many doctors — including
researchers at Fred Hutch. That’s where
she went. That’s where collaboration
saved her life.
2 BY THE NUMBERS 14 SIBLINGS UNITE
HUTCH MAGAZINE 2016 / SUMMER 2 1HUTCH MAGAZINE 2016 / SUMMER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
By the numbersA look at the true toll of cancer in the U.S. and around the globe.
BY RACHEL TOMPA / 2
FEATURE STORIES
Collaborating to kill cancerThese researchers and innovators from different institutions are setting aside competition to unite against one enemy.
BY BILL BRIGGS / 4
Cover design by Kim Carney
Partnering for patient access to careThe SCCA’s top nurse has spent her career advocating for better patient access to care. It hit home when her sister was diagnosed.
BY DIANE MAPES / 14
DEPARTMENTS 3 FROM THE DIRECTOR
16 MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Companies engage their communities to spur research
20 OFF CAMPUS: Meet Dr. Aude Chapuis, immunotherapy researcher, avid skier, parent to a Play-Doh chef
HUTCH NEWS93 percent of advanced leukemia patients in remission after immunotherapy
New strides in metastatic breast cancer research offer hope
Steve Stadum named new chief operating officer
Being pregnant — and diagnosed with cancer
For daily science and health stories go to fredhutch.org/news
BY FRED HUTCH STAFF / 18-19
Photo courtesy of Fred Fox Studios
Photo courtesy of Emily Cousins
HONOR YOUR SPECIAL DAY BY SUPPORTING LIFESAVING RESEARCH
BOLD IDEAS NEED BIG SUPPORT
Donate to Fred Hutch in lieu of providing traditional wedding favors.
For more information pleasecall 206.667.5242 or visitfredhutch.org/tributes
Photo courtesy of Jessica Schmitt Photography
jessicaschmitt.com
HUTCH MAGAZINE 2016 / SUMMER 4
31
312
PEOPLE
PEOPLE
KEY
CANCER IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN 21 STATES
The numbers can be staggering, but they serve a purpose. They help define the scope of cancer’s challenge. They reveal when progress is made. And because every number represents real individuals — sisters, sons, co-workers and buddies — whose lives depend on that progress, they motivate. Here arejust a few of the statistics on which our sights are set.
Age-standardized rate, 2008-2012; Per 100,000, age adjusted to the 2000 US standard population
2012 data
around the world will die of cancer in the two minutes it will take to read this graphic.
around the world will die of cancer in the 20 minutes it will take you to read thisissue of Hutch Magazine.
INCIDENCE
1.7MILLION2016*
14.1MILLION2012*
PER100,000*182.0
Age-standardized rate, 2008-2012
PER100,000454.8
MORTALITY
PER100,000*102.4
Age-standardized rate, 2008-2012
PER100,000171.2
MILLION0.62016*
MILLION8.22012*
WORLD U.S.
DEADLIEST CANCERS
MOST COMMON CANCERS
131.5, Prostate
123.1, Breast
63.7, Lung
41.9, Colorectal25.3, Uterine
47.2, Lung
21.9, Breast
21.4, Prostate
15.5, Colorectal
10.9, PancreaticSources: National Cancer Institute; American Association for Cancer Research; North American Association of Central Cancer Registries; American Cancer Society; GLOBOCAN
REPORTING BY RACHEL TOMPA / DESIGN BY JIM WOOLACE
* Estimated
2 3
Linking minds and labs across the nation and world to spur cures GREAT SCIENCE DOES NOT HAPPEN IN ISOLATION. Cures do not occur in a vacuum.
At Fred Hutch, and in other labs around the country and globe, scientists are working on research that will fuel more cures for cancer. The fastest way to end the scourge of cancer is by joining forces, sharing knowledge and resources, and uniting to kill a common enemy.
Collaboration is in Fred Hutch’s character — and our science. Look at the teamwork among researchers across our five scientific divisions. To further enhance these collaborative interfaces, we are establishing new Integrated Research Centers at the Hutch to engender cross-divisional interdisciplinary research. Look at the Cancer Consortium — a partnership between UW Medicine, Seattle Children’s, Fred Hutch and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance that brings together great minds dedicated to delivering discoveries to patients to prevent, treat and cure cancer.
And look at the four pairs of colleagues you’ll meet in this issue of Hutch Magazine who are merging their missions across institutions, cities and continents. At their core, those missions are the same: saving lives.
I recently met with Vice President Joe Biden when he visited Fred Hutch on his Cancer Moonshot listening tour. He asked, “Are we collaborating enough?” He and I spoke of the drive to break down silos. That means pooling the talents of people with often-divergent priorities — folks from academic sciences, medicine, government and the private sector — and convincing them to converge for this singular cause.
Our urgency is driven by the friends and loved ones — the many millions of Americans — diagnosed with cancer each year. In this country, cancer will kill nearly 600,000 people in 2016, as the statistics on the previous page reveal. There is no time to waste. We must work together.
We are one of several cancer centers in the U.S. engaged in a communal effort to make immunotherapies available to more cancer patients. For example, Fred Hutch, Seattle Children’s and Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, have together founded Juno Therapeutics to commercialize promising immunotherapies developed by researchers at the three institutions.
We’ve also collaborated for years with medical researchers in China in part to better understand the spectrum of cancers that are endemic in that region of the world. And there’s the new UCI-Fred Hutch Cancer Centre in Kampala, Uganda, the first comprehensive cancer hospital jointly built by U.S. and African cancer organizations in sub-Saharan Africa. It’s the latest product of a partnership that has been growing and innovating for more than a decade.
We value and encourage collaboration and I am proud to say it defines who we are, what we do, where we’re headed. I believe this collegial commitment will lead us all, much faster, to cures.
Cures start here,
Dr. Gary GillilandPresident and Director
FROM THE DIRECTOR
Dr. Gary GillilandPhoto by Robert Hood / Fred Hutch
Fred Hutch’s passionate researchers are changing lives with their breakthrough science.
Get the latest news at fredhutch.org.
By autumn 2014, the leukemia was back. Kleinhofer, pictured above, saw one shot at survival: immunotherapy. She learned that scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center were genetically modifying patients’ immune systems — specifically their T cells — to seek and destroy precisely her
type of advanced disease. She landed a spot in the Seattle trial. She received one IV bag of her own re-engineered immune cells.
It worked. The leukemia became undetectable in her blood. That allowed her, three months later, to undergo a successful double cord blood transplant at Seattle
Cancer Care Alliance, Fred Hutch’s treatment arm. She’s remained in remission since.
Her path to remission relied on two pivotal collaborations: Chats among three physicians at three medical centers ushered her into the Hutch trial, and a cross-continent partnership that began years earlier laid some
of the critical, scientific groundwork that kept Kleinhofer alive.
That alliance between Fred Hutch immunotherapy researcher Dr. Stan Riddell and German microbiologist and immunologist Dr. Dirk Busch began with a fellowship meant to encourage scientists from across the planet to join forces. After securing that funding, they linked their labs and minds eight years ago to better understand the unique behaviors of single T cells, and then use those cells in immunotherapies to attack cancers and infections in patients.
“Vice President [Joe] Biden was recently
at the Hutch and this is one of his big ideas [for the Cancer Moonshot]: How do we get scientists to share more openly?” Riddell said. “I think [in teaming with Busch] we moved the field forward in ways that are still playing out.”
They also proved that collaboration could thrive amid the usual fight for research dollars — a reality Riddell also mentioned to Biden.
“Funding these kinds of initiatives is unique and actually something that’s missing in science,” Riddell said. “[Our partnership] is an example of the kind of
success we can have in taking this approach.”In addition to Biden’s push to shatter silos,
the vice president listed crucial areas of focus, including immunotherapy, precision medicine, public-private partnerships and data sharing.
At Fred Hutch, thought leaders in those areas opt to brainstorm with counterparts at other institutions to speed cancer cures.
While researchers often work solo, they
4 5
PHOTOS BY ROBERT HOOD & SEBASTIAN KISSEL
EVERYTHING HAD FAILED KRISTIN KLEINHOFER. First, her body — invaded by
leukemia in 2010. And then, her treatments — a chemotherapy slog that spanned
parts of four years, causing infections, fevers, nausea, rashes, abscesses, jaundice
and leaky heart valves, yet delivering just two temporary remissions.
Across research centers, scientists and innovators
shelve competition to chase a common enemy
STORY BY BILL BRIGGS
CONTINUED >
HUTCH MAGAZINE 2016 / SUMMER
76 HUTCH MAGAZINE 2016 / SUMMER
not just as a scientific collaborator but as a person. That was the kind of relationship we would really have to have to make this project successful.”
Some eight years later, the Fred Hutch immunotherapy pioneer and the German immunologist operate Focus Group Clinical Cell Processing and Purification, part of the Technical University of Munich. Their group works to develop clinical cell therapeutics to treat infections and certain cancers. The Institute for Advanced Study funded Riddell’s involvement and the pair’s subsequent immunotherapy research via a fellowship
worth more than $100,000.Indeed, immunotherapy’s core principle is
to customize the body’s natural defenses to fight disease. While that emerging science is showing immense promise, progress doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
Riddell and Busch had been individually fascinated by the curing potential of T cells — white blood cells that can detect abnormal cells, including cancerous cells. Subsets of T cells can be removed from patients,
reprogrammed genetically and returned to the body to kill cancer,
researchers have found. “But in order to do that, the critical element
was to have technologies that would allow you to purify those cells and to really study how they could work and how they could be used,” Riddell said. “Dirk, as part of his translational work, was really [focused on] how to develop technologies to be able to do that.”
“Stan’s work and our work in Munich,” Busch agreed, “came together very tightly to really develop these kinds of tools. So,
realize their potential can be exponential when they band with peers. But that requires scientists to set aside any sense of competition to link with the best person, regardless of where they work.
In the realm of cancer research — where many organizations may chase the same dollars — these covenants are built on openness, trust and the humbling knowledge that lives are on the line, researchers say. Rivalries, they know, tend to slow the process, and the cures.
For patients like Kleinhofer, such collaborations can ultimately erase late-stage disease and sometimes change the course of science.
“That’s why I feel very blessed — all these amazing doctors getting me back into remission,” Kleinhofer said. “They all want to fight for your life.”
DR. STAN RIDDELL AND DR. DIRK BUSCH: UNITING FOR CURES
Near midnight, they walked through the English Garden, a vast Munich park packed with streams, foot bridges, tree groves, beer gardens, even some sheep. Riddell and Busch were headed back from a casual dinner at Busch’s house, bound for Riddell’s hotel.
Busch had a pitch. A decade earlier, he’d
learned of Riddell’s pioneering T-cell studies. Busch found the blossoming science so intriguing, he moved his own research in that direction. Now, he wanted to team with Riddell to study T-cell immunology, ultimately taking their discoveries to patients. The pact would require Riddell to work at Busch’s labs and live in Munich for months at a time. Riddell’s wife and family would join him on those trips.
“I wanted to take you through this way because I wanted you to see how beautiful Munich is,” Busch told him that night in 2008.
The stroll helped close the deal. “It didn’t take much convincing,” Riddell
later recalled. “He really reached out to me
“Out of this [partnership]
really developed a wonderful
friendship and, I think,
a lot of contributions to
the field. … We never want
to actually quit.”
“Intellectually, we were open
in terms of sharing, in terms
of discussion. But I think
[our collaboration] also
reflects a deep commitment
both of us had to succeeding.
… It’s remarkable the impact
that our work has had.”
Riddell and Busch built their alliance eight years ago through a fellowship designed
to mesh the work of scientists from different countries. They’ve worked together
to better understand the unique behaviors of single T cells, and now use that
knowledge in treatments that attack cancers and infections in patients.
STAN
IMMUNOTHERAPY RESEARCHER AND ONCOLOGISTFRED HUTCH
DIRK
IMMUNOLOGIST, MICROBIOLOGIST AND PHYSICIAN TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH
CONTINUED >
98 HUTCH MAGAZINE 2016 / SUMMER
Chemistry is crucial — both in crafting cures and in the collaborations that accelerate those advances. Indeed, Holland and Michor have forged a long alliance built equally on personal rapport and academic generosity.
They met as researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, pulled together by a grant meant to show how mathematicians could collaborate with cancer biologists. Holland’s team helped write the grant. Michor and others created the science.
Their study was rooted in taking measurable pieces of biology, like the rate of a tumor’s growth, then creating
mathematical models to represent those infinitesimal changes.
By combining their expertise in cancer biology and computational modeling, they believe their collaboration could result in better treatment for patients — improving existing therapies like radiation for brain cancer.
Next, the two researchers want to test a new radiation schedule in a clinical trial. “Together, we’ve achieved a lot more than the sum of our parts,” Holland said.
In 2013, Holland went west, recruited by Fred Hutch to become the director of the Human Biology Division. Michor had moved as well, to Dana-Farber. Their combined science
continued to thrive despite their 3,000-mile separation. They have now co-authored 11 papers.
At the heart of their partnership lies an understanding — in the end, it doesn’t matter who gets the praise or the points for shared discoveries.
“You have to have a broad enough view of the world to know there’s a lot of people who know a good deal more about stuff than you do, and you respect them for it,” Holland said. “The motivation has to be to achieve the goal,whatever it takes, as opposed to just get the credit for what you have done.
“At the end of the day, everybody gets credit and everybody wins.”
“This whole space that
we’re in was unoccupied
by anybody, let alone
either of us. We filled it
up with stuff that wasn’t
going to be where either
one of us was going.”
“It’s never just
a collaboration
between us, it’s also a
collaboration between
our students and
postdocs.”
Holland and Michor met as researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
They’ve each since moved on to other research centers but have continued their decade-
long collaboration to study how to take measurable pieces of biology, like the rate of a
tumor’s growth, and then create mathematical models to represent those changes.
They believe their work could improve treatment for patients.
ERIC
BRAIN CANCER RESEARCHER AND NEUROSURGEONFRED HUTCH
FRANZISKA
PROFESSOR OF COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGYDANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE
now, we have something we can move forward to the patient.”
Their collaborative success has energized the two scientists to hunt for what they call “new beginnings” and fresh partnerships, including talking with researchers who are exploring tissue engineering and tissue regeneration. “We don’t view the relationship as something that is done. … I don’t think this has an end,” Riddell said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about the work that we’re doing and the potential of the science.
That really comes from the collaboration I’ve had with Dirk.”
“It’s a really nice example,” Busch said, “of what science can be about.”
DR. ERIC HOLLAND AND DR. FRANZISKA MICHOR: NO ROOM FOR EGOS
Their natural banter showed — and flowed — when Dr. Eric Holland and Dr. Franziska
Michor fielded a simple question: What projects have you worked on together?
“Franziska and I have been collaborating for … five years?” said Holland, a brain cancer researcher and neurosurgeon at Fred Hutch.
“No, much longer than that,” replied Michor, a professor of computational biology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
“Thirty-five years?”“More like that,” she said, in on the joke. “I
think 10 years, no?”“Ten years, you’re right. Anyway, a long time.”
CONTINUED >
1110 HUTCH MAGAZINE 2016 / SUMMER
early stages when the odds of curing malignancies are far higher, the company says.
Marrying early detection — a core of Hutch science — with a company driving to get just such a product to market underscores the value of public-private partnerships, and how they help make it possible to cure cancer, Robinson said.
“There’s no way you can do this in one organization. The only way to do this in my mind — and it should be on everyone’s mind — is to collaborate,” Robinson said. “They’re doing exactly what we are so excited about.
We just hope to have more partners that are very GRAIL-like and very Elaine-like.”
MATTHEW TRUNNELL AND DR. GAD GETZ: SCIENCE BY THE NUMBERS
They share a history — enormous computer banks built to analyze cancer genomes. They expect to share a future — leveraging Big Data and the cloud to speed cancer cures.
They also share nicknames.
Matthew Trunnell is the chief information officer at Fred Hutch — and he’s “Matter” to
longtime colleague Dr. Gad Getz. Getz is director of the Cancer Genome
Computational Analysis group at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard — and he’s “Gaddy” to Trunnell.
For years, they worked together at Broad. “I was the one (at Broad) telling Gaddy
that he had to buy more discs and more computers because I was running the research computing infrastructure,” Trunnell said.
DR. NIKI ROBINSON AND ELAINE CHEUNG: FORGING A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
Dr. Niki Robinson had an urge to celebrate. But in that happy moment, her partner in the months-old venture was 800 miles south in the Bay Area. So Robinson grabbed her cellphone. Instead of calling, the vice president of business development and industry relations at Fred Hutch punched up a short message and hit send.
Elaine Cheung checked her phone at the offices of GRAIL, Inc., a company formed to enable cancer screening from a blood test. Cheung saw a new text from Niki. No words,
just emojis: three champagne bottles blowing their corks. Elaine promptly fired back her own emojis: one thumbs-up and five martini glasses.
They had just sealed an agreement for their two organizations to work together.
“We want to get things done,” recalled Cheung, head of business development at GRAIL. “We go fast and hard. We want to make our institutions and our organizations successful. We want to advance the science.”
“We have a cadence that would probably make lots of people dizzy,” Robinson added, making Cheung laugh. “Everything has a sense of urgency. The faster that we move this relationship … think about what that
potentially could mean to a patient.”In real time, the pact was consummated
with remarkable swiftness. In March 2016, they met for the first time in Robinson’s Seattle office. The deal between Fred Hutch and GRAIL was signed about two weeks later.
That speed was fueled by a shared vision. Their multifaceted research and technology partnership meshes with the larger quests of both Fred Hutch, where “cures start here,” and of GRAIL, which uses an eight-word mission statement: “Detect cancer early, when it can be cured.”
GRAIL is developing a nucleic acid-based blood test that will be used to diagnose tumors in patients before they show symptoms — at
“We do feel like the scale of
what we’re trying to do could
impact tens of thousands,
if not millions, of people
someday. We want to try to
accelerate that as quickly
as possible.”
“I live with a sense of
urgency. I definitely
get the feeling Elaine
does, too.”
Robinson was attending a health care conference in San Francisco when she first
heard about GRAIL’s mission to develop a blood test to detect tumors. She met with
Cheung at Fred Hutch to discuss collaborating on the science and the product.
Weeks later, the two organizations formed a partnership that is just getting started.
NIKI
VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND INDUSTRY RELATIONS
FRED HUTCH
ELAINE
CONTINUED >
HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT GRAIL, INC.
to the massive wealth of genomic data on FireCloud, Trunnell said.
“The Hutch can move much more quickly by leveraging work that’s already been done elsewhere,” Trunnell said. “I absolutely could build out a computational infrastructure. I’ve done it before. I did it at Broad. [But] I have no interest in doing that because it doesn’t move science forward fast enough.
“To make science go fast, being able to partner extramurally is really key.”
“We call it ‘democratizing the access to data,’” Getz added. “So now that platform can be used by many collaborators focusing their time on the actual science … not [on] ‘Where’s my file?’ or ‘Why is my job not
running?’ or ‘I need to buy more hard drives,’ which used to be the case.”
The big goal behind Big Data is to develop new, more targeted treatments for patients based on their own genes, and the genes of their cancers. By understanding which gene mutations exist in which patients, doctors could better predict which patients are most likely to respond to specific therapies and which are more apt to develop a resistance, Getz said.
To scale that scientific mountain, scientists and engineers must next look at hundreds of thousands of genomes, Trunnell said. But in time, when a patient enters the clinic, their genome will tell doctors what
course of treatment would work best — and offer a likely prognosis, researchers predict.
In short: The promise of precision medicine rests with more teamwork.
“Gaddy is the scientist-architect. What I bring is the engineering,” Trunnell said.
“We both understand the problems, we understand the needs,” Getz said. “And we understand that by collaborating together, we will get much bigger results.”
Rachel Tompa, Sabrina Richards and Susan Keown also contributed to this story. Write to Bill Briggs at [email protected].
To read more about Fred Hutch's latest research and stories, go to fredhutch.org/news.
1312 HUTCH MAGAZINE 2016 / SUMMER
“What has to happen is
a shift toward what’s
being called a team
science approach.
… It’s a different way
of doing science.”
“Matter was responsible for all the IT,” Getz said. “We grew in this period of time of needing more resources and understanding how to use them better and then in leading the vision of going to the cloud.”
At Broad, that project is colorfully known as FireCloud — a cloud-computing platform used for analyzing genomic data, including data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. (TCGA is a federally funded program to catalog genetic mutations responsible for cancer.)
FireCloud is already open to the Broad Institute. Soon, that same infrastructure will be open to the pubic — a potential collaboration bonanza for participating scientists. In short, cancer researchers will log in from their computers and create workspaces with their own collaborators. That includes scientists at Fred Hutch, Getz said.
“We, together with the Hutch, could create projects that we will collaborate based on this — so analysts at Broad and the Hutch would
see the data, run jobs, see the results [and] interact on these data,” Getz said. That potential collaboration is still in the planning stage, Trunnell said. But the Hutch has its own collection of biospecimens, and the idea is to eventually incorporate into FireCloud the data generated by various research projects involving those specimens. At the same time, Hutch scientists will have access
“I would want to see a future
where every patient is in
some sort of a clinical trial.
… That only would come by
collaborating between multiple
centers … then collecting the
data and analyzing in
a systematic way.”
Trunnell and Getz partnered on projects for years at the Broad Institute of MIT
and Harvard. They’re now planning a long-distance collaboration on Big Data,
which is expected to help devise gene-based treatment for patients, by tapping
Getz’s expertise as a scientist-architect and Trunnell’s deep knowledge of
information technology.
GAD
DIRECTOR OF THE CANCER GENOMECOMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS GROUP
BROAD INSTITUTE OF MIT AND HARVARD
MATTHEW
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICERFRED HUTCH
1514
I MAGINE DRIVING TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM only to find there’s no entrance. You can see the doctors
and nurses through the windows, but you can’t find a way in to access their care.
Dr. Angelique Richard, a staunch champion of improving patients’ access to cancer care, doesn’t need to imagine such a scenario. The longtime oncology nurse, now chief nurse executive and vice president of Clinical Operations at Fred Hutch’s treatment arm, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, has seen it play out for decades with patients who don’t have the money, the insurance, the trust or the language skills necessary to navigate a complex, and often confusing, health care system.
“I’ve seen people present very, very late. Many times that’s the situation with people who are minorities or underrepresented or are uninsured or underinsured. They present later in their disease so their options aren’t as great,” she said. “I’ve also seen patients literally have to hire an attorney and go to court with their insurance
companies [to get access to treatment]. Cancer patients and families should be able to focus on getting better, not on getting access or figuring out how to pay for their care.”
Richard has advocated on behalf of these patients throughout her 30-year career as a nurse, researcher and health care administrator. She’s written countless grants, spent years doing community outreach and, whenever possible, brought up patient access to lawmakers and movers and shakers, including Vice President Joe Biden during his Cancer Moonshot visit to Fred Hutch in March.
Never, however, did Richard imagine her advocacy on behalf of underrepresented patients would end up helping her own baby sister.
“I’m closest in age to Angelique. I’m her
cheerleader and a big fan and I’ll do whatever she tells me to do,” said Apryl Richard Paige, a 46-year-old administrative assistant from Chicago who was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2012.
Paige remembers accompanying her big sister to the early cancer detection talks she gave at women’s clubs and faith-based organizations. “I listened to her when she told the ladies, ‘Get to know your breasts.’”
When she found a lump in her own breast during a self-exam, Paige immediately went to her sister, who felt the mass, then shepherded Paige through her biopsy. When it turned out to be cancer, both sisters were doubly devastated: Paige was between jobs at the time and had no insurance.
“The first thing I thought about was my family and the financial burden,” she said. “I didn’t know how I would pay for any of it.”
Richard not only helped her younger sister deal with the anguish of a cancer diagnosis, she pointed her to crucial resources, such as a social
SCCA’s top nurse and her sister teamed
up after a cancer diagnosis hit home
STORY BY DIANE MAPES
worker, a patient navigator and a hospital fund designed to help uninsured and underinsured women. Months before, Richard herself had facilitated the Susan G. Komen grant that paid for her sister’s diagnostic mammogram.
“If I hadn’t had her help navigating all of that I would have spent a lot of time stressing out, and that’s not exactly what patients should have to go through,” Paige said. “I don’t have a health care background, so I didn’t know what questions to ask. And there were so many things I’d never heard of. She even asked the oncologist about clinical trials and I’m now participating in one. It was very helpful.”
Richard also connected her sister with breast cancer survivors who helped answer questions about treatment, buying wigs and foods to avoid — or focus on — during chemo. Since then, Paige has gone on to advocate for and support others diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I knew when I was diagnosed that I was lucky. My sister was an oncology nurse and she was passionate about it,” Paige said. “I knew she’d look out for me. And she has. I’ve become more
educated and more comfortable learning about all the different things related to cancer. I’m grateful to have her expertise.”
Richard wants to see a health care system where every patient has access to specialized cancer care, innovative new treatments and clinical trials, regardless of socioeconomic or insurance status. Her three decades in health care — and the profound insights she gained during her sister’s cancer journey — have also pushed her to seek better support for patients and families, who are often overwhelmed and/or worn down by baffling medical-speak and a Byzantine insurance system.
Since joining SCCA in 2014, Richard has made key inroads, connecting with community groups like the African-American cancer advocacy group, Cierra Sisters; expanding the SCCA mobile mammogram program; setting up a new public health partnership with the national social service nonprofit Mercy Housing; and creating a training and mentorship program for cancer care providers in Guam, where both oncologists and oncology nurses are scarce.
But there is much more to do when it comes to eliminating barriers to care, she said.
“We know there are individuals out there [in need of care] and we have an obligation to educate and heighten awareness,” she said. “We have many efforts that are underway, but we know that the community-at-large — particularly minorities — may have issues with trusting traditional medicine. There have been studies in the past that have shaken that trust. We have an opportunity and an obligation to right that wrong, if you will.”
A compassionate big sister to all, Richard is well-placed to do just that.
“Nursing is the No. 1 trusted profession in the country,” she said. “I think we’re in a wonderful position to help restore trust."
Write to Diane Mapes at [email protected]
LEFT PHOTO: Dr. Angelique Richard and her sister Apryl Richard Paige on Apryl's wedding day, May 24, 2014. Photo courtesy of Fred Fox Studios.
RIGHT PHOTO: Vice President Joe Biden speaks with Richard during his visit to Fred Hutch on March 21, 2016.Photo by Robert Hood / Fred Hutch
HUTCH MAGAZINE 2016 / SUMMER
16
IF YOU’VE SHOPPED at Safeway recently, purchased a glassybaby votive or even had your car serviced, you may have helped save someone’s life.
In the truest sense of retail therapy, dozens of companies and their customers have banded together to benefit research into next-generation cures, and programs for current patients, at Fred Hutch.
For the past decade, Safeway stores in the Pacific Northwest have hosted campaigns asking customers to add a small donation to their grocery bill when they check out. Thousands of shoppers have responded generously. This year’s March promotion alone raised nearly $700,000 for research activities at Fred Hutch and UW Medicine.
Those check stand donations have, over time, launched numerous pilot studies and provided a van that offers mammograms in communities where access to breast screening services may be challenging. Many women have had tumors detected earlier because of the program.
“No donation is too small to make a difference,”
explained Dr. Elizabeth Prescott, Fred Hutch’s director of corporate and foundation relations. “Corporate giving fuels cancer research and galvanizes community members, through their workplaces, in their day to day lives — not just when they are affected by cancer. … It can mean the difference between a breakthrough research project receiving funding or not. It can enable a patient’s husband or child to stay with her during the most challenging fight of her life.”
A colon cancer survivor herself, Prescott appreciates the power of these programs: “It feels good to see companies supporting cancer research in their own backyard and doing their part to support their clients and customers who may be facing cancer,” she said.
It’s often just as personal for the companies that give, like Michael’s Toyota. Two members of the dealership’s corporate family survived breast cancer, and their team wanted to give back. Michael’s Toyota became the first dealership to partner with Fred Hutch. Now, other area auto
dealers also run promotions through which they make a donation per car sold or serviced.
And it’s personal for Lee Rhodes, the Seattle-based entrepreneur who founded glassybaby in 2001, several years after she was diagnosed with bronchial carcinoma. A gift she received while undergoing chemotherapy — a votive her husband made in a glass-blowing class — brought her comfort and sparked a business that now aids many others.
The company donates 10 percent from every hand-blown candleholder it sells, largely to organizations that help patients heal. Since 2004, customers who’ve purchased a glassybaby in the twilight blue-green of Believe or the rich mauve of Belle, for instance, have together contributed more than $145,000 to innovative patient support and research programs at the Hutch.
“These days we spend more time talking about our giving goals than our sales goals,” Rhodes said. “It’s more motivating to our glassybaby team and more engaging for our community.”
From cars to candleholders, companies and customers join forces to save lives
Buying power
BY ANDREA DETTERCancer survivor and glassybaby founder Lee Rhodes speaking to Fred Hutch supporters at the first IN for the Hutch fundraiser in 2012. Photo courtesy of Phototainment
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Write to Andrea Detter at [email protected]
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
FUNDS RAISEDTO DATE
The power of every gift and every dollarDonations to Fred Hutch — whether $5 or $5,000 — make breakthrough research possible. The combined generosity of more than 60,000 gifts will help Fred Hutch achieve its goal of $50 million this fiscal year.
JULY OCTOBER JANUARY APRIL
NUMBER OF GIFTSBy month DISTRIBUTION OF
GIFTS RECEIVED*
$46.5 MILLION*
REMAINING GOAL$3.5 million
REMAINING GOAL12,369 gifts
* As of May 27, 2016
80%Less than $100
47,631*
GIFT GOAL: 60,000
15%$100-$999
5%$1,000+
RIDE.RESEARCH. CURE.
Ride to cure cancer faster.Routes for all types of riders.Research for all mankind.
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OUR FISCAL YEAR ENDS JUNE 30. PLEASE DONATE AT FREDHUTCH.ORG/GIVE OR CALL 800.279.1618.
HUTCH MAGAZINE 2016 / SUMMER 18
HUTCH NEWS Read more science and health stories at fredhutch.org/news
19
Breast cancer research on 'mets' offers hope
IMMUNOTHERAPY
BREAST CANCER
93 percent of leukemia patients in remission after immunotherapySOME OF THE PATIENTS were near death. All had advanced disease that had relapsed or was not yielding to treatment. Many had exhausted all options before enrolling in the clinical trial at Fred Hutch that re-engineered their T cells into cancer killers.
In April, the investigators leading the immunotherapy trial published their first set of results: 93 percent of participants with B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL, went into complete remission after receiving the experimental T-cell therapy — even though multiple other treatments had already failed them.
“Patients who come onto the trial have really limited options for treatment. They have refractory acute leukemia. So the fact that we’re getting so many into remission is giving these people a way forward,” said study leader Dr. Cameron Turtle.
The paper in the Journal of Clinical Investigation reported on data from 30 adult ALL study participants who received the engineered cells, known as CAR T cells. The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute, Hutch spinoff Juno Therapeutics, private philanthropists and a Washington state research fund. It was designed to evaluate the cell therapy’s safety and lay the groundwork for future improvements.
While Turtle and senior author Dr. David Maloney caution it’s still early days for the research, the results are encouraging, they said.
“In early-phase trials, you’re continually learning,” said Maloney. “You don’t expect results like these from early-phase trials. That’s why these response rates are so extraordinary.”
AN ESTIMATED 20 TO 30 PERCENT of women diagnosed with early stage breast cancers later go on to develop metastatic disease, which claims the lives of 40,000 women (and men) each year. Despite these numbers, there is still much that isn’t known about metastatic breast cancer, or MBC. There aren’t good systems in place to track the disease’s progression. And without data, it’s harder to get research funding. Increasingly, patient advocates like Beth Caldwell are partnering with scientists to help change that. Caldwell and other MBC patients recently toured the lab of Fred Hutch’s Dr. Kevin Cheung to discuss his work, their advocacy and the current research climate. All say they’re encouraged by recent advances in immunotherapy, targeted treatments, and new initiatives calling for data sharing.
Cheung is on the hunt to better
understand and treat MBC. He and his team focus on clumps of cancer cells that travel through the bloodstream to set up residence in patients’ lungs, liver, bones or other organs. Cheung believes it’s these clusters that are the drivers of breast cancer metastasis. His latest paper showed clusters are “led” by a highly expressed protein called keratin 14 that he believes are the “bad guys” responsible for leading metastasis.
Dr. Peggy Porter, head of the Breast Cancer Research Program, is also working to tackle MBC. She’s working to create a Metastatic Breast Cancer Initiative involving multiple Fred Hutch investigators and other Fred Hutch/UW Cancer Consortium partners, each of whom is attacking MBC from a different angle. Bringing together the power of the consortium could help fast-track research.
“I feel like this is the year,” Caldwell said. “The 'metsters' are no longer being ignored.”
CANCER AND FERTILITY
LEADERSHIP
Being pregnant — and diagnosed with cancer
Steve Stadum named new chief operating officer
Carl Kiilsgaard photo
FRED HUTCH HAS NAMED STEVE STADUM as its new executive vice president and chief operating officer. Stadum is a lawyer by training and a native of Portland, Oregon, with a track record of accomplishment at Oregon Health & Science University.
“He’s fantastic at building organizations,” said Fred Hutch President and Director Dr. Gary Gilliland. “He understands academics, he understands administration, and he knows how to put buildings up. I have the greatest respect for what he did at OHSU.”
As COO at OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute, Stadum played a central role in helping to secure $1 billion in funding to launch a vast expansion of the institute.
Speaking about his new role at Fred Hutch, which begins July 5, Stadum said: “It’s a privilege to work in a place where, although I’m not going to find the cure, I can help bring together those who can. It makes my life much more meaningful.”
EMILY COUSINS WAS DIAGNOSED with breast cancer at 32. She was nine months pregnant. She wasn’t prepared for the dual unknown roles that came days apart: New mother and cancer patient.
“I had imagined the first months of being a mother, and suddenly it looked so different from what I had anticipated. And it was painful,” Cousins said. “From being bald and wearing my goofy little hats to the mommy and me classes, to wondering, would I live to see this child enter kindergarten?”
In April, Cousins was among a group of cancer researchers, fertility specialists, survivors and patient
advocates who gathered at the Fred Hutch-hosted Cancer & Pregnancy Retreat to discuss the unique issues at the intersection of cancer and reproduction.
Key themes emerged from the retreat: Many doctors — primary care providers and oncologists included — don’t have the right information to communicate to their patients about fertility and pregnancy, and there’s a lot that researchers still need to know to better inform patient and provider decisions.
“What inspires me to be a part of this event and why I think this work is so important is that I needed research to help me make crucial decisions,” Cousins said.
Portland native comes to Seattle with impressive track record
Dr. David Maloney / Fred Hutch file
Fred Hutch's Dr. Kevin Cheung speaks with metastatic breast cancer patients during a tour of his lab at the Fred Hutch campus in Seattle on Feb. 22, 2016. Photo by Robert Hood / Fred Hutch
Emily Cousins was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was nine months pregnant with her first child, Colm. She started treatment weeks after his birth. Photo courtesy of Emily Cousins
Inaugural retreat explores unanswered questions surrounding cancer, fertility and pregnancy
HUTCH MAGAZINE 2016 / SUMMER
DR. AUDE CHAPUIS FELL in love with immunology while working with HIV patients in Switzerland. As a young physician, she moved to America in 2003 to continue her science. She chose Seattle when her Swiss mentor introduced her to Dr. Phil Greenberg at Fred Hutch. That same year, Greenberg welcomed Chapuis into his lab, where she learned adoptive immunotherapy. Today, her research focuses on developing novel ways to engineer the immune system to target cancer. Who is she outside the laboratory? Recently, Chapuis sat down to tell us.
What surprised you most about American culture? In Switzerland, you know very rapidly if a person is telling you, “I’ll be polite with you but, really, I don’t really want that.” But here, I had to relearn non-verbal and verbal communication. Americans use a completely different code to communicate with each other compared to Europeans. If somebody (here) is telling you something, what does that mean? Does that mean “yes” or “no?” Is it “Yes, I’ll do it but only if you force me to,” or is it “Just to make you a favor?” I had to relearn that. But I grew more from having to learn a completely different culture.
The best music for a Sunday morning? Right now it’s French songs for my kid, [Nils, age 3]. But I like jazz.
Favorite weeknight activity with your son? When we come home, it’s just really nice to spend some time doing very simple activities with Nils. I love to come home, pour myself a glass of wine and start cooking. He’ll cook with some Play-Doh. No seriously, he puts it in the oven. So — very simple, peaceful activities.
If you had to choose one hike in Washington, where would you go? It would be the Enchantments [in the Central Cascades] or Mount Baker [also in the Cascades]. We actually did the tour of the Enchantments some time ago. It was just mind-boggling how beautiful it was. I absolutely loved the fact that you’re in complete wilderness. Nobody is going to come rescue you. Unlike Switzerland, where there’s always a hut at the end of the walk.
The last time and place you were on skis? Before my son was born. It was in Switzerland. But I’m planning to put him on skis next winter. So there’s no more years without skiing. Because I’ve been skiing every year since I was a child.
Is snowboarding in your future? No. With a big NO. I love skiing. It’s like walking. Why should I fix my feet to a board?
What’s your favorite “Lord of the Rings” character? “Sam” Gamgee. He is steadfast. He is reliable. And he never gives up hope. And that’s why Frodo can actually do what he’s supposed to do.
Your favorite TV show binge?I loved ”House of Cards” for sure. And this other Netflix show called ”Sense8” — eight people who can feel what other people feel, and very strange things happen.
If you had a chance to share a meal with any scientist in history who would that be? Oh man, that’s a tough one. I think it would be Marie Curie. What I would be looking for with her would be really her personality and her mode of thinking.
The happiest day of your life? When my son slept through the night.
20
Write to Bill Briggs at [email protected]
OFF CAMPUS
Photo by Robert Hood / Fred Hutch
Dr. Aude Chapuis10 questions about life outside the lab for the Fred Hutch immunotherapy researcherBY BILL BRIGGS
HUTCH MAGAZINE 2016 / SPRING 21
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In honor of esteemed Fred Hutch researcher Dr. E. Donnall Thomas and his wife and colleague, Dottie — considered by many as the “father and mother” of bone marrow transplantation — we have renamed our legacy giving society the Thomas Legacy Society.
The new name celebrates the vision and generosity of all the donors who, along with the Thomases, find a special place for Fred Hutch in their estate plans.
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Summer 2016 Vol. 39, No. 2
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Hutch Magazine staff
DESIGNERS: Kim Carney, Victoria Comfort, Kim Westphal and Jim Woolace
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Robert Hood and Bo Jungmayer
EDITORS: Linda Dahlstrom, Andrea Detter, Joe Myxter and Kristen Woodward
CANCER IS PERSONAL for Vice President Joe Biden. When his son Beau was diagnosed with brain cancer, Biden saw first-hand the dedicated collaboration of physicians from various institutions who were trying to save the life of his son. Since Beau’s death last year, Biden has become the architect of the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative and has been visiting research centers around the country to learn about the latest advances.
When he visited Fred Hutch on March 21 and met with Fred Hutch President and Director Dr. Gary Gilliland along with a panel of researchers, care providers and policymakers, Biden said he felt “immense hope” that progress in cancer research will pave the way for millions of lives to be saved.
"We’re at a place, in my view, where science and medicine have not been before," Biden said.
Gilliland noted that Fred Hutch is where
many cures have begun, including Dr. E. Donnall Thomas’ pioneering bone marrow transplant research, which laid the groundwork for today’s advances in immunotherapy.
“We know you share the same commitment we do to curing cancer,” Gilliland told the vice president. “Like the architects of the original moonshot, Fred Hutch also specializes in doing what people once thought impossible.”
Shooting for the moon
Photo by Robert Hood / Fred Hutch