Marty Tenenbaum to Speak at Bio-IT World Conference on May 16

Cancer Commons founder Marty Tenenbaum, Ph.D., will speak at the upcoming Bio-IT World Conference & Expo in Boston, which runs May 15 to 18. Marty, who founded Cancer Commons after his own battle with melanoma, will discuss the potential for artificial intelligence to help find better cancer treatments.

Read the synopsis of Marty’s presentation, entitled “Can AI Beat Cancer?“:

AI can beat go and drive cars, but can it beat cancer? Every year, many thousands of cancer patients die unnecessarily because their doctors do not know the optimal way to treat them with currently available therapies. Physicians and patients alike struggle with information overload and conflicting expert opinions in making treatment decisions. Moreover, effective treatments increasingly involve intelligently designed, individually tailored, sequences and combinations, and there are far more plausible multi-drug regimens than can be efficiently tested in clinical trials. AI can help by connecting physicians and patients to the right information at the right time, and by planning and coordinating the thousands of formal and informal treatment experiments that take place daily in oncology, to optimize individual outcomes and maximize collective knowledge. We will describe a developing global collaboration to realize this bold vision, involving leading oncologists, cancer and data scientists, and AI experts from both academia and industry, and discuss opportunities for all to participate.

Marty’s talk takes place on May 16 at 11:00am. Learn more about the conference.

Marty Tenenbaum to Speak at Bridging Clinical Collaborative on April 4

Cancer Commons founder Marty Tenenbaum, PhD, will speak next week at the Bridging Clinical Research & Clinical Health Care Collaborative in National Harbor, Maryland. His presentation will be featured in a session focused on precision oncology, which runs from 3:30 to 5:00 pm on Wednesday April 4.

The Bridging Clinical Research & Clinical Health Care Collaborative is “the only forum where clinical research and health care professionals come together to envision a collaborative solution that strengthens the connection between clinical research and health care.” Learn more about the event at https://www.bridgingclinical.com/agenda/.

Cancer Commons Founder and Medical Director Discuss the Future of Precision Medicine

A presentation by Cancer Commons founder Marty Tenenbaum, PhD, was well-received last month at the Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC) in Silicon Valley. His talk, “How AI will Cure Cancer,” discussed the role of artificial intelligence in finding better cancer treatments.

In a separate event at the same conference, Cancer Commons medical director Kevin Knopf, MD, spoke about the future of personalized medicine as part of a panel organized by Johns Hopkins Medicine. A video of the discussion is available here; skip ahead to 20:52 and 38:45 to hear Dr. Knopf’s perspective.

Learn more about PMWC.

 

Marty Tenenbaum to Speak at Precision Medicine World Conference on Jan 23

Cancer Commons founder Marty Tenenbaum, Ph.D., will speak at the upcoming Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC) in Silicon Valley, which runs Jan 22–24. Marty, who founded Cancer Commons after his own battle with melanoma, will discuss the potential for artificial intelligence to help find better cancer treatments.

Read the synopsis of Marty’s presentation, entitled “How AI will Cure Cancer”:

From an AI perspective, finding effective treatments for cancer is a high-dimensional probabilistic planning, search, and optimization problem, characterized by many molecularly distinct cancer subtypes and potential drug combinations, and a dearth of high quality data connecting them to clinical responses. Many organizations are developing relevant AI-based applications, from decision support tools to treatment planning. We will describe a bold industry-wide initiative to integrate these capabilities for the immediate benefit of patients and physicians, and moderate an open discussion toward catalyzing an active AI-and-cancer community.

Marty’s talk takes place on Jan 23 at 4:45 pm. If you’d like to attend, register using this link for a 5% discount.

Cancer Commons Scientist & Project Manager Lisandra West-Odell Writes About the Power of Data Analytics

In a new guest blog post for CollabRx, Cancer Commons scientist and project manager Lisandra West-Odell discusses how we’re harnessing the power of data analytics to improve treatment for cancer patients, starting with brain cancer:

“I am reminded of the old adage: ‘Lessons come from the journey, not the destination.’ Where one patient’s story can only exist as an anecdote, many stories can be organized into larger buckets or cohorts elevating them to a higher level of evidence.”

Click here to read the full post.

Jude LaCava Promotes Cancer Commons During Hockey Fights Cancer Event

Fox 10 News sports anchor Jude LaCava is a long-time proponent of Cancer Commons who has sent many patients and caregivers our way to receive extra guidance for their cancer treatment, including Super Patient Mary Beth Smith. This past weekend, Jude took some time to share our mission and services on air during a Hockey Fights Cancer event (see video above).

We at Cancer Commons are deeply grateful to Jude for his continued support and belief in our mission. By spreading the word about our services, he has helped many people sort out their treatment options and find new hope.

Thank You to the H8 Cancer Foundation

We at Cancer Commons express our deep gratitude to the H8 Cancer Foundation, which has generously made our organization a major beneficiary of its gifts since 2015. Founded by oncologist Dr. Simeon Jaggernauth, H8 Cancer is “dedicated to raising funds for research and to promote awareness of better treatment options to save lives.”

Recently, we had the honor of attending Tomstock, an annual summer music festival to benefit H8 Cancer, which in turn benefits Cancer Commons (see video above). It was a powerful event that gave guests the opportunity to share how cancer had affected them and contribute to a hopeful future of better cancer treatment for all.

We thank Dr. Jaggernauth and everyone at H8 Cancer for your shared belief in our mission. With your support, we are changing the way the world treats cancer.

The Economist Publishes Cancer Commons Founder Marty Tenenbaum’s Letter to the Editor

Cancer Commons founder Marty Tenenbaum wrote a letter to the editor that has now been published in The Economist. His piece discusses the importance of using data to accelerate improvement of cancer treatment. From the letter:

“The oncology drug pipeline is full of promising immunotherapies and targeted treatments (Technology Quarterly on cancer, September 16th). Unfortunately, no one knows the optimal way to use them. Doctors and patients alike struggle with conflicting expert opinions and the information overload. Moreover, a cure will probably involve intelligent combinations of remedies, and there are far more plausible regimens than there are patients available to test them in clinical trials. Treatments, outcomes and quality of life vary widely across institutions, falling off sharply from elite cancer centres to rural, disadvantaged and third-world communities. Continue reading…

Julie Rubidge – One Deloitte Patient’s Story


Written by Sandy Noack

Julie Rubidge

As one might imagine, Julie Rubidge’s diagnosis in May 2016 of an aggressive form of breast cancer at age 39 was shocking and surprising. The first few weeks that followed were no less traumatic for the Deloitte Partner. “I cannot adequately describe the weeks that followed in trying to figure out a plan of action and everything that goes along with that. It was overwhelming to say the least,” Julie says.

Detail-oriented and fascinated with medicine, specifically with DNA and the technology behind medicine and medical discoveries, Julie has called her interest in the subject one of her hobbies. Before her diagnosis, she’d read many articles and had studied the subject in general. Following her diagnosis, Julie studied her particular breast cancer with a fierce purpose. Continue reading…