March Monthly Research Highlights Newsletter

Cancer Epidemiologist Sees Collaboration as Key to Research Success

As a professor and research scientist in the Department of Computational Biomedicine, Paul Pharoah, MD, PhD, aims to work with colleagues across departments and laboratories to make similar inroads in tough-to-treat diseases like ovarian cancer. He spoke with the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom about new collaborations he looks forward to forming. Read more>

Popular Obesity Drugs May Lead to Medical Procedure Complications

New research from Cedars-Sinai and led by Ali Rezaie, MD, suggests people who are scheduled for certain medical procedures should stop taking popular weight loss drugs in the days or weeks prior to avoid complications. The large, population-based study is published in the leading peer-reviewed journal Gastroenterology. Read more>

RESEARCH ALERT: Malpractice Trends Involving Active Surveillance Across Cancers

In a new study, Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators explored malpractice trends related to active surveillance as a treatment strategy across cancers. They found that to date, there has been no successful litigation related to active surveillance. Their research, led by Allen Ho, MD, was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Surgery. Read more>

The Time Is Now for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

From artificial intelligence (AI) and data integration to natural language processing and statistics, the Cedars-Sinai Department of Computational Biomedicine is utilizing the latest technological advances to find solutions to some of the most complex healthcare issues. Jason Moore, PhD, sat down with the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom to discuss how the team draws on applied mathematics, bioengineering, biomedical informatics, biostatistics and computer science to answer biomedical and clinical research questions. Read more>

Genetics, Sex and Smoking Linked to More Health Issues for IBD Patients

Investigators at Cedars-Sinai, including Talin Haritunians, PhD, have identified risk factors that make inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients susceptible to developing serious conditions in other parts of their bodies. The study published in the journal Gastroenterology. Read more>

Women’s Health Research Draws First Lady’s Attention

First lady Jill Biden highlighted the new White House Initiative on Women's Health Research during a December visit to Cedars-Sinai. Biden toured the Women's Guild Simulation Center for Advanced Clinical Skills and research laboratories at the Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center and met with investigators conducting groundbreaking work in women's heart health. Read more>

Cedars-Sinai Cancer’s Blood and Marrow Transplant Patients Experience Superior Outcomes

For the fourth consecutive year, the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program in the Division of Hematology and Cellular Therapy at Cedars-Sinai has achieved higher than expected survival rates in patients receiving allogeneic stem cell transplantation, according to a recent report from the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. Read more>

Pediatric Cancer Expert Explains New Options for Children With Sarcomas

Leo Mascarenhas, MD, MS, director of Pediatric Hematology & Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s and medical director of the Sarcoma Program at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, spoke with the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom about the clinical care and research he will lead at Cedars-Sinai. Read more>

Two Prominent San Gabriel Valley Orthopaedic Groups Join Cedars-Sinai

Two of the San Gabriel Valley’s most respected and well-established orthopedic practices have joined Cedars-Sinai to better serve the community. Building on decades of local experience, Congress Orthopaedic Associates Inc. and Risser Orthopaedic Group will continue to offer high-quality, personalized and coordinated care to patients. Read more>

Cedars-Sinai Experts Studying Device for Controlling Treatment-Resistant Hypertension

The Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai recently became one of four institutions in the U.S. and the first on the West Coast to use a new device aimed at lowering blood pressure in patients with difficult-to-treat hypertension. Florian Rader, MD, MSc, and Suhail Dohad, MD, were central to advancing this treatment option. Read more>

Kawasaki Disease: Blocking Protein Improves Cardiac Effects, Investigators Report

A new study by Moshe Arditi, MD, found that blocking a protein called interleukin-1-beta improved cardiac dysfunction and arrhythmias in Kawasaki disease, a rare illness that affects children and causes their blood vessels to swell and become inflamed. The study published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. Read more>

New AI Tool Mines Cancer Patients’ Pathology Data

Cedars-Sinai investigators, led by Nicholas Tatonetti, PhD, have used artificial intelligence to help computers access some of the most important and difficult-to-mine information in cancer patients’ medical records: pathology reports. Their method, described in the peer-reviewed data science journal Patterns, could help physician-scientists who obtain patient consent to extract information from these patients’ pathology reports for research and clinical trial recruitment. Read more>

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