S12 Ep38: Incorporating Recent Updates in the Treatment of Metastatic ALK-Positive NSCLC

In this week’s episode of MedNews Week’s Oncology Unplugged, host Chandler Park, MD, a medical oncologist at Norton Cancer Institute in Louisville, Kentucky, sat down with Paul Hanona, MD, to talk about their shared passion for using social media to share accessible information with oncologists and patients alike. Dr Hanona is the chief Hematology Oncology Fellow at Beaumont Health in Royal Oak, Michigan. He is also is content creator under the handle @doctordiscover. Drs Park and Hanona discussed the broad influence of Dr Hanona's social media posts and videos, which have reached millions of viewers. They also emphasized the role of social media in educating patients and health care professionals about new oncology treatments and screening methods. Additionally, they explained how Dr Hanona's social media content affects patient care and the challenges of predicting patient outcomes due to rapid advancements in oncology treatments.

This PER® Spectives™ featured podcast reviews the 22nd Annual Winter Lung Cancer Conference® held in January/February 2025. Multiple successive generations of ALK inhibitors have provided increasing benefits as first-line treatment for the thousands of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that harbors rearrangements or mutations in the ALK gene. This program focuses on the practical aspects of managing patients with ALK-positive advanced or metastatic NSCLC, putting recent clinical trial data into clinical context. The program is designed for those who did not attend the live meeting and to help reinforce learnings for those who did.

In this week’s episode of MedNews Week’s Oncology Unplugged, host Chandler Park, MD, a medical oncologist at Norton Cancer Institute in Louisville, Kentucky, concluded a 3-part series with Vadim Koshkin, MD, an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, as well as a genitourinary medical oncologist at the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center. In part 3 of this 3-part episode series, Drs Park and Koshkin explored the clinical implications of practice-changing data from the phase 3 NIAGARA trial (NCT03732677) of perioperative durvalumab plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with resectable bladder cancer and discussed how the evolving perioperative treatment paradigm may affect future treatment sequencing decisions for this population. Additional topics included ongoing research efforts focused on bladder-sparing strategies, the utility of circulating tumor DNA and advanced imaging to guide treatment intensity, and the role of biomarker-driven approaches to personalize therapy for patients with muscle-invasive disease.

In today’s episode, we sat down with Liliana Bustamante, MD, and Jessica Stine, MD, to discuss their experiences as women in oncology. Dr Bustamante is a medical oncologist and hematologist at Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute in Tampa. Dr Stine is the medical director of Gynecologic Oncology at Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute. In our exclusive interview, Drs Bustamante and Stine discussed their unique journeys toward choosing careers in oncology, the emotional fulfillment of treating patients with cancer, the importance of mentorship between colleagues, and the evolving nature of work-life balance. They also emphasize the importance of honesty, peer support, and self-grace in navigating oncology careers.

In this week's episode of MedNews Week's Oncology Unplugged, host Chandler Park, MD, a medical oncologist at Norton Cancer Institute in Louisville, Kentucky, sat down with Vadim Koshkin, MD, an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, as well as a genitourinary medical oncologist at the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center. In part 2 of this 3-part episode series, Drs Park and Koshkin discussed considerations for sequencing and combining antibody-drug conjugates for patients with bladder cancer, the potential future role of sacituzimab govitecan-hziy (Trodelvy) in this disease following the withdrawal of this agent's United States indication for use in patients with metastatic bladder cancer, and the evolution of treatment options for patients who progress on enfortumab vedotin-ejfv (Padcev) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda).

In today’s episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Neal Shore, MD, FACS, about prostate cancer management and the use of androgen receptor (AR)–directed therapies. Dr Shore is the medical director for the Carolina Urologic Research Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  In our exclusive interview, we sat down with Dr Shore during the 2025 Bridging the Gaps in Prostate Cancer meeting to discuss the importance of multidisciplinary meetings to address unmet needs for patients with prostate cancer, the need for treatment strategies that improve upon the activity of current standards of care in this disease, the evolving roles of neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies, and the significance of biomarkers and imaging. He also highlighted treatment advances that have been achieved with AR-directed agents, such as apalutamide (Erleada) and darolutamide (Nubeqa), along with considerations for the optimal intensification and de-intensification of these agents to balance efficacy and quality of life. 

In today’s episode, supported by EMD Serono, we had the pleasure of speaking with Chandler Park, MD, about the first-line treatment of patients with bladder cancer. Dr Park is a medical oncologist at the Norton Cancer Institute in Louisville, Kentucky.  In our exclusive interview, Dr Park discussed the core regimens in the current frontline bladder cancer treatment paradigm, ways that this paradigm is expected to evolve in the coming months and years, and how the choice of frontline therapy influences treatment decision-making regarding subsequent lines of therapy.

In this week's episode of MedNews Week's Oncology Unplugged, host Chandler Park, MD, a medical oncologist at Norton Cancer Institute in Louisville, Kentucky, sat down with Vadim Koshkin, MD, an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, as well as a genitourinary medical oncologist at the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center. Drs Park and Koshkin discussed recent developments in bladder cancer management, including the significant benefits of enfortumab vedotin-ejfv (Padcev) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda) compared with platinum-based chemotherapy in the metastatic setting, key outcomes from the phase 3 NIAGARA trial (NCT03732677) of perioperative durvalumab (Imfinzi) plus chemotherapy in muscle-invasive bladder cancer, the potential for disitamab vedotin (RC48-ADC) to join the advanced urothelial cancer treatment paradigm, and what the future may look like for HER2-targeted therapies in this disease.

In today’s episode, we invited experts from across oncology specialties to discuss the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic—the onset of which occurred 5 years ago. Our guests shared how the pandemic's lingering effects continue to shape patient care. We heard from:  Ramez N. Eskander, MD, a gynecologic oncologist and assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the University of California San Diego Health Rachel N. Grisham, MD, an associate attending physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York Benjamin Herzberg, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and an oncologist at Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York, New York  Kelly McCann, MD, PhD, an assistant professor and breast medical oncologist at UCLA Health’s David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles, California Gregory Roloff, MD, a hematologist/oncologist at the University of Chicago Medicine in Illinois

In today’s episode, OncLive teamed up with CURE to present a discussion with David A. Braun, MD, PhD, about his research on determinants of response to immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Dr Braun is an assistant professor of medicine (medical oncology), the Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman Yale Scholar, and a member of the Center of Molecular and Cellular Oncology at Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut. In this exclusive interview, Dr Braun discussed the rationale for investigating molecular factors that contribute to exceptional ICI responses among patients with RCC, as well as the key findings from this study. He also shared how these findings may affect cancer care and influence shared decision-making strategies for patients receiving immunotherapy.