Coverage of an upcoming breast cancer vaccine clinical trial at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center mentions a Penn study, led by Susan Domchek, MD, executive director of the Basser Center for BRCA, that is testing a vaccine to prevent cancer among people with BRCA gene mutations.

Coverage of the Gray Foundation’s latest “Team Science” awards mentions the Grays’ role in establishing the Basser Center for BRCA in 2012.

Two of our genetic counselors, Jessica Long, MS, CGC, CGAF, and Danielle Mckenna, MS, CGC, worked alongside Katherine Nathanson, MD and Bryson Katona, MD, PhD to publish a paper on Lynch syndrome. This is extraordinary progress, and similar work is underway to optimize electronic health record tools for BRCA-related medical management, in order to help our team stay on top of every patient's care.

Basser Center presented the inaugural BRCA Impact Award to Mary B. Daly, MD, PhD, FACP, of Fox Chase Cancer Center. The award recognizes a national leader in the field of cancer genetics.

Katherine Nathanson, MD, Director of Genetics at the Basser Center, on her new research endeavor: “Expanding The Spectrum of BRCA1/2 Pathogenic Variants” funded by BRCA Research and Cure Alliance.

Let's Win recaps our 2023 Breakthroughs & Discoveries Panel from the 11th Annual Basser Center Scientific Symposium. The broad-ranging discussion among experts in the field focused on screening and treatment for BRCA-related cancer, cancer interception and prevention, and more.

Veterans, particularly those who self-identified as Black, were more likely to get germline genetic cancer testing within an in-person nurse-led program at a Veterans Affairs medical center than through a telehealth genetics program, according to a study led by Kara Maxwell, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of Genetics and Basser's Men & BRCA Program Director.

The arrival of not just one but several breast cancer vaccine studies is an encouraging sign of the progress researchers are making in harnessing the immune system to not just battle cancer, but prevent it in the first place. Susan M. Domchek, MD, executive director of the Basser Center, is leading a trial of a preventive breast cancer vaccine at Penn Medicine’s ACC. “It’s not just pie in the sky, we’re actually doing it,” she said.

Research led by Kara Maxwell, MD, PhD, the Pearl and Philip Basser Innovation Research Award recipient and the director of the Men & BRCA Program, finds an embedded on-site genetics nurse can help reduce barriers to germline testing and improve genetic care for at-risk patients and families.