Making Cancer Care at Home More Available

Cancer Care Beyond Walls has made life a lot easier for patients with cancer and their families.

However, insurance companies do not typically reimburse for at-home chemotherapy infusion, which means that Mayo Clinic is currently underwriting Cancer Care Beyond Walls’ costs.

Mayo Clinic actively engages in federal advocacy work and payer discussions, explains Rosanna Fahy, Platform’s associate vice president for Cancer Care Beyond Walls.

“Sending a nurse to individual patients’ homes is more expensive than having a nurse in a chemo unit who could treat three or four patients at a time,” Fahy says. “I’m grateful for the institutional funding that has supported the program while the data is gathered to meet the reimbursement challenges.”

Rosanna says it’s not surprising that chemotherapy at patients’ homes, when viewed in isolation, is less cost-efficient than at a single clinical location. It simply costs more to have so many moving pieces — nurses, cars, couriers, chemotherapy solutions — than it is to centralize all operations in a single chemo unit.

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But Mayo Clinic is gathering the data to show a fuller financial picture, which may influence future insurance decisions for at-home chemotherapy. Rosanna says that reimbursement models are not just about the cost of care today — they’re about the cost of each patient’s care over the course of their cancer journey, and how the nature of that care influences outcomes.

“We can predict how many times a patient with cancer is likely to have an emergency department visit for some kind of acute care need,” Rosanna explains. “That's knowable and predictable.

“So, if we can intervene early by managing your care at home and avoid that ED visit, that's where the savings start to come — acute care and emergency episodes are higher cost. Savings are not only about direct costs; they’re also in patients’ time and their comfort at home.” 

Collecting data to demonstrate the economic benefits of at-home chemotherapy is just one way Mayo Clinic is working to grow the concept. Other efforts are making a more immediate impact on patients with cancer during their treatment journey.

In 2025, Cancer Care Beyond Walls began in North Dakota, when Altru Health System became the first partner in the Mayo Clinic Care Network to launch the program. Rosanna worked in 2024 to make this expansion possible, alongside Jeremy Jones, M.D., a consultant in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and the medical director of Cancer Care Beyond Walls for Mayo Clinic Platform. Rosanna and Dr. Jones worked closely with Altru, using Platform resources to develop a pragmatic clinical trial.

They both note that there’s a certain symmetry to this. Altru was the first partner to ever join the Mayo Clinic Care Network, Mayo’s community-based rural healthcare delivery system, and now it’s the first organization in the Care Network to join Mayo Clinic in transforming how cancer care is delivered to patients.

“The Platform model is really an enablement model,” Dr. Jones says. “It's less about, ‘Mayo Clinic has to own every single step of the way,’ and more of, ‘Let's show the world how to do things the Mayo Clinic way.’ The beautiful thing about Platform is that we can reach so many more people.”

The post Making Cancer Care at Home More Available appeared first on Mayo Clinic Magazine.

Powering Cancer Care With Particle Accelerators at Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is home to the highest-volume radiopharmaceutical practice in the world. As a result, its researchers and clinicians are well versed in radioactive isotopes of all varieties for cancer imaging and care. These radioisotopes are critical for building radiopharmaceutical treatments to target specific molecular markers on cells such as those found in cancerous tumors. But these isotopes can be difficult to come by and often do not occur naturally in our environment.

Enter particle accelerators, powerful machines for generating radioactive compounds. Particle accelerators, which include machines like cyclotrons and linear accelerators, allow medical teams to produce specific radioisotopes on demand, generating opportunities for researchers to explore new radioactive compounds and providing clinicians with the building blocks of radiopharmaceutical drugs to diagnose and treat a multitude of cancers.

Mayo Clinic is ready to install the next level of high-tech equipment to drive drug discovery and cancer therapy. This new equipment will allow Mayo Clinic to double down on leading the charge to develop new, lifesaving cancer therapies, and particle accelerators are making it possible.

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Radiopharmaceuticals for Illuminating and Eliminating Cancer

In cancer care, the radioactive isotopes generated by particle accelerators are used for two main purposes: diagnostics and treatment.

In cancer diagnostics, radioisotopes that emit relatively low amounts of energy can be combined with molecules like antibodies that can target specific markers on the surface of cancer cells. Once the molecules have attached to the cancer cells, clinicians can use a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner to visualize the energy released by the radioisotope, allowing them to pinpoint the location of tumors in the body.

When it comes to treating cancer, radioisotopes that emit high-energy particles are similarly combined with targeting molecules. In this case, however, instead of visualizing that signal on a PET scanner, the particles released by the radioisotope are absorbed by the cancerous cells. The energetic particles released by these radioisotopes, known as beta or alpha particles depending on the treatment, break apart the DNA of the cells to kill the cancer.

In both approaches, clinicians need ready access to the correct radioisotopes to develop and administer the right treatment.

Overcoming Resource Challenges With On-Demand Isotope Production

While some of the radioisotopes used for generating these treatments can be found in nature, there are a variety of reasons that it is challenging to use naturally sourced isotopes.

First, not all radioisotopes are found in the environment. Secondly, even for those found in nature, often it is not in the amount needed to produce treatments for patients, and it can be quite difficult and costly to extract and isolate the isotopes. Finally, these radioisotopes frequently decay very rapidly, meaning they release the energetic particles that make them valuable for medical applications and become inactive. This can make it difficult to transport the material to hospitals while it is still active.

The effort, expense and logistical challenges of sourcing radioisotopes from nature have led the field of medicine to turn to particle accelerators (among other manufacturing approaches), which allow for production of these compounds on demand. These machines use particle acceleration technology to fire particle beams at stable isotopes. The interaction between the beam and the stable isotope produces short-lived radioisotopes for use in medical applications.

Expanding Capabilities With Next-Generation Technology

Because these radioisotopes are unstable and decay rapidly, the ability to produce them on-site makes it possible for medical teams to quickly generate radiopharmaceutical drugs and get them to the patients who need them. This is why Mayo Clinic has cyclotron particle accelerators on each of their three campuses in Jacksonville, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; and Rochester, Minnesota. The goal is to ensure that the patients who need these treatments can get them as soon as they need them.

However, not all accelerators are created equal. The current cyclotrons at Mayo Clinic can produce the radioisotopes needed for various types of medical imaging, such as choline-11, fluoride-18 and nitrogen-13. These radioisotopes are comparatively light. The isotopes needed for cancer treatment, such as lutetium-177, actinium-225 and radium-223, are much heavier and can’t be produced using the existing equipment. These heavier isotopes require manufacturing processes using higher-energy particle accelerators or other powerful equipment to generate the correct radioisotopes.

Larger accelerators have other benefits too. With their greater capacity, they can more quickly produce radioisotopes, providing researchers and clinicians with more access to the elements needed for research and medical use. They are also capable of generating a wider range of radioisotopes, allowing for the creation of diagnostic, therapeutic and research particles all in the same machine.

Philanthropy Fuels Innovation in Cancer Care

The Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center sees nuclear oncology and radiopharmaceutical therapies as essential elements in the array of cancer treatment options. As research breakthroughs advance the field of theranostics for cancer diagnostics and care, so too do the efforts of clinicians and investigators to translate and apply these advances.

To stay at the forefront of nuclear medicine and ensure that our patients are never left behind due to material shortages or operational challenges, the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center hopes to build new, larger accelerators at each of the three campuses to ensure that all sites can produce any radioisotopes needed for all possible medical and research applications.

Mayo Clinic researchers are developing the therapies of the future, licensing these new therapies to companies, and running clinical trials to validate that they are safe and effective. Larger machines capable of producing therapeutic radionuclides allow Mayo Clinic scientists and physicians to accelerate the discovery science needed to develop these new therapies and attract the best and the brightest in the field to join the Mayo team.

The generosity of benefactors plays a crucial role in allowing Mayo Clinic to invest in cutting-edge technologies like larger accelerators, which are essential for advancing patient care. These philanthropic gifts provide the financial foundation necessary to undertake ambitious projects that might otherwise be out of reach, allowing Mayo Clinic to remain at the forefront of medical innovation.

By supporting the acquisition of advanced equipment, benefactors directly contribute to improving diagnostic capabilities and treatment options for patients, ultimately helping Mayo Clinic stay true to its primary value — putting the needs of the patient first.

The post Powering Cancer Care With Particle Accelerators at Mayo Clinic appeared first on Mayo Clinic Magazine.

This is truly personalized medicine. It’s so amazing to think that we could directly predict your risk versus my risk of developing these complications based on our genetics.

Hematologist Yael Kusne, M.D., Ph.D., is working on understanding how a person’s individual genetic profile may make them more susceptible to serious side effects of cancer therapies like radiopharmaceuticals. She’s studying how radiopharmaceutical treatment impacts the rate of genetic mutations in blood stem cells. The hope is to identify particular genetic variants that may put the patient at risk of developing leukemia down the road.

“I think this is the future of medicine in general,” Dr. Kusne says. “We’ll be able to take patient samples into the lab and use them to determine the best treatment options for targeting the cancer and reducing potential side effects.”

In the future, she says, we’ll be able to put information about a person’s genetic makeup into a computer algorithm, along with their cancer history and tumor type. The results will aid clinicians and patients in making tailored treatment decisions that will be the most effective and efficient on an individual level.

“This is truly personalized medicine,” Dr. Kusne says. “It’s so amazing to think that we could directly predict your risk versus my risk of developing these complications based on our genetics.”

The post Understanding Risks to Tailor Treatment appeared first on Mayo Clinic Magazine.

“It's the most deadly — the least survivable — of all cancers that we know of,” says Mark Truty, M.D., surgical oncologist at Mayo Clinic. “That's what makes it such an awful disease to deal with.” 

But what if there was a way to catch it early, before it spreads and becomes harder to treat? Artificial intelligence (AI) is giving medical professionals a new edge in early detection of pancreatic cancer — and offering hope for patients who once had few options. 

Mayo Clinic radiologist and nuclear medicine specialist Ajit Goenka, M.D., says it’s the responsibility of medical imaging experts to develop better detection methods and technology that can catch pancreatic cancer at its earliest possible stage.  

“To be able to detect and identify disease at a stage where it is beyond the capabilities of human perception, that’s really the holy grail of medicine,” Dr. Goenka says. 

AI’s Role in Early Pancreatic Cancer Detection

AI programming can help by pinpointing tumors with much higher resolution than the human eye.  

“What AI is really good at is quantifying very subtle changes that happen on the images that human beings cannot pick up due to the inherent limitations of their eyesight,” Dr. Goenka says. 

This ability to detect even the smallest variations in scans allows for faster and more accurate diagnoses, which can significantly improve patient outcomes. 

“If you were to ask me right now to sit down on a state-of-the-art computer and try to segment the pancreas, it would take me anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes, and I might still not be accurate,” Dr. Goenka says. “In contrast, the AI models that we have trained can do that job in a fraction of a second. And not only that, they can do that for thousands of CT scans without requiring any kind of manual input.”

To be able to detect and identify disease at a stage where it is beyond the capabilities of human perception, that’s really the holy grail of medicine.

— Ajit Goenka, M.D.

AI’s ability to detect pancreatic cancer earlier than traditional methods offers a critical advantage. The earlier the cancer is identified, the sooner treatment can begin, which dramatically increases the chances of survival. 

“What we have seen is that AI can help us diagnose pancreatic cancer almost a year before its clinical presentation,” Dr. Goenka says. 

That head start can make a significant difference: According to the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Facts & Figures 2024 report, the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is currently 13%. When detected early, confined to the pancreas and treated accordingly, the five-year survival rate increases to 44%. 

The Future of AI and Cancer Care

By shifting the timeline of diagnosis, AI offers a chance to rewrite survival stories in pancreatic and other forms of cancer. According to Dr. Truty, patients whose survival was once measured in months or just a couple of years could go on to live "many years and hopefully decades,” he says — and, ultimately, reach a cure. 

“There is definitely hope on the horizon,” Dr. Goenka says. “We just have to make the right kind of effort and use cutting-edge technologies like AI to make that dent in this disease.”

This research was supported by the Hoveida Family Foundation.

The post Unlocking AI’s Potential in Early Pancreatic Cancer Detection appeared first on Mayo Clinic Magazine.

Mayo Clinic’s new Clinical Trialist Training Program is teaching these valuable, albeit often overlooked, skills to physicians and researchers. The program, which is offered by Mayo’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science, provides protected time over two years for individualized training with a mentor.

We are true pioneers in this area. Right now, there are no standards for training clinical trialists. We are blazing a new but much-needed path.

— Prasad Iyer, M.D.

Each scholar in the program designs and implements a pilot trial and completes both experiential learning rotations and a curated selection of graduate coursework.

“We are true pioneers in this area,” says Prasad Iyer, M.D., chair of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and director of the new program. “Right now, there are no standards for training clinical trialists. We are blazing a new but much-needed path.”

The Clinical Trialist Training Program is just one example of the ways in which Mayo Clinic is shaping the future of clinical trials. Current efforts also include a focus on reducing activation time for trials and matching patients to trials for their conditions with automated processes integrated into electronic health records.

Mayo Clinic has one of the most extensive clinical trials programs in the world with more than 2,500 active trials ongoing at any given time.

To learn more, visit Mayo Clinic News Network.

The post Setting New Standards for Clinical Trial Expertise appeared first on Mayo Clinic Magazine.

Grandmother Ada of Oklahoma, a member of the Choctaw Nation, always had something to do. She moved quickly managing a small farm, growing vegetables and flowers, and raising chickens.

And Grandmother Ada was in tune with nature, teaching young Judith how to hypnotize chickens to calm and quiet them. She even told her granddaughter that she was meant to be a healer when Dr. Kaur (COW’-er) was just 5 years old.

Dr. Kaur shares meaningful photos of her family, which made a lasting impact on her decisions to serve others. Her grandmother, Ada, was a guiding light throughout her life, inspiring her to embrace her identity as a healer.

“Grandmother Ada taught me to use my senses — how to touch things, how to smell things, how to hear things, how to look at things,” says Dr. Kaur.

Grandmother Ada’s talents and encouragement later inspired Dr. Kaur to pursue a career as a physician. With a passion for helping others, especially Indigenous communities, Dr. Kaur later became one of the only practicing Native American oncologists in the United States.

“Grandmother Ada never had a formal education, but she was so observant and a natural scientist,” Dr. Kaur says. “It’s a gift she gave me, which has been invaluable as an oncologist. I felt called to this work.”

Path to Medicine

Dr. Kaur’s path to medicine took a winding road. She was the first person in her family to graduate from high school, and although she loved science, it was the 1960s and women were rarely supported to pursue scientific careers. Instead, they often were encouraged to become teachers. And that’s what Dr. Kaur did.

After earning her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in counseling, Dr. Kaur taught science to middle and high schoolers. After her first and only child was born and Dr. Kaur stopped teaching school, she spent her evenings reading with her young daughter and indulging in the latest issue of Scientific American.

Then, one night during dinner, Dr. Kaur’s husband, Alan, asked a question that changed the course of her career: “You had a chemistry professor who told you that you should have gone to medical school. You still love to learn. Would you want to go back to school?”

She realized the answer was yes.

At the time, most college students went straight to medical school after graduation. By now, Dr. Kaur was in her late 20s and well established in her life as a teacher and a parent. But the dream of becoming a physician had always lived at the back of her mind, bolstered by Grandmother Ada’s conviction in her calling. She decided to take a chance.

The medical schools Dr. Kaur reached out to expressed skepticism in her potential — how could they know she would still be a good student? Obstacle after obstacle arose. Although she had been at the top of her graduating class, she was told to take additional science courses to help prepare her for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). Others told her she was too old to become a physician. Then, a mistake in her scoring on the MCAT made it impossible for her to apply to medical school that year.

“It felt like maybe I wasn’t supposed to do this,” Dr. Kaur says.

But the Indians into Medicine program at the University of North Dakota didn’t think it was too late. She received a call asking to interview over the phone. She was accepted. Six weeks later, the Kaurs packed up their life and moved from Chicago to North Dakota, a state they had never even visited.

Addressing Health Disparities

Although the Kaurs uprooted their life so abruptly, they found a strong, supportive community in North Dakota. Dr. Kaur had already been committed to working with tribal populations in their previous home in Chicago, tutoring children at an urban Indian clinic, and she delved even further into helping Indigenous communities at Fort Yates Indian Health Service Hospital.

“I provided my first stitches to a person there. I delivered my first baby there,” she recalls. “I was working with tribes that weren’t my own tribe, but there was such a need I felt a calling at that point.”

Dr. Kaur then transferred to the University of Colorado Health Science Center, where she received her M.D. with honors. She decided to pursue oncology after working at an oncology research lab in the summer.

“The physicians I worked with kept telling me how cancer care was going to get better,” Dr. Kaur says. “They had that optimism and were constantly striving to improve things for patients with cancer. That drew me in.”

She was nearly 40 years old when she completed her internship, residency and a hematology-medical oncology fellowship at the University of Colorado Health Science Center. As a fellow, she was awarded the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s first-ever Young Investigator Award, which provided her funding to research monoclonal antibodies as a potential treatment for melanoma.

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Open image in lightbox

Dr. Kaur then returned to North Dakota, where she established cancer clinics, conducted cancer screenings and engaged in cancer research, with a significant focus on American Indian communities who often experience delays in diagnosis and treatment. She challenged the misconception that Indians were somehow immune to cancer, a disease often considered taboo within these communities.

From North Dakota, Dr. Kaur was recruited to Mayo Clinic after working with scientists on cancer clinical trials research. During her time at Mayo, Dr. Kaur worked on clinical trials for a triple-negative breast cancer vaccine and significantly expanded tribal access to palliative care by developing a course that trained more than 50 Indian Health Service providers in partnership with the National Cancer Institute and the Indian Health Service.

She also headed the Spirit of Eagles grant for more than 20 years, one of her more than 150 National Institutes of Health-funded projects and one of her proudest accomplishments, which engaged Native populations in culturally specific research, provided scholarships for students in medicine or biological sciences training, and advocated for improved cancer prevention and control.

Throughout her career, Dr. Kaur also mentored hundreds of minority students.

She dedicated her career to advancing care for Native Americans, leading the national conversation to recognize cancer as a major unaddressed health disparity in Indigenous communities.

“It really wasn’t even my intention to become an oncologist,” Dr. Kaur says. “But one thing led to another, and it was just right.”

Giving Back

After 29 years of service at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Kaur recently became an emeritus staff member — and she and Alan continue to give back to their communities.

“I would not have been able to go through school without the support of philanthropy along the way,” she says. “Alan’s and my needs are small, but our desires for access to educational opportunities for other motivated students are great.”

The Kaurs support causes and organizations that inspire them, such as scholarship funds at their respective alma maters and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. They recently made a significant planned gift commitment to Mayo Clinic to endow a named professorship in cancer prevention and control.

As she enters a new chapter in her life, Dr. Kaur has no plans to slow down professionally. She continues to attend and present at scientific meetings, as well as engage in research. But she also plans to make time for other activities, such as gardening, reading and spending time with her family. Her favorite project this past summer was raising monarch butterflies.

She is grateful for her grandmother’s wisdom and her husband’s encouragement to take a chance on becoming a physician.

“I think I have my grandmother’s genes,” she says, laughing. “I don’t stop walking fast.”

The post Healing, Dreaming, a Calling appeared first on Mayo Clinic Magazine.

However, Mayo Clinic researchers, along with colleagues from the University of Minnesota, are looking at racism more broadly. They are focused on reversing inequalities, as people of color in Minnesota experience some of the worst health disparities in the United States.

This framework will help scientists explore and measure how chronic exposure to racism, not race, influences health outcomes.

— Sean Phelan, Ph.D.

The Center for Chronic Disease Reduction and Equity Promotion Across Minnesota (C2DREAM), a partnership jointly led by Mayo and the University of Minnesota, aims to reduce cardiovascular health disparities in collaboration with Minnesota community leaders and community health organizations.

Mayo Clinic and University of Minnesota researchers recently published a paper in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science that provides a new framework describing how racism affects heart health among people of color in Minnesota. The C2DREAM framework examines how oppressive systems of power, structural and institutional racism, and interpersonal racism work together to influence the social determinants of health and health outcomes.

"This framework will help scientists explore and measure how chronic exposure to racism, not race, influences health outcomes," says Sean Phelan, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic health services researcher and senior author of the paper. "This will help enable researchers to design interventions that address the root causes of these disparities and improve heart health for people of color everywhere."

C2DREAM was launched in 2021 after receiving a five-year P50 funding grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

To learn more, visit Mayo Clinic News Network.

The post Researchers Turn Focus to Role of Systemic Racism in Health Disparities appeared first on Mayo Clinic Magazine.

Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., president and CEO, highlights Mayo Clinic leaders who exemplify these competencies with the hope that their stories will inspire others to come forward to lead healthcare transformation at this critical juncture.

The leadership competency of “inspires others” means creating a vision of the future and helping others see how they can help achieve it. At Mayo, this involves advancing our Bold. Forward. strategic plan to Cure, Connect and Transform healthcare. 

Cheryl Willman, M.D., Stephen and Barbara Slaggie Executive Director of Mayo Clinic Cancer Programs and Director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, demonstrates what it means to inspire and mobilize others toward a common vision through her efforts to revolutionize cancer care for patients at Mayo Clinic and around the world. 

Dr. Willman has led the development of a strategy, aligned with Mayo Clinic’s 2030 Bold. Forward. strategy, to drive innovative cancer research that will uncover new diagnostics and therapeutics and to transform cancer care to make it more personalized and accessible, at any place and any time. Under her leadership, many individuals have been inspired to join Mayo Clinic and the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center to develop new research programs focused on cancer risk assessment, early detection and interception to detect and treat very early cancers and precancers when they are most curable, and to focus on the development of highly innovative treatments and treatment modalities for advanced and complex cancers.

To achieve this vision and accelerate our Bold. Forward. strategy, Dr. Willman and the team are prioritizing the need for tools, such as genomic sequencing, genetic and cellular engineering, spatial cancer cell and tissue analysis, data science and predictive modeling, and AI and automation. In collaboration with Mayo Clinic Platform and Mayo’s Generative AI Program, Dr. Willman and colleagues are developing longitudinal patient cohorts and datasets to develop multimodal AI algorithms and large language models to detect cancer earlier and deliver appropriately timed interventions, help physicians and scientists develop more personalized treatment options for patients, and guide patients to specific clinical trials testing promising new therapies. 

The Cancer Center has used Mayo Clinic Platform to develop the revolutionary Cancer Care Beyond Walls program to bring cancer treatments to patients in their homes and community settings, significantly improving access to care and also improving health equity. By inspiring others to excel, under Dr. Willman’s leadership, the program has delivered more than 200 chemotherapy infusions to patients in their homes in its first year of operation, reducing the financial and emotional burden for patients with cancer who may otherwise have to travel long distances for care. Working with our research teams, the Cancer Center is also using digital tools and platforms to decentralize research and conduct clinical trials in patient homes and community settings in the Clinical Trials Beyond Walls Program. Today, more than 340 of Mayo’s cancer clinical trials are using these tools to enhance patient access and participation in clinical trials. 

Throughout her career, Dr. Willman has championed access to quality healthcare and participation in research for underrepresented and underserved communities. In addition to pioneering new initiatives at Mayo, she leads one of the nation’s five National Cancer Institute Cancer Genome Sequencing Centers focused on ensuring access to cancer genome sequencing and cancer care for understudied and underrepresented populations, with her work focused on Indigenous American Indians impacted by cancer.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn.

The post Cheryl Willman, M.D., Inspires Others With Cancer Center Vision appeared first on Mayo Clinic Magazine.

Dr. Shah has a distinguished 25-year career in National Institutes of Health-funded research on advanced liver disease. He brings expertise in basic science, artificial intelligence and clinical trials to this pivotal role. Mayo Clinic Magazine had the opportunity to discuss what led Dr. Shah to this position and his vision for the future of research at Mayo Clinic.

How do you balance and integrate your research responsibilities with clinical and leadership duties in your current role?

I focus a lot on creating a vision to work toward with my team and then supporting them so that our team members can all work together and support one another. I also want them to feel safe coming to me for help when they need it. I have so much gratitude for all the people who have helped me in my career, and I’m thankful to be able to support so many others through my leadership duties.

I’m thrilled to now be in the position of leading the Research shield at Mayo Clinic. At Mayo, our research and practice are intertwined. My medical practice helping patients each and every day connects directly to our expansive research program aimed at finding solutions that don’t exist today. Ultimately, building trust and creating supportive teams means that we can all work together to focus on our primary value: putting the needs of our patients first.

What brought you to Mayo Clinic?

It was serendipity. While I was doing my fellowship at Yale, my wife took a position in the Twin Cities. During that time, I came to Mayo for a month to do a transplant rotation, and that made all the difference for me. I met a lot of role models here at Mayo — Drs. Nick LaRusso, Greg Gores, Russ Wiesner. They introduced me to Mayo Clinic and demystified it for me.

When I had this chance to visit and to meet the people here, I saw that it was somewhere that would be a great fit for me and my work. Rochester has a wonderful mix of small-town charm and all the cosmopolitan aspects of a large intellectual city. It’s been a great place to raise kids, and Mayo Clinic has been an amazing place to work. It’s a testament to why I’ve been here for 25 years.

Our digital transformation is allowing us to better organize our data and apply algorithms to gain new insights into disease.

What excites you the most about the future of research at Mayo?

At Mayo Clinic, our research is about finding new cures for patients, especially for serious or complex diseases. That’s the principle that drives everything we’re doing. And from that, there are so many ways now that we can find new cures. We have our traditional pathways, led by our immensely talented research investigators — work in the lab discovering new insights into the biology of disease, designing and testing new therapies for treating those diseases, and bringing those new treatments into the clinic for patients.

Now we have many other ways, like Mayo Clinic Platform, where we can start to utilize patient data from around the world to reimagine how we do clinical trials. Artificial intelligence can speed up the pathway to drug discovery. Our digital transformation is allowing us to better organize our data and apply algorithms to gain new insights into disease. These are just some of the pathways that will help us get to more cures. All of these tools are accelerating the pace of research, and in turn the pace of treatments, and all of that will mean our patients get better therapies faster than ever before.

The post Reimagining the Future of Research With Vijay Shah, M.D. appeared first on Mayo Clinic Magazine.

Alpha vs. Beta Particles

Radiopharmaceutical therapies for treating cancer rely on the particle emission properties of radioactive isotopes for their effectiveness. By combining radioactive isotopes with a targeting molecule, such as an antibody, these treatments can directly target and bind to cancer cells, where they release high-energy particles to kill the tumor. However, not every radioactive isotope releases the same type of particle.

“From a physics standpoint, the beta particles — which are emitted by most currently approved radioisotopes — are basically electrons, while an alpha particle is two neutrons and two protons,” says Oliver Sartor, M.D., medical oncologist and director of Radiopharmaceutical Clinical Trials for Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Different kinds of particles have different properties. Understanding these differences can help clinicians and patients make decisions about the most appropriate treatments for an individual’s needs.

“An alpha particle is almost 8,000 times larger than a beta particle," says Dr. Sartor. "In some studies, just one hit from an alpha particle was enough to kill a cancer cell, while it takes many, many hits from beta particles to sufficiently damage a cell’s DNA to kill it.”

To put that into perspective, the impact of an alpha versus a beta particle can be compared to a fully loaded semitruck versus a 10-pound dumbbell.

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Precision and Power

Due to their strength, alpha-emitting radioisotopes may benefit patients even when beta-emitting options have failed, and the fact that alpha particles are much larger means that they don’t penetrate as deeply into surrounding tissues, reducing the potential for off-target radiation effects.

As researchers continue to develop new targeted alpha particle treatments and build out the next generation of beta particle therapies, Mayo Clinic is at the forefront of advancing these highly targeted therapies to provide new treatment options for patients. These cutting-edge radiopharmaceuticals hold the potential to significantly improve outcomes for those facing a cancer diagnosis.

The post Alpha vs. Beta Particles: Bigger Particles for Bigger Impact appeared first on Mayo Clinic Magazine.