Greta Joos (left) and Maggie Trout (right)
The UVM Cancer Center is busy this summer as mentors and summer scholars get to work on their research projects. With a record number of applications, twenty students were awarded a $4,000 stipend to deepen their engagement, hone their skills, and drive towards new discoveries under the guidance of a UVM Cancer Center member. Among the group, two scholars were selected to receive the prestigious Juckett Summer Fellowship, which is awarded to the highest scoring applicants in part for their impactful cancer research and apparent student outcomes.
Greta Joos
Greta Joos was recently awarded the Juckett from the UVM Cancer Center. Greta is a rising second year medical student at the Larner College of Medicine. Drawn to UVM because of its focus on community-based health care, Greta is eager to spend the summer studying “Access to non-FDA approved therapeutics for pediatric oncology patients at the University of Vermont Medical Center”.
While groundbreaking advances have been made in the treatment of pediatric cancers, numerous challenges remain, especially for patients with rare, relapsed, and/or refractory disease. For these patients, non-FDA approved therapies harbor important therapeutic potential. Access to these therapeutics, however, can be limited by cost, lack of industry sponsorship, regulatory requirements, and logistical challenges for patients and their families. Patients from rural areas, like many of the regions served by UVMMC, may be especially susceptible to barriers to access due to lack of public transportation, distance to healthcare facilities, inability [for parents] to miss work, and expense of personal vehicle ownership. As part of the UVMCC Summer Fellowship, Greta is working with Jessica Heath, MD and UVM undergraduate Brody Brown to investigate the potential impact of social determinants of health, such as zip code, race, primary language, and immigration status, on access to non-FDA approved cancer therapies for pediatric patients.
The results of this study are important for elucidating methods to increase access to vital cancer treatments, both for patients at UVMMC and in other rural and/or medically underserved settings.
Future work will focus on devising strategies to better understand and address any identified barriers to access.
Maggie Trout
Maggie Trout was recently awarded the Juckett Summer Fellowship from the UVM Cancer Center. Maggie is a 2nd year graduate student in the Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Sciences program. Drawn to UVM because of its strong emphasis on scientific collaboration, Maggie is eager to spend the summer studying combinatorial drug therapy in diffuse midline glioma.
Diffuse midline glioma is a deadly pediatric brain tumor with an average survival of less than a year past diagnosis. A promising new chemotherapy called ONC201 has been shown to extend survival and improve quality of life for DMG patients, however, relapse is common and not all individuals respond equally well. As part of the UVMCC Summer Fellowship, Maggie and James Stafford, PhD will investigate if the effectiveness of ONC201 can be increased by combining it with thiostrepton, an inhibitor of the antioxidant enzyme PRX3.
The results of this study are important for advancing the cancer field as they may point to new treatment options for individuals with this devastating brain tumor.