Speaker Profile
M.D., Professor and Vice-chair, Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Biography
Dr. Harris has a long standing research interest in personalizing cancer therapy to improve outcomes and quality of life with fewer side effects from treatment. She is currently collaborating on an innovative, paradigm-changing approach to personalizing radiotherapy dose using a novel gene assay of radiosensitivity in solid tumors called RSI-GARD. Dr. Harris is active in clinical research as a senior member of the Breast and Gynecologic research committees of the NRG cooperative group, and of the scientific program committee for the American Society for Clinical Oncology, and as an independent investigator and mentor for junior faculty and students. She has an interest in promoting quality standards of cancer care, through her work as chair of the Emerging Technology Committee and member of the Guidelines Committee for the American Society for Radiation Oncology, as well as the chair of the American Radium Society Appropriate Use Criteria Panel for breast cancer.
Talk
Precision Medicine for Breast Cancer: Personalizing Radiotherapy
For decades breast radiotherapy dosed “one size fits all” regimens, leading to over and under-treatment. A precision medicine approach assays each woman’s breast cancer to determine its radiosensitivity to apply the precise dose of radiation needed to provide tumor control, and to select those who will not benefit from therapy.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2020 Silicon Valley
Advances in molecular pathology and hereditary cancer assays have led to a new understanding of breast cancer classification systems, allowing for precision thera-py using molecular tumor signatures that guide both systemic treatments and per-sonalized radiotherapy. The goal is to minimize overtreatment and treatment-associated morbidity for patients while preventing progression and recurrence. This session will focus on the current state of progress in these pursuits and discuss the challenges including prior authorization issues and the growing size of assay pan-els.
