Finding the Power

Tonya Randolph, RN, senior registered nurse at the Mays Cancer Center, carries more than a year’s worth of heart-breaking memories on her phone’s calendar that document her best friend’s discovery of a cancer diagnosis and her journey to recovery.

Thanks to a $4.08 million grant from the American Cancer Society, the Mays Cancer Center launched the Avanzando Equidad de Salud: Latino Cancer Health Equity Research Center, uniting South Texas research scholars and the community to reduce health disparities across the cancer care continuum.

Researchers at Mays Cancer Center and from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have made significant progress in studying a promising new molecule that inhibits the ability of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumors to repair themselves.

When Juana Padron chose to have a genetic test, she discovered that she carried a BRCA1 gene mutation, which increased her chance of developing certain cancers. She then chose to participate in a clinical trial conducted by Georgia McCann, MD, a gynecologic oncologist at Mays Cancer Center. “More than anything, I wanted to tell my daughters that we have this mutation so they can do something to prevent getting cancer,” said Padron.

Could a drug prescribed for transplant recipients also help some women beat breast cancer? Impressive new findings point to this possibility, according to research conducted at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio that is now being used in a clinical trial supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Mays Cancer Center.

Mays Cancer Center at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio recently conducted a clinical trial combining two drugs in patients with recurrent, high-grade glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). The Mays Cancer Center, one of four National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Centers in Texas, is the only cancer center in America to conduct this trial.