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Tim Poe, Director of Telehealth

From the Telehealth Director

Dear UNC Cancer Network Community Members,

November ushers in cooler weather and falling leaves, with Thanksgiving just around the corner. It is a time to reflect on that we are thankful. For me, this encompasses my amazing family, friends, UNCCN team members, and other colleagues. It also includes the good fortune I have to serve the people of North Carolina through the important work done here at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Please allow me to say thank you to each of you for your support of our educational efforts to reduce the impact of cancer within our state.

This is as well a month to focus on treatment and cures for some specific cancers. Please be on the lookout for important information that you may see shared that include the following annual efforts:

  • Lung Cancer Awareness Month
  • Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month
  • National Family Caregiver Month

For those of you who attend our live lectures (more details below), I want to let you know about an easier way to interact with our presenters in order to answer questions (and ask your own). If you use a smartphone, please consider downloading the free Poll Everywhere app (https://www.polleverywhere.com/mobile). As always, we are happy to provide any assistance, as needed. You can always find us at 919-445-1000 or unccn@unc.edu.

All the best,

Tim

Best wishes to all, Tim.

Hard Rule UNC Blue

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Dr. Battaglini at Kenan Stadium.

Claudio Battaglini, PhD, FACSM and Get REAL & HEEL

Edited by Mary E. King

Dr. Claudio Battaglini is a full professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a co-founder and the director of the Get REAL & HEEL Breast Cancer Rehabilitation/Research Program (GRH) and co-director of the Exercise Oncology Research Laboratory (EORL), Battaglini researches the effects of acute and chronic exercise training on the mitigation of treatment related side-effects and quality of life in cancer patients. “Dr. B” as he is affectionately known, has published over 200 journal articles and scientific abstracts and 6 textbooks chapters related to exercise oncology. Dr. Battaglini was the 2017 recipient of the Lifetime Distinguished Leadership Award in Sports and Health at Dana-Faber/Harvard Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical Center for his research in exercise oncology. Prior to Dr. Battaglini’s involvement in exercise oncology research, he was an international level endurance sports coach, with some of his athletes achieving World Champion status, Pan-American Champion status, and Olympic Game appearances.

The Get REAL & HEEL Breast Cancer Rehabilitation/Research Program was founded in 2006 by Dr. Battaglini and Dr. Diane Groff. The program is supported by community partners, The Petro Kulynych Foundation, the College of Arts and Sciences (Dept. of Exercise and Sport Science) and the Linerberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Comprehensive Care Support Program (CCSP). Since its inception, the program has helped over 2000 cancer survivors by providing prescriptive exercise training at the program’s facility located at the UNC Outdoor Education Center. The program offers supervised prescriptive exercise training 3 times per week for 1 hour free of cost to survivors.

The past 3 years, Dr. Battaglini along with co-investigators Dr. Hy Muss, Dr. Kirsten Nyrop, Dr. Erik Hanson, Dr. Lee Stoner, Dr. Brian Jensen, Dr. Aaron Piepmeier, exercise physiology doctoral students Ms. Jordan Lee and Mr. Chad Wagoner, along with many masters and undergraduate students, have been working on a research project investigating the effects of the on different ranges of physiological fitness responses of breast cancer survivors following participation on the 16-week exercise program. The results of this project will allow for the evaluation of the efficacy of the GRH current exercise training protocol as well as to serve as the foundation for the development of larger trials. This study has been supported by funding from the The Petro Kulynych Foundation and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation of New York.

Moving forward, the vision for Get Real and Heel is to expand their capabilities starting by remodeling their facility to be able to accommodate a larger number of patients as well as patients with different cancers beside only breast cancer.

The expansion would also allow for other services to be provided to patients, such as PT, psychologists, nutrition, different types of fitness programs, and etc.

With that said, they would also need to secure at least a couple of full time positions (1 program coordinator, and one full time cancer and exercise specialist) so they could operate different facility hours and open more days/hours of operation.

Ultimately, the program would be able to offer patients a comprehensive evaluation, including physical and psychosocial testing, nutritional, and other services even prior to beginning treatment as recommended/cleared by their oncologists.

Hard Rule UNC Blue

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Upcoming Live Lectures

Upcoming Live Events

Ellen Ruebush, LCSW, LCAS, NCTTP

Colleen Meyer, MSW, LCSW

Tobacco Use Treatment in Cancer Care
https://unclineberger.org/unclcn/professional-education/calendars/telehealth-lectures/

Patients who stop using tobacco have improved cancer treatment outcomes and decreased treatment-related side effects, making tobacco use treatment an essential component of cancer care. This lecture will present evidence-based treatment for tobacco use, including guidelines for brief intervention and for prescribing tobacco cessation medications.

 

Paola A. Gehrig, MD

Cancer in Pregnancy
https://unclineberger.org/unclcn/professional-education/calendars/telehealth-lectures/

To discuss the management of cervical cancer and cervical dysplasia in pregnancy and the impact of each condition on the other. To discuss the management of pelvic masses and ovarian cancer in pregnancy and the impact of each condition on the other.

 

Hard Rule UNC Blue

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Cancer Conversations

The Patient Education Corner

Expert information for the patients you care for in language that everyone can understand
by Jennifer Potter, MPH, CHES

Vaping, Cigarettes, and Tobacco Use

Laurel Sisler, LCSW, LCAS, NCTTP, is a Licensed Clinical Social Work Associate and Tobacco Treatment Counselor. She has always been passionate about working with people individually and in groups in order to help them reach their health goals. Laurel is the Director of the Nicotine Dependence Program and the Weight Management Program at UNC Hospital. She enjoys helping patients find their internal motivation to become tobacco-free, collaborating with hospital staff to provide evidence-based tobacco cessation services to patients, and assisting social work interns in reaching their learning goals

Our next Cancer Conversations webinar is on 11/22/19 at 12:00 noon. Viewers can register by clicking here.

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The Learning Portal

Recent Additions to the Learning Portal

Autumn McRee, MD
Emily Ray, MD, MPH

Best of ASCO 2019: Gastrointestinal and Breast Cancers
Medical and Surgical Oncology Courses

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) hosts an annual conference that features some of the latest oncology research. Join us as our speaker highlights some of the top presentations from this year’s ASCO conference. This lecture focuses on the top research for Gastrointestinal and Breast Cancers at the 2019 ASCO conference.

 

Brian Colwell Jensen, MD
Cardiotoxicity and New Therapies
Medical and Surgical Oncology Courses

When there is damage to the heart muscle, we call this cardiotoxicity. Brian Jensen, MD, will talk about underlying mechanisms for the cardiotoxicity of kinase inhibitors used to treat cancer.

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Learn more about the continuing education and other outreach efforts of the UNC Cancer Network. Many of the outreach programs that are part of the UNC Cancer Network are funded through the University Cancer Research Fund. Find out what UNCCN is doing by following us on Twitter at @unc_cn, join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/unccn, unccn.org, or email us at unccn@unc.edu

We have signed you up for our newsletter with the hope that you will find value in its content. If this was forwarded to you by a colleague or friend, and you want to be added to our distribution list, please send us an email at unccnoperations@unc.edu.

Editor: Mary King, meking@email.unc.edu

Contributors: Dr. Thomas C. Shea; Tim Poe, Telehealth Director: Jon Powell, PhD, Continuing Education Specialist: and Veneranda Obure, AV Support Engineer.

Copyright © 2019 UNC School of Medicine Office of Information Systems, All rights reserved.