News

After serving as assistant to the director of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB for a total of 48 years, Joan Kemp recalls the early days of the O’Neal Cancer Center and reflects on her time working with the O’Neal Cancer Center’s first three directors.

In honor of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center’s golden anniversary, this special issue of the O'Neal Cancer Center magazine dives into the complex social and cultural history of cancer and breaks down the evolution of the major cancer treatment modalities of the past 50 years.

For many patients, a stage 4 cancer diagnosis can be crippling. Though stage 4 diagnoses look different based on the type of cancer, across the board, treatment options are generally limited and the road to potential recovery looks daunting.

Any woman can be at risk for cervical cancer, and risk increases with age. Learn about the importance of the HPV vaccine and regular screening.

Published: January 19th, 2022 The UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center is pleased to announce that Bassel El-Rayes, M.D., will become […]

What can genetic testing tell us about people’s risk for being predisposed to hereditary cancer, and how do patients and providers respond to […]

New research from University of Alabama at Birmingham, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests a gene therapy called LentiGlobin could provide a permanent cure for sickle cell disease.

Physicians with UAB Medicine, O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and the University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine, have launched a new Hepatic Artery Infusion Pump Program — the only program of its type in Alabama — to offer more treatment options to patients with colon or rectal cancer that has spread to the liver.

This September, the Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cell Therapy program at the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center is celebrating […]

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has been named a co-site on a $30 million National Institutes of Health grant to develop new or improved treatments for patients with glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor in adults.

A cancer diagnosis can bring fear, anxiety, and sometimes confusion. Patients need information they can trust to make important decisions […]

Written by: Joseph D. BryantMedia contact: Adam Pope Darrell Robinson serves his neighbors in Grenada County, Mississippi, on […]

The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Elizabeth Brown, Ph.D., has received a $3.1 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to support her investigation of the epigenetic contribution to the risk of a condition called monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, known as MGUS, in African Americans. MGUS is a condition in which an abnormal protein formed within the bone marrow is found in the blood. MGUS is a precursor to multiple myeloma, the most common blood cancer affecting African Americans. Multiple myeloma is characterized by the prolonged accumulation and survival of antibody-producing tumor cells. The disease has a median survival rate of about five years.

Opelika, Alabama’s first female firefighter, Charlotte Patterson, has been putting out fires for more than 25 years. However, in May 2017, Patterson learned she would be fighting a new fire — endometrial cancer.

A team of department faculty and trainees recently published their research “Prognostic Impact of Tumor Size on Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor Recurrence May Have Racial Variance” in Pancreas.

A modified herpes virus, alone and in combination with radiation, has been shown to be well tolerated with early signs of clinical effectiveness in pediatric patients with high-grade brain tumors, or gliomas, according to findings from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Children’s of Alabama. The findings were presented at the virtual American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021, held April 10-15 and published online in the New England Journal of Medicine on April 10.  

When faced with anorectal melanoma, an uncommon and aggressive form of cancer, Meredith McGowan turned to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for cross-specialty, cutting-edge treatment in order to get back to her active lifestyle.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have identified a potential new pathway to treating radiation-resistant glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer. The research, performed in animal models and human and mouse cells in culture, was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The findings indicate that an adhesive cell surface protein known as N-cadherin — or N-cad — may be key in overcoming glioblastoma’s resistance to radiation therapy. 

Cancer survivor Leslie Hamilton makes a habit of purchasing a special license plate each year that supports a worthwhile cause. Her 2019 tag, however, was a UAB Blazers plate with a direct message to the UAB Medicine doctor who treated her: gynecologic oncologist Warner Huh, MD. She chose IOHUH1, which is license-plate shorthand for, “I owe Huh one”. When the tag expired, she presented it to Dr. Huh as a gift of appreciation.

UAB Medicine patient Steadman Harrison is a one-year cancer survivor. He says that his cancer journey has been a lesson in patience, the value of family support, and personal faith.

Every day, scientists across the world learn more about how to treat COVID-19, how it spreads and how it affects those who contract it, but what does that mean for cancer research?

After roughly four decades on the Advisory Board of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, George Wheelock III has seen the evolution of both the O’Neal Cancer Center and its annual ArtBLINK Gala. But this year, Wheelock will take on a new role as the Director’s Circle honoree for the Cancer Center’s first-ever virtual ArtBLINK Gala on Feb. 5, 2021.

Clinical trials serve as the bridge between research and patient care. They allow scientists to test a new drug, therapy or procedure before it becomes the standard, but how exactly do clinical trials work, why are they important and how is the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center working to make them more accessible for everyone?

Three years after leaving her home country of Nigeria, UAB doctoral candidate Zainab M. Shonibare is now studying gynecologic cancers in the lab of O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center scientist Mythreye Karthikeyan, Ph.D., in the hopes of bringing the results of her research to cancer patients and survivors across the world.