News

A cancer analysis web portal at the University of Alabama at Birmingham is serving cancer clinicians and researchers across the world in their search for cancer biomarkers, therapeutic target discovery and precision treatments to help patients.

In 2014, Edith Surles Lonon of Montgomery, Alabama, noticed swollen lymph nodes along her neck. She was recovering from shoulder replacement surgery, following doctor’s orders for physical therapy. Little did she know she had a far more serious journey ahead.

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama today announced a total investment of $1,275,000 in Alabama-based breast cancer research in 2022.

Though lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in the nation, physicians at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham want patients to know about the advancements in diagnostic technologies and therapies, as well as new screening guidelines, which provide more hope for lung cancer patients than ever before.

The summer before Cameron Monistere started his senior year, he felt a lump in his throat. This was not the anxiety-induced, metaphorical kind. It was a physical one on his lymph node.

New research from University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers is shedding light on racial disparities in breast cancer mortality in women who live in economically deprived neighborhoods.

When Beth Curles was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 1997, she notified only her close family. As an elementary school teacher in a small town in Georgia, she worried her community might stigmatize her diagnosis and treat her differently. For more than 15 years, she quietly battled her disease, until she was brought to the Center for Clinical and Translational Science’s Clinical Research Unit based at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology hosted a Cervical Cancer Summit in collaboration with the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and Alabama Department of Public Health on Friday, Sept. 30, at the Marriott Birmingham Grandview Hotel as an effort to tackle cervical cancer in Alabama.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Division of Gynecologic Oncology has received $120,000 to further ovarian cancer research from the Norma Livingston Ovarian Cancer Foundation.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States after skin cancer.

Thyroid nodules are common, and while simply having irregular thyroid growths does not mean a person has cancer, everyone should check their neck on occasion and let their medical team know of any concerns. Physicians at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center are advancing the field of thyroid care with cutting-edge, patient-specific procedures and collaborative research investigations.

The U.S. News & World Report 2020-2021 Best Hospitals list ranks the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB No. 25 in the country for cancer care. This marks the cancer center’s first top-25 ranking.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has announced its latest O’Neal Invests grants with awards worth $950,000 that will advance new cancer-related projects and initiatives and enable competitive extramural applications.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine’s Department of Radiation Oncology researchers have identified potential targets to help overcome therapy-resistant tumors in patients with glioblastoma, the most common and devastating form of primary brain cancer. 

Over the last decade, immune checkpoint blockers, or ICBs, have revolutionized treatment for various advanced cancers, including melanoma, the most aggressive skin cancer that was considered largely incurable not long ago. However, three-fourths of advanced-melanoma patients are resistant to ICBs.

September is Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month, so it’s a good time to learn about the risks of these types of cancer and options for prevention and screening. All women are at risk for gynecologic cancers, and those risks increase with age. The information below outlines basic facts every woman should know.

Melanoma is a highly aggressive skin cancer that frequently metastasizes, but current therapies benefit only some patients. Finding new ways to treat melanoma and other cancers is crucial because of the high prevalence of acquired resistance to currently used therapy for treating patients.

Physicians at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine’s Department of Radiation Oncology recently began providing stereotactic body radiation therapy, or SBRT, to lung cancer patients at UAB Medicine’s Russell Medical Cancer Center in Alexander City, Alabama.

New recommendations from the Lancet Commission on COPD, including from Commission Chair Mark Dransfield, M.D., division director of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, outline ways to eliminate and control COPD worldwide.

Metastatic bladder cancer is generally incurable, so new therapies are an urgent need. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham now report a potential treatment for a quarter of bladder cancers.

Nearly 32 years ago, Jeana Nesmith Russell was beginning her dream career as a nurse in one of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s hospital units while pursuing her graduate degree.

As the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB celebrates the 50th anniversary of its first core grant from the National Cancer Institute, its comprehensive vision comes full circle in this retrospective on the history of the NCI designations that started it all.

Mothers delivering newborns at the University of Alabama at Birmingham now can donate their newborn’s umbilical cord blood to LifeSouth Cord Blood Bank, a public FDA-licensed cord blood bank of LifeSouth Community Blood Centers. Donating cord blood is painless for mother and baby, and there is no charge for the lifesaving service.

The O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the only National Cancer Institute-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Alabama and in a four-state region, celebrates its 50th anniversary this summer.