Anna Berkenblit, MD, MMSc
PanCAN’s new Chief Scientific and Medical Officer, Anna Berkenblit, MD, MMSc, has almost 20 years of expertise bringing new therapies to sufferers with most cancers. She’s served in management roles in pharma and biotech corporations the place she led the scientific improvement of a number of most cancers medication, together with most just lately a remedy now authorised by FDA for ovarian most cancers.
The motivation behind all this work? A deep empathy for folks confronted with most cancers and their households. The sufferers she met early in her profession at Brigham and Girls’s Hospital and as a scientific oncologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Heart have all the time guided the trail she’s taken.
“Certainly one of my values is I’ve all the time needed to be of use, and I can’t think about a extra gratifying profession than a profession in oncology caring for sufferers going through most cancers and all the issues that include it,” she stated. “And whereas that was actually gratifying, on the finish of the day, I spotted that I needed to assist sufferers extra by growing novel therapies. That may be a manner for me to the touch 1000’s and 1000’s of sufferers’ lives as a substitute of one by one within the workplace. In order that’s actually what impressed me to work in scientific trials to develop most cancers medication.”
At PanCAN, she’s trying ahead to bringing that twin expertise – as a clinician and biotech chief – to a group main the best way in pancreatic most cancers analysis. Not solely is she excited in regards to the potential for a brand new period of most cancers remedy based mostly on rising scientific insights, she’s optimistic that the sturdy neighborhood of researchers PanCAN has constructed over the previous 25 years is poised to make breakthroughs for sufferers confronted with pancreatic most cancers.
“Different tumor sorts have actually benefited from focused therapies,” she stated. “And I feel we’re simply starting to see these advantages for sufferers with BRCA mutations and for different mutations in pancreatic most cancers. However there’s extra to be tapped into. I’m excited in regards to the prospect of the brand new wave of focused therapies and harnessing the immune system to deal with pancreatic most cancers.”
To proceed to maneuver ahead, we have to share data and convey folks collectively able to create change. Dr. Berkenblit appreciates PanCAN’s dedication to this work – it’s what motivated her to affix the group and he or she’s excited to deliver her expertise and experience to the group.
“I like that Pam Acosta Marquardt, one of many founders of PanCAN, describes herself as a dot connector,” stated Dr. Berkenblit. “I might love to have the ability to join the dots amongst all the assorted efforts for pancreatic most cancers. Let’s maintain pulling them collectively and determining how we are able to synergize and speed up progress.”
As a result of, on the finish of the day, enhancing the lives of everybody impacted by pancreatic most cancers drives all of PanCAN’s work. Dr. Berkenblit feels that very same name to motion.
“I feel PanCAN has finished an exquisite job during the last 25 years constructing the neighborhood for pancreatic most cancers, constructing advocacy for funding of pancreatic most cancers,” she stated. “And now I’m actually excited to affix PanCAN at this inflection level, to deliver PanCAN to the subsequent part of its development to assist pancreatic most cancers sufferers.”
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