Page 11 - Christiana Care Focus November 2018

delighted that our summer scholars have had significant experi- ences that have influenced them in selecting careers as researchers and clinicians.”
Building research capacity
The Delaware INBRE program runs from June to August and
is supported with funds from a National Institute of General Medical Sciences Institutional Development Award and the state of Delaware. This year is the last of a five-year funding cycle, though there are hopes for renewal of funding for a new cycle starting
in 2019. As part of the funding, Christiana Care has partnered
with Delaware Technical Community College, Delaware State University, Nemours/Alfred I. du Pont Hospital for Children, the
TUniversity of Delaware and Wesley College.
his summer Christiana Care sponsored 14 INBRE stu- dents and one INBRE-affiliated student. Their research looked at topics such as the use of ketamine for oral and facial surgery in the place of other pain medication, the
sensitivity of physical examination in blunt pelvic trauma and a retrospective review of infections in injection drug users.
Shellayah Benson, a biological sciences student at Delaware Technical Community College, says that she has been updating the esophageal cancer registry this summer while also learning goal- setting, time management skills and how to handle a challenging work load.
LeRoi S. Hicks, M.D., MPH, FACP
| Research
cally, with corporate partnerships and university partnerships around the world. INBRE played an important role in establishing this core function, which provides gene editing tools and consul- tation to a wide range of research labo- ratories. We look forward to continuing the interactions that have brought us this far.”
Through an innovative pilot grant, INBRE also has supported the research of Jennifer Sims-Mourtada,
Ph.D., a senior research scientist and the director of Translational Breast Cancer Research in the Graham Cancer Center.
Dr. Sims-Mourtada is studying triple-negative breast cancer, which is not only aggressive, but is a cancer that affects younger women who are pre-menopausal. The cancer also disproportionately affects African-American women, who are underrepresented in genetic testing and clinical trials.
There is a high incidence of the cancer in Delaware, and understanding the mechanism of triple-negative breast cancer may lead to the identification of predictive biomarkers and better treatments. In addition, Dr. Sims-Mourtada has partnered with a
Eric Kmiec, Ph.D.
“I have learned a lot about professional responsibility which will be helpful as I move forward with plans to become a doctor,” Benson said.
research advisory group to improve outreach to African-American women.
In additional support of Dr. Sims- Mourtada’s research, INBRE helped fund a community discussion on
the “Legacy of Henrietta Lacks and HeLa Cells” in 2015. Lacks was a poor African-American tobacco farmer who died of cervical cancer in a Baltimore hospital in 1951. But a few months before she died, a doctor removed a sample of her cancer cells. These were
I
in health care delivery and new
technologies, said LeRoi S. Hicks,
M.D., MPH, FACP, the Hugh R. Sharp
Jr. Chair of Medicine, physician leader of Christiana Care’s Acute Medicine Service Line and physician leader of the Value Institute. “Without a program like INBRE a state can begin to lag in
n Delaware, INBRE helps build research capacity so residents can benefit from innovations
ground-breaking research that impacts the health of its residents,” said Dr. Hicks.
INBRE has supported the work of the Gene Editing Institute, which has formed international partnerships with biomedical research organizations to conduct transformative studies on the human genome with direct applications to cancer care. In fact, this is
the only gene editing initiative embedded in a community cancer center.
“The Gene Editing Institute has a strong working relationship with the leadership of the INBRE grant,” said Eric Kmiec, Ph.D., director of the Gene Editing Institute. “INBRE supported the development of the Genome Customization Core, which has grown dramati-
the first and most important line of human cells ever to survive and multiply indefinitely.
Lacks’ “HeLa” cells have played a role in major medical advances, but they were taken without her knowledge and without her permission, raising questions of the ethics of this action. The
Lacks family also has grappled with this legacy and, as part of the Christiana Care’s community discussion, Victoria Baptiste, a great- granddaughter of Henrietta Lacks, took part, as did David Lacks Jr., a grandson of Henrietta.
“This was an important discussion, in that we talked about efforts within medicine to rebuild trust with the African American community so research can advance with a new transparency to benefit everyone,” said Dr. Siegel.
In April, INBRE helped fund an inaugural lung cancer symposium and the start of a multi-year commitment to reduce the prevalence, morbidity and mortality of lung cancer, the number one cause
of cancer death in Delaware. As one of the leaders of this effort,
CONTINUED
Jennifer Sims-Mourtada, Ph.D.
FOCUS • NOVEMBER 2018 9