In a HemOnc Today article on the unique circumstances of treating a patient with cancer who is pregnant, Brandon Hayes-Lattin, M.D., says, “There isn’t a giant or robust database on the risks for many chemotherapy drugs in pregnancy, including risk to the fetus. This is difficult when counseling a patient.”

Health Day highlights a survey conducted by Jane Zhu, M.D., and colleagues to assess physicians' views toward private equity ownership.

The Cancer Letter writes a brief on the news that after serving as the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute’s director for more than 17 years, Brian Druker, M.D., will take on a new role as the institute’s chief executive officer and Tom Sellers, Ph.D., will take on the director role.

Central Oregon Daily reports on House Bill 4002 and the state’s aims to boost access to addiction medication and expand treatment options. Todd Korthuis M.D., says, “I think there’s an opportunity for these legislated deflections programs to meaningfully connect people to treatment who are looking for it. And yet I haven’t seen any plans around this, and it matters a lot – how they’re doing it, where they’re doing it and how well funded they are.”

Suzanne Duvall, Ph.D., shares insights on screening for and diagnosing autism. Duvall says, “The most common scenario is that individuals with more nuanced symptoms of autism can be missed in childhood and then go on to receive a diagnosis in adulthood, but in retrospect, the same behavior patterns or social communication [delays] were always present. Autism has a genetic component, thus sometimes, when we provide an ASD diagnosis to a child, the parent notes that they were ‘just like them’ when they were a child and may go on to seek evaluation for an ASD diagnosis themselves.”

Curtis Lachowiez, M.D., moderates a roundtable event on targeted therapy for blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm and its role in patients who could receive allogeneic stem cell transplant.

Nadine Mallak, M.D., discusses the role that theranostic agents play in treating patients with cancer. She says, “The target might be different for different cancers. It could be a ligand, an antigen, or a receptor. It has to be somewhat specific to the given tumor so that the tumor can accept it relative to normal organs.”

Susan Hedlund, MSW, discusses strategies for effective communication among caregivers and patients. She says, “As caregivers, we want the best for our loved ones. At the same time, we don’t want to take away their voice or their autonomy or their right to make decisions, so it’s an interesting dance.”

An OHSU-developed AI algorithm can accurately and independently detect 100% of severe cases of retinopathy of prematurity, which can cause blindness in prematurely born babies.

Maggie Overstreet, O.D., explains how untreated nearsightedness can lead to serious sight issues, and a 10-year-old Corvallis girl explains how the OHSU Casey Eye Institute’s Myopia Management Program helped her receive special contacts that are FDA-approved to treat the condition. Overstreet says, “Nearsightedness in the long-term can actually have visually devastating effects on the eye.”