The Mount Sinai Medical Center Brings Critical Advances From Bench to Bedside to Benefit Multiple Myeloma Patients

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - August 28, 2012) -

Highlighted Links

Leadership to Cure

Mount Sinai NYC on Twitter

The Mount Sinai Medical Center is leading the charge to find a cure for Multiple Myeloma with its unique, multidisciplinary Multiple Myeloma Program. With a mission to educate the general public about this unique type of blood cancer and the significant unmet need for treatment options, The Mount Sinai Medical Center is sharing their research, goals, and an inspiring story of hope, at their website, "Leadership to Cure."

Dina Feivelson was diagnosed with stage three Multiple Myeloma in 2002 at age thirty two. She saw eight different doctors at six different hospitals in three different states. When she came to Dr. Sundar Jagannath at Mount Sinai, or "Dr. Jag" as Dina calls him, she started on chemotherapy, enrolled in a clinical trial and went through a stem cell transplant with her own stem cells. After that stem cell transplant, because of the high risk posed and her very young age, Dr. Jagannath gave her a voluntary matched unrelated donor transplant.

For Dina, the effects have been life changing, as eight years after her diagnosis she became a mom to twin girls. "When I was first diagnosed at thirty two, no one thought I would see forty, and the year I turned forty, I also had my girls, and it's just a different life than anyone expected I'd be able to have," says Dina. In a near-complete remission and now on two medications, Dina sees Dr. Jagannath every month.

While working to keep his patients, like Dina's, cancer at bay, Dr. Jagannath, the director of the Multiple Myeloma Program and an internationally respected leader in the research and treatment of the disease, is also leading the way to build projects at Mount Sinai that bridge basic science and clinical practices for the benefit of advancing care in blood cancer patients everywhere. As director, Dr. Jagannath is working to develop his program into a translational, multidisciplinary research center in Multiple Myeloma, including a unique collaboration with the department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at Mount Sinai to understand the genetic underpinnings of the disease.

His interest in Multiple Myeloma dates back to the 1980s, when patients were faced with limited treatment options and little hope for survival beyond a few years. The good news is that the current standard of care for Multiple Myeloma has dramatically improved over the past ten years, especially with the approval of new drugs. To learn about the groundbreaking clinical trials taking place today at Mount Sinai, click here.

"We cannot say we are going to cure the cancer necessarily today, but the fact that if the patient is going to live for the next seven to ten years, during that time, we'll have several more drugs approved and we may be able to say the cancer will be cured in their lifetime," notes Dr. Jagannath.

To hear more about Dina's journey and Dr. Jagannath's vision for the future of Multiple Myeloma research, please visit www.leadershiptocure.com.

You can also connect with The Mount Sinai Medical Center via Twitter at www.twitter.com/mountsinainyc.

Digg this    Bookmark with del.icio.us    Add to Newsvine

Technorati: Mount Sinai Medical Center NYC Hospitals Multiple Myeloma cancer research clinical trials stem