OncLive®, the nation’s leading multimedia resource focused on providing oncology professionals with the most current and insightful information they need to offer the best patient care, has named Juliet Wolford, M.D., M.S.-BATS, M.Arch., MLARP, of the University of California (UC), Irvine Medical Center the winner of the OncLive® Innovation Challenge: Innovative Technology in Cancer Care.
“We are proud to honor creative and innovative professionals, such as Drs. Wolford and Maura, as the first winners of the Innovative Technology in Cancer Care Challenge,” said Mike Hennessy Jr., the president and CEO of MJH Life Sciences™, the parent company of OncLive®. “Both of their concepts were great ways to use technology to improve patient outcomes and solve different problems in oncology.”
Wolford, a fellow in the division of gynecologic oncology at UC Irvine, finished first and received $15,000. Wolford’s winning presentation was about 3-D printed vaginal specula for use within screen-and-treat cervical neoplasia programs in low-resource countries. Wolford’s inspiration for this project came from working on a cervical cancer screening program in Tanzania. She has seen firsthand that there are no specula available in Africa and getting the Tanzanian government to approve bringing in metal specula was difficult. Her solution was to bring a 3-D printer to the Tanzanian clinics and print the tools they need themselves. Wolford’s idea can help low-resource countries create a system for printing their own medical tools.
Maura, a member of the Myeloma Service at MSKCC, received $7,500 as the runner-up. Maura gave a presentation on precision medicine in multiple myeloma using a machine-learning approach. Maura spent three years at the Wellcome Sanger Institute Cancer Genome Project in Hinxton, England, where he learned the potential of whole-genome sequencing to improve clinical practice. This led him to explore machine-learning approaches to estimate risk assessment for patients and identify groups of patients who can benefit from distinct treatments.
“There were so many great ideas submitted for the OncLive® Innovation Challenge,” added Robert Goldsmith, the vice president of sales for MJH Life Sciences™. “Drs. Wolford and Maura had amazing presentations, and we are so happy to be able to provide them with a forum to showcase these innovative ideas that can transform oncology.”
A panel of distinguished judges selected winners among a large group of applicants in health care, including academic and community oncologists, managed care specialists, pharmacists and allied health professionals, who aim to fulfill unmet medical needs using current or future technology. Applicants were asked to submit concrete methods to combine current technology with oncology to create an innovative product designed to improve physicians’ clinical practice and/or patient outcomes. The group was narrowed to six finalists who presented their ideas in a pitch-off, where the winner and runner-up were named.
For more information on the OncLive® Innovation Challenge: Innovative Technology in Cancer Care, click here.
About OncLive®
A digital platform of resources for practicing oncologists, OncLive® offers oncology professionals information they can use to help provide the best patient care. OncLive® is a brand of MJH Life Sciences™, the largest privately held, independent, full-service medical media company in North America dedicated to delivering trusted health care news across multiple channels.
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Source: OncLive®