Blog

This is a guest post by Joel Stern, stage 4 kidney cancer, member of the KCA’s Board of Directors. Saturday November 16, 2024 was a huge day for me. I celebrated my 4th year “cancerversary” with Stage 4 clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Many celebrate this anniversary. Some consider it a “dark” day they would rather ignore. I choose…

This is a guest post by Joel Stern, stage 4 kidney cancer, member of the KCA’s Board of Directors. I just returned from the KCA Symposium – the 2024 International Kidney Cancer Symposium (IKCS): North America in Louisville, Kentucky. The following is my “data dump” of key thoughts/observations that I came away with. Please note that these comments are my…

This is a guest post by Sarah Tuck, KCA's Program Manager who works on all the patient programs and education initiatives. Mandala art. Bingo was a hit! The Kidney Cancer Association partnered with Respite Retreats for a Virtual Patient Retreat on Friday, October 11, 2024 from 1-5 pm. Participants spent the afternoon on arts and crafts projects, poetry, meditation, and…

The Kidney Cancer Association's newly launched KCA Mentorship Academy met for the first time ahead of the 2024 IKCS: North America meeting on November 6th in Louisville, Kentucky. 2024 Mentees, left to right: Dr. Allison May, Dr. Minas Platon Economides, Dr. Prateek Khanna, Dr. Adam Singer, Dr. Nazli Dizman. Dr. Wesley Yip was not present. The Academy includes six mentees…

This is a guest post by Salima Witt, survivor of stage 3b kidney cancer and member of the Kidney Cancer Association's Patient & Caregiver Advisory Council. People often ask me, "How are you still alive?" For those familiar with my story, the answer is clear. My name is Salima Witt, and I am here to share my miraculous journey as…

Dr. Yuexin Xu received a 2024 Kidney Cancer Association Trailblazer Award for research on "Characterization of tumor endothelial STAB1-mediated Treg recruitment into renal cell carcinoma." Dr. Xu is a researcher based at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. This is the second research grant Dr. Xu has received from the KCA. We spoke with her about her research…

The Kidney Cancer Association (KCA) will partner with Topline Bio, LLC for a new era of digital education and storytelling with and for healthcare professionals treating kidney cancer as well as patients and families impacted by the disease. This partnership solidifies our ability to create the sort of content that can revolutionize communication in our space by bringing easily digestible…

Dr. Laura Bukavina received a 2024 Kidney Cancer Association Trailblazer Award for research on "Assessing the Presence and Impact of Micro- and Nanoplastics Role in Renal Cell Carcinoma". Dr. Bukavina, a translational surgeon-scientist, is assistant professor of Urologic Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Glickman Urologic Institute and translational science lead in GU oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine…

Dr. Mitchell Hayes received a 2024 Kidney Cancer Association Trailblazer Award in partnership with the Michael and Ina Korek Foundation for research on "Tracing the Seeds of Progression: Spatial Transcriptomic Analysis of Immunoresistant Kidney Cancer". Dr. Hayes is a Urologic Oncology Fellow at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. We spoke with Dr. Hayes about his research and the impact…

Dr. Elizabeth Ellis received a 2024 Kidney Cancer Association Chromophobe RCC Focus Award in partnership with the Chromophobe and Oncocytic Tumor Alliance for research on "Evaluating the Response of Chromophobe Renal Cell Carcinoma to Novel Targeted Metabolic Therapies". Dr. Ellis is a Urologic Oncology Fellow at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. We spoke with Dr. Ellis about her…