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Claudia Tatum, a member of the Kidney Cancer Association's Patient & Caregiver Advisory Council, spoke with Bruce Morton on the Cancer Interviews podcast about being diagnosed with a rare form of renal cell carcinoma, survivorship, and her passion for advocacy. Claudia brings her personal experience and professional expertise as an oncology nurse and radiation therapist to her work supporting others.…

The 2023 International Kidney Cancer Symposium: North America will feature three special awards honoring standout members of the kidney cancer community. The meeting will take place in Nashville, Tennessee from November 9-11. Register now. Dr. Nizar Tannir Dr. Nizar Tannir is a Professor in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He is…

The Kidney Cancer Association (KCA) will present Dr. Nizar M. Tannir with the Nicholas J. Vogelzang Humanitarian Award in honor of his outstanding service and compassion for his patients, his mentorship of colleagues, and his contributions to the KCA and the wider kidney cancer community. Gretchen E. Vaughan, KCA’s President and CEO, will present Dr. Tannir with the Vogelzang Award…

We rounded up a few research highlights from the 2023 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), held recently in Madrid, Spain. Two new first-line treatment immunotherapy options Dr. Xinan Sheng presented the RENOTORCH study. Toripalimab is a new immunotherapy infusion, a humanized monoclonal antibody against PD-1. In combination with axitinib as a first-line treatment for advanced RCC, interim results…

Three analyses of the LITESPARK trial examining the hypoxia-inducible factor 2a (HIF-2a) belzutifan (Welireg) showed efficacy and benefit for this novel therapy over comparator treatments in advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) as well as at multiple doses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rwHg9yazz4 “I believe [LITESPARK-005] is a practice-changing study and I do want belzutifan to be made available for patients,” said Dr.…

The Kidney Cancer Association is proud to announce an exciting collaboration with the Rare Cancer Research Foundation (RCRF) through its initiative, Pattern.org, that promises to accelerate advancements in the research and treatments of rare kidney cancers. Pattern.org is a patient-driven platform that empowers rare cancer patients to consent to donate their excess, fresh tumor tissue to support scientific research. Pattern.org…

This is a guest post by Lindsay Walker. Lindsay, 46, was diagnosed with stage 3 chromophobe renal cell carcinoma in November 2022, right after Halloween. My kidney cancer journey began on Halloween 2022. I never considered Halloween to be “scary,” but last Halloween turned out to be one of the scariest days of my life, and the day my world…

The KCA recently partnered with two advocacy groups on a blog post examining the relationship between exercise and sickle cell trait. https://sickcells.org/blog/exercise-and-sickle-cell-trait-understanding-risks-and-embracing-wellness/ This blog post appears at Sick Cells, a national non-profit advocacy group for sickle cell disease (SCD), and was co-authored with our Affiliate Partner organization the Chris “CJ” Johnson Foundation, a global non-profit supporting individuals diagnosed with renal…

Dr. Brendan Guercio received a 2023 Interdisciplinary RCC Focus Award for research on "Associations of diet with the gut microbiome among patients with advanced/metastatic RCC receiving immune checkpoint inhibition." This award was supported by a gift from the Michael and Ina Korek Foundation. Dr. Guercio is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical…

Dr. Niki Zacharias Millward, PhD,  received a 2023 KCA Chromophobe RCC Focus Award for research on “Leveraging patient-derived xenograft models to identify and therapeutically target metabolic hallmarks of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma.” Dr. Millward is an assistant professor in the Department of Urology - Research, Division of Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. We spoke with Dr.…