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Dr. Yunda Huang discussed HIV vaccines at CROI: “I've been working in this field for 20 years now and there is a misconception that with pre-exposure prophylaxis, our job is done, but HIV is so far  away from being solved.”

Dr. Rachel Issaka stressed the importance of prevention and screening: “March is colorectal cancer awareness month, and colon cancer is one of the most common cancers. But we can all do things to reduce our risk.”

Dr. Julie McElrath declared in a plenary talk at CROI that “An HIV vaccine could end HIV. So I say, ‘Let’s just get on with it.’”

Denene Prophet-Williams, MBA, MLA, BSN, is featured as Fred Hutch’s newly-named vice president and chief nursing officer. The Cancer Letter and GeekWire also covered the news. 

Dr. Bill Grady explained that colonoscopies and “stool-based tests have that kind of ‘ick’ factor related to them. We need to find tests that people are going to use.”

Dr. Bill Grady commented on results from a study he led of a new blood test for colorectal cancer, emphasizing that “more screening should result in fewer cancer deaths.” This story ran in local outlets across the U.S.

Dr. David Maloney explained the work he did in the 1990s to develop antibodies targeting cancer. He said, “With this approach, it was one antibody that was only good for one patient. You had to make an antibody for essentially every patient.”

Dr. Rachel Issaka noted: “If people have more options that are convenient for them, they are more likely to participate in colon cancer screening, and we can pick up earlier cases where treatments are most effective.”

Dr. Susan Bullman explained a new Nature study she co-authored with Dr. Chris Johnston and how a specific subtype of bacterium helps tumor cells hide from therapies: “It acts like a cloak.” Many medical and health news outlets also covered the study.

Dr. Jesse Bloom explained how researchers are studying how coronavirus works as populations have immunity to it. He said, “The virus is still evolving, it’s still infecting large numbers of people. We need to keep tracking this.”

Fred Hutch’s Hanako Osuga received the GeekWire award for her work with the Coding for Cancer program, which helps students from underrepresented groups in STEM get experience with computing skills in biomedicine.

Matthew Triplette discussed trends in people younger than age 50 getting cancer, and how he doubts there’s “some new, very dangerous cancer risk factor out there that’s causing tons of excessive cases in younger folks.”

Natalie Phelps, a patient with colorectal cancer, advocated for lowering the screening age: “lowering the age from 50 to 45 for the start of (having a) colonoscopy is a good step in the right direction. I’d like to see it lowered even more.”

Dr. Megan Shen shared tips on how parents can support their adult children who are coping with cancer. She emphasized communication, since an “an adult cancer patient’s needs ‘can be wildly different from one child to the next.’”