Radiation oncologist Michael Samuels, who will ride in the DCC on February 20, said funds raised by the charity ride help Sylvester investigators get their research projects off the ground.

Michael Samuels, a radiation oncologist specializing in head and neck cancers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been a passionate rider in the Dolphins Cancer Challenge since 2011. “I joined Sylvester in November 2010, and Jerry Goodwin, our chief medical officer, immediately encouraged me to sign up for DCC II and explained how important the event was for Sylvester,” Samuels recalled. “I agreed and participated in 2011. It was an incredibly exciting event, and I’ve been a part of it ever since.”

When Samuels signed up for the 100-mile ride in 2011, he had to train hard; he had not been on a bike since he was 18. Despite the odds, he not only finished, he also joined the 80-mile ride in 2012, bringing the total miles he rides each year to 180.

“There are many reasons why I’m so passionate about the DCC. What it does is crucial for Sylvester,” Samuels said. “Last year, the DCC generated $4.3 million, which went directly to research here at the cancer center.” Many of Sylvester’s investigators depend on DCC money for “pilot funding,” which gets their research projects off the ground and generates initial data that can be used to apply to funding sources outside of Sylvester.

“You can’t get an NIH grant in most cases or an important foundation grant without preliminary data,” said Samuels. He currently has two Sylvester grants to support tissue collection and to help fund the laboratory that performs the genetic analysis of the tissue. His team focuses on the genetic makeup of throat tumors caused by human papillomavirus and whether the virus could be re-activated under certain circumstances. Both grants were made possible by the DCC.

“Without the DCC, there is no way our team could get this important work done,” he said. “DCC strengthens the Sylvester research program in so many fundamental ways.”

But Samuels has another reason he’s a passionate DCC rider: “Anybody here has to ask herself or himself: how can I give back to Sylvester? Working here is a privilege—this is, by far, the most exciting environment I’ve ever been a part of. So the question is: how can I go above and beyond?”

For Samuels, participating in the DCC also demonstrates a different level of commitment. It allows him to go to people who support him and to his patients with a compelling reason to become part of the Sylvester team. “They usually say yes with enthusiasm,” he says. ”Any success I have had with DCC comes because those around me are amazingly generous. And by the time of the event, we all feel great about what we’re doing.”

Summing up his passion, he says, “When I see the impact, the research team using the funds, and understand the ultimate benefit to our patients—how could I not participate?”

To sign up for this year’s DCC on February 20, please visit TeamHurricanes.org.

Special to UM News

Sarah Rosenblatt

Sarah Greenblatt declares her passion uniquely: “I fell in love with leukemia!” A postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Stephen D. Nimer, M.D., she will participate in this year’s Dolphins Cancer Challenge (DCC) 5k run on Saturday, February 20. “Cancer has always had a big impact on my family,” she adds. “I became interested in leukemia when I worked on my Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute and rotated through a lab that studied small-molecule inhibitors for the treatment of pediatric leukemia.”

Greenblatt joined Sylvester three years ago and has been working on leukemia for the last two years. As part of her day in Nimer’s lab, she studies different enzymes that play a role in the development and progression of leukemia. A major goal of the lab is to come up with ways to target those enzymes in order to treat the cancer of blood cells.

“Ultimately, we want to develop a new therapy for a large number of leukemia patients, a drug that is targeted so that it causes less toxicity for patients,” she says. “We’re trying to figure out the mechanisms of how these enzymes drive leukemia and develop inhibitors for them. To do that, we develop model systems to see if the prototype inhibitors work.

To Greenblatt, leukemia is an interesting disease because, unlike solid tumors, blood can be accessed easily. “I think we know a lot more about the genetics of leukemia than other cancers, and it seems to be at the forefront of genetics research because you’re able to obtain the material easily from the patient.”

Greenblatt is one of many scientists in Nimer’s lab participating in the DCC this year. Two of her colleagues signed up for the bike ride, and Greenblatt and a few colleagues have volunteered at DCC events for kids. She signed up for the run because, as she says, “I’m a runner. I did the Marine Corps Marathon last year. I love running to release stress.”

Ultimately, she wants people to be excited about cancer research and see science in a positive light. “It’s a really interesting field,” she says. “And the progress that has been made in the last few years has been very exciting and interesting.”

Learn more and join Team Hurricanes at www.teamhurricanes.org.

Special to UM News

Sarah Rosenblatt

Sarah Greenblatt declares her passion uniquely: “I fell in love with leukemia!” A postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Stephen D. Nimer, M.D., she will participate in this year’s Dolphins Cancer Challenge (DCC) 5k run on Saturday, February 20. “Cancer has always had a big impact on my family,” she adds. “I became interested in leukemia when I worked on my Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute and rotated through a lab that studied small-molecule inhibitors for the treatment of pediatric leukemia.”

Greenblatt joined Sylvester three years ago and has been working on leukemia for the last two years. As part of her day in Nimer’s lab, she studies different enzymes that play a role in the development and progression of leukemia. A major goal of the lab is to come up with ways to target those enzymes in order to treat the cancer of blood cells.

“Ultimately, we want to develop a new therapy for a large number of leukemia patients, a drug that is targeted so that it causes less toxicity for patients,” she says. “We’re trying to figure out the mechanisms of how these enzymes drive leukemia and develop inhibitors for them. To do that, we develop model systems to see if the prototype inhibitors work.

To Greenblatt, leukemia is an interesting disease because, unlike solid tumors, blood can be accessed easily. “I think we know a lot more about the genetics of leukemia than other cancers, and it seems to be at the forefront of genetics research because you’re able to obtain the material easily from the patient.”

Greenblatt is one of many scientists in Nimer’s lab participating in the DCC this year. Two of her colleagues signed up for the bike ride, and Greenblatt and a few colleagues have volunteered at DCC events for kids. She signed up for the run because, as she says, “I’m a runner. I did the Marine Corps Marathon last year. I love running to release stress.”

Ultimately, she wants people to be excited about cancer research and see science in a positive light. “It’s a really interesting field,” she says. “And the progress that has been made in the last few years has been very exciting and interesting.”

Learn more and join Team Hurricanes at www.teamhurricanes.org.

Marc E. Lippman

Special to UM News

Marc E. Lippman, M.D., is looking forward to riding in the Dolphins Cancer Challenge (DCC), on Saturday, February 20, at Sun Life Stadium. As one of the nation’s leading breast cancer researchers, Lippman understands the importance of raising funds for the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

“We are studying the factors in a woman’s life that can lead to metastatic breast cancer and its recurrence,” says Lippman, who is Sylvester’s deputy director, and the Miller Professor of Medicine at the Miller School. “Many people don’t realize that more women die of breast cancer after a five-year remission than during those first years after treatment,” he says. “That’s because the cancer cells can hide from the body’s immune system for many years, until depression, obesity, or other conditions affect a woman’s health.”

Metastatic breast cancer is the most difficult form of breast cancer to treat with the highest morbidity rates, adds Lippman, who leads a team of physician-scientists at Sylvester who are probing the connections among breast cancer tumors, inflammation, and the health of the body’s immune system.

“We have found similar profiles of cytokines, proteins released by the immune system, in women with obesity, depression, and breast cancer,” he says. “That’s an important finding, because most forms of metastatic disease recur months or years after the original diagnosis and initial treatments, and are likely increased by these inflammatory cytokines. Now, we are partnering with other Miller School departments to launch a major clinical trial for breast cancer patients with depression to see if we can reduce the likelihood of recurrence.

An active cyclist who has participated regularly in the annual DCC fundraising campaign, Lippman urges University of Miami faculty, staff, students, alumni, friends, and family members to take part in DCC VI, which includes a 5K walk and run and the option of participating as a virtual rider. “You can help our Sylvester researchers save lives by advancing our understanding of breast cancer,” he says. “I invite you to DCC with me.”

To learn more, please visit Dolphins Cancer Challenge.

Special to UM News

Mohammad Jahanzeb

As a lung cancer clinician and researcher at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Mohammad Jahanzeb, M.D., understands the importance of the Dolphins Cancer Challenge (DCC). “Survival rates for patients with advanced lung cancer have more than tripled in the past five years, thanks to new targeted strategies that go beyond traditional chemotherapy,” he says. “The research work of our colleagues at Sylvester—supported by the DCC—and elsewhere is really paying off.”

The medical director of Sylvester at Deerfield Beach and professor of clinical medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Jahanzeb will be riding his bike again in the DCC on Saturday, February 20, at Sun Life Stadium, helping to raise funds for Sylvester’s cancer research. This year, the DCC includes a variety of options, including cycling routes of various distances, taking part in a 5K run/walk or becoming a virtual participant.

“I’ve been participating in the DCC since the second year when my son Shameel convinced me to ride with him,” says Jahanzeb. “Along with supporting our research work, DCC participants enjoy the camaraderie of being part of Team Hurricanes, while getting some good, healthy exercise and inspiring cancer patients and their families. I encourage you to DCC with me!”

An international lecturer on breast and lung cancers, Jahanzeb has given more than 800 lectures and written or contributed to more than 150 scientific publications, book chapters, reviews, and abstracts. He is chair of the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative Steering Committee for the American Society of Clinical Oncology and a board member and chair of the Continuing Medical Education Committee of the Florida Society of Clinical Oncology.

He conducts clinical trials for new medications and other treatments for lung and breast cancer patients. “We have been working with new compounds that can shut down pathways activated by mutated lung cancer cells,” he says. “This targeted approach can be more effective than chemotherapy, which kills healthy cells as well.”

Jahanzeb is also using therapies based on mobilizing the patient’s immune system against cancer cells. “Today, only about one-third of my patients undergoing active treatment are receiving traditional chemotherapy,” he says. “It’s an exciting time to be a lung cancer specialist because of the progress in our field.”

To learn more about the DCC, visit www.Teamhurricanes.org and watch the DCC with Me video.