Inside Pediatrics Spring 2015

r Outcomes and Survivorship

and developing behavioral and pharmacological interventions to reduce the burden of morbidity. The expertise she brings to The Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s, already a nationally renowned center of excellence, is a source of pride for Cohen and also for Raymond G. Watts, M.D., director of the division of pediatric hematology-oncology. “Our goal is to cure all childhood cancer and to have our cured patients lead a normal life,” Watts said. “The Institute for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship is poised to help us do just that — and to will be among the first to benefit from the new multidisciplinary institute. “We will be seeing patients here in clinic in Birmingham, so this is where it has to begin — with Birmingham first and the state of Alabama,” Bhatia said. “Our goal is a state-of-the-art survivorship program to ensure our children are not suffering as a consequence of the treatment they receive for cancer.” She said the mission of the institute is two- fold. “First, it is our responsibility to reduce the burden of morbidity associated with cancer across all cancer diagnoses and all ages,” she said. Also of concern to Bhatia is the disparity in outcomes for the Hispanic and African American populations. “No matter how far we have progressed in our fight against cancer, there are vulnerable populations that continue to need special attention,” she explained. “We have found that adherence to oral chemotherapy plays a critical role also increase the impact of our work both locally and nationally.” Children’s cancer survivors

in preventing relapse in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We also found that certain populations were less adherent than others, and this could account for the observed differences in survival. We are now conducting a national trial to enhance treatment adherence by sending parents and the child a text message each night to remind them to take the oral chemotherapy. If this strategy is successful, we hope to include it as a standard of care for all children with leukemia,” Bhatia said. Bhatia serves as associate chair for the Children’s Oncology Group,

of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This finding resulted in a reduction in radiation doses used for managing Hodgkin’s lymphoma in girls during their teenage years and trials to develop risk-reduction strategies for girls treated with chest radiation. Also during her tenure there, Bhatia made significant scientific contributions toward identifying chronic health issues among cancer survivors, including patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation. And - she established multidisciplinary survivorship clinics, providing cancer survivors with state-of-the- art comprehensive follow-up care.

“I told a colleague recently that I am so delighted with our decision to move

“Our goal is a state-of-the-art survivorship program to ensure our children are not suffering as a consequence of the treatment they receive for cancer.” — Smita Bhatia, M.D.

here,” she said. “Being a part of UAB and Children’s of Alabama is such a beautiful opportunity to bring what I have learned and then have it multiply exponentially because of all the collaboration and support we have been offered here.”

coordinating survivorship research across 200 pediatric oncology institutions. In 2006, she was elected to membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation in recognition of meritorious and outstanding contribution as a physician. She is a recipient of the Frank H. Oski Lectureship Award from the American Society of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology,

More information is available at www.childrensal.org/cancer .

Department chair and Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mitch Cohen, (left), recruited Bhatia to work closely with Dr. Raymond G. Watts, director of The Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s (center) .

which honors outstanding investigation in pediatric hematology-oncology. In 2012, she was also elected to the board of directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. While at the University of Minnesota, she discovered an increased risk of radiation-related breast cancer among adolescent girls exposed to chest radiation for the treatment

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