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PROTEIN TRANSDUCTION: - Moores Cancer Center

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CENTER EXPANDS<br />

CLINICAL STAFF<br />

As part of the <strong>Cancer</strong> <strong>Center</strong>’s planned enhancement of its clinical services, we are<br />

pleased to introduce three new members of our clinical staff.<br />

Cynthia Sava, M.S.W.<br />

A diagnosis of cancer can change<br />

the entire landscape of an individual’s<br />

environment, impacting family<br />

and close friends, and creating a<br />

new set of circumstances that can<br />

throw an otherwise normal life —<br />

marriage and relationships, career,<br />

finances – into a tailspin. Cynthia<br />

Sava, M.S.W., is a clinical counselor<br />

whose primary responsibility is to<br />

formulate, manage, and deliver<br />

psychosocial treatment plans for<br />

our cancer patients. Just as there<br />

are many kinds of cancer, each<br />

affecting an individual in its unique<br />

way, there are also many factors to<br />

consider in developing a treatment<br />

plan. Taking age and gender into<br />

account, Sava identifies a patient’s<br />

support network and assesses<br />

coping skills, education, spirituality,<br />

cultural beliefs, family roles, and<br />

socio-economic status that may<br />

hinder ability to access services.<br />

Other physical or mental health<br />

issues may further complicate matters.<br />

Sava is also developing several<br />

group programs that are specially<br />

designed for patient groups, and for<br />

patients and their family caregivers.<br />

Lakshmi Vemuri, M.D.<br />

Dr. Vemuri is a medical oncologist<br />

who recently joined the UCSD<br />

faculty as an Assistant Professor<br />

of Medicine in the Division of<br />

Hematology/Oncology. Prior to<br />

joining the faculty, she trained at<br />

UCSD as a hematology/oncology<br />

fellow. During that time she worked<br />

as a co-investigator with Asad<br />

Bashey, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant<br />

Professor of Medicine, on a national<br />

Phase III clinical trial involving a drug<br />

being tested as a treatment for<br />

chronic myelogenous leukemia.<br />

Based upon the results of this trial<br />

the investigational drug, now known<br />

as Gleevec, was approved by the<br />

FDA and today is widely available to<br />

cancer patients. Vemuri’s clinical and<br />

research interests include brain<br />

tumors, gastrointestinal cancers,<br />

breast cancer, and melanoma. She is<br />

currently working to develop clinical<br />

trials for patients with brain tumors<br />

and with gastrointestinal cancers.<br />

She sees patients in the Theodore<br />

Gildred Facility at UCSD Medical<br />

<strong>Center</strong> in Hillcrest, and at the Perlman<br />

Ambulatory Care <strong>Center</strong> adjacent to<br />

Thornton Hospital in La Jolla.<br />

Susan Wilson, Pharm.D.<br />

Susan A. Wilson, Pharm.D.,<br />

is coordinating the clinical and<br />

administrative aspects of our<br />

inpatient and outpatient pharmacy<br />

services, a new position in the<br />

<strong>Cancer</strong> <strong>Center</strong>. After obtaining her<br />

Doctor of Pharmacy degree from<br />

the University of Nebraska Medical<br />

<strong>Center</strong>, Susan spent four years as a<br />

staff pharmacist in their bone marrow<br />

transplantation program. She<br />

became a staff pharmacist for<br />

Thornton Hospital in 1993, and also<br />

worked closely with our Blood and<br />

Marrow Transplantation Program.<br />

Susan is responsible for managing<br />

the costs associated with our<br />

chemotherapy program. While developing<br />

procedures that streamline the<br />

administration of drugs to cancer<br />

patients, Susan keeps focused on<br />

the most important factor – safety.<br />

Directly relevant to this administrative<br />

responsibility, she is a member of a<br />

task force that is reviewing software<br />

programs to facilitate online drug<br />

reporting and ordering.<br />

9<br />

<strong>Cancer</strong> <strong>Center</strong> News

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