Background: Recruited to South Carolina from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas; oncology fellowship at M.D. Anderson Medical Center in Houston; medical degree from Boston University; master’s degree in engineering from Harvard University; bachelor’s degree in biology from Boston College. Family: supportive husband, daughter at UNC Greensboro, and son who graduated from Villanova Hobbies: cycling, kite surfing, gardening and quilting Favorite book of all time: To Kill a Mockingbird What she loves about South Carolina: “the nicest people I have ever come across…the beautiful coast, the ethic of historic preservation, and the way of life…Also, the food is great.”

Cancer Crusader

Bringing New Hope to Cancer Patients

By Trisha Ostrowski

 

For patients battling cancer, access to the latest drug therapy can mean the difference between remission and disease—and ultimately life and death.

One researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is working to ensure local citizens have access to the most promising approaches to cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Dr. Melanie Thomas and her team at MUSC’s Center of Economic Excellence in Gastrointestinal Cancer Diagnostics are targeting gastrointestinal cancers, which are among the toughest to treat, and they are working to increase the number of clinical drug trials available in South Carolina. Their work has enormous potential to save and improve lives in the Palmetto State and beyond.

In addition to having a positive impact on the lives of South Carolina citizens, Dr. Thomas’ groundbreaking work also can help the state become a national leader in cancer research and clinical trials. If South Carolina can become a leader in these areas, the state is more likely to attract major pharmaceutical companies that would create high-paying jobs and fuel the state’s economy.

MUSC was seeking one of the nation’s top oncologists to lead its newest gastrointestinal (GI) research program, and Dr. Melanie Thomas fit the bill perfectly. Dr. Thomas is a highly accomplished researcher driven by a “love for patients and a passion to push the field forward.”

Dr. Thomas was recruited to South Carolina in 2008 through the state’s Centers of Economic Excellence (CoEE) Program. The program, which was created by the S.C. General Assembly seven years ago, is a partnership among South Carolina’s research universities, state government and private-sector companies and organizations. The CoEE Program is building South Carolina’s technology-based economy in three major ways: attracting world-class researchers or “endowed chairs” to the state, helping create university-based Centers of Economic Excellence (CoEEs) and converting research into products, services and jobs that drive the economy.

Last year, Thomas became the 20th researcher recruited to South Carolina through the CoEE Program and, more notably, the first female CoEE endowed chair.

As a CoEE endowed chair, Thomas leads the Gastrointestinal Cancer Diagnostics CoEE, which is housed at MUSC’s Hollings Cancer Center (HCC). GI malignancies or cancers include those of the stomach, liver, pancreas, colon, and elsewhere in the GI tract. Research within this Center includes searching for new targets (proteins that play a role in the disease process and are the intended sites of drug activity) for GI cancer treatment and identifying new ways to screen for GI cancer.

Thomas also serves as associate director of clinical investigations at HCC. In that role, she is spearheading an effort to expand the different types of clinical drug trials taking place in South Carolina.

“We are looking at each disease and the various tumor types to determine what kind of studies we have now and what we need to add,” Thomas explains. “We want to determine the best portfolio to bring patients to HCC for treatment and to help more people gain access to clinical trials in South Carolina.”

Thomas notes that in the past many patients have had to travel outside the state to participate in clinical trials. Today, partly through Thomas’ work, more patients are gaining access to high-quality clinical trials in the Palmetto State.

“Having new drugs encourages doctors in the community to send their patients our way,” Thomas says. “Statewide we want to make sure that this cancer center (HCC) doesn’t lose patients to other states or other places. We want to provide the most advanced clinical trials, just like any other cancer center would, so that more patients will be able to get the care they need here.”

Although Thomas is working with clinical trials across all tumor types, her personal passion and focus area is in GI cancers, specifically of the liver, bile duct and gall bladder. Thomas says she was drawn to this area of oncology because tumors in these structures are more challenging to treat.

“‘Orphan tumors,’ as they are known, don’t get much attention. They are not as common, and I wanted to work on something more difficult,” she says.

Thomas notes that she was drawn to MUSC and HCC because of the unique strength in GI cancers offered in South Carolina.

“We have the opportunity to become well-known for excellence in this area, which will be a big draw for patients from across the nation,” Thomas explains. “Treatment for almost all kinds of cancers involves a multidisciplinary team. To treat liver and biliary cancer, you need to have terrific surgeons and digestive disease centers, along with nationally known diagnosis and transplant programs and interventional radiology. MUSC has all of the pieces to be a center of excellence in treating GI cancers. All of the right elements are here.”

To help patients and their families struggling with GI cancers, Thomas founded a non-profit organization called CanLiv-The Hepatobiliary Cancers Foundation. CanLiv’s mission is to improve the lives of people affected by GI cancers and to provide educational information for patients, families and healthcare providers. The organization works to promote collaboration across institutional and geographic borders so through research better treatment options can emerge.

Thomas has also welcomed the opportunity to help HCC grow and gain national prominence. Since arriving in South Carolina, she has been involved in helping HCC seek designation as a National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer center. HCC submitted an application for the designation in May 2008 and had a site visit with NCI officials in October, which Thomas says “went extremely well.” HCC should know the results at the end of the first quarter 2009. The NCI designation, Thomas believes, would help HCC increase funding, build translational research (moving discoveries from “bench to bedside”) and attract and retain top talent.

“The notoriety is legitimate,” Thomas says about the NCI designation. “It would help distinguish HCC as one of the nation’s top cancer centers.”

Thomas has also been eager to make a difference in the lives of individuals who have limited access to medical care, and she says South Carolina provides that opportunity.

“The southeastern United States has a lot of unique needs, and we have a lot of medically underserved people. I viewed that as a great opportunity,” she says.

One issue that attracts top researchers to South Carolina, Thomas notes, is the diverse population. A personal passion for Thomas is working to ensure that all groups and races have access to the highest level of medical care.

“We recognize that South Carolina’s unique racial mix enables us to study things that are not easily studied anyplace else in the country,” she says.

Specifically, Thomas is working to extend more clinical trials to minority patients and is taking trials to the next level by looking at factors beyond those normally studied. For example, Thomas and her colleagues initiated a colorectal cancer disparities trial examining why African-American patients treated with the same chemotherapy as their Caucasian counterparts have different outcomes.

“We recognized that African-Americans in South Carolina don’t do as well with the same treatment, and no one knows why,” Thomas explains. “Colleagues from our cancer prevention group started brainstorming and came up with a unique colorectal cancer trial idea. We extended our trial through having patients complete questionnaires, obtaining blood samples and getting more information about patient backgrounds.”

Thomas’ accomplishments are particularly remarkable because oncology is a second, later-in-life career choice for her. She returned to medical school in her mid-30s after a successful, decade-long career as an environmental engineer.

“I was a student in the ‘70s and interested in the environmental field. Later, I asked myself ‘is this what I want to do forever?’” Thomas explains. “Medical school was always in the back of my mind. Then, in my mid-30s, it worked out and I went. I always knew I was going to go into oncology. It is an exciting field with so much science and new knowledge. Also, there is so much need and so many of the patients are really sick. I truly enjoy taking care of people when they are sick and vulnerable.”

What does she like best about her new role in South Carolina? Thomas says she “love(s) all of it…I have the opportunity to do a lot of different things. I have patient contact on a day-to-day basis. I get to help them in the tough times—to see them on the days they have successes and help them on the days that aren’t so good. Also, I am helping to change a field and push it forward.”

South Carolina’s CoEE Program, and the life-saving research it funds, played a significant role in attracting Thomas to South Carolina. She was impressed with the state being one of only a handful in the U.S. investing in research with life-saving and commercial potential.

“The vast majority of big federal research money is hard to come by for patient-focused research. In South Carolina, the CoEE Program is providing much-needed resources in that area,” Thomas says. “Also, it is bringing clinical trials to the state that can help attract big pharmaceutical companies. Right now, South Carolina may not be on their radar screens. When they realize that we have a clinical trials network, and they can put patients on a study here, they are more likely to open clinical trials here. Our work will help put the state and MUSC on the radar screens of big pharma.”

Thomas notes that moving drugs from the lab to the clinic is the “holy grail of oncology.” Because of the remarkable collaboration in medicine and oncology in the state, she says, there is a likelihood of that technology transfer happening in South Carolina.

“I often ask myself if I won the lottery, what would change?” Thomas says. “I can honestly say absolutely nothing would change. I am 100 percent happy to be doing what I am doing. I have very dedicated colleagues who are focused on the needs of this state. They have amazing talent, energy and dedication. They could be working at Duke or Johns Hopkins, but they want to work on medical issues that are unique to South Carolina. The faculty believe, and rightly so, that they can make a real difference through their efforts.”