Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and its partners are rolling out a new program that will increase access to cancer care by people living in remote or underserved communities. Among the populations on which this program will place emphasis are Western New York’s Indigenous communities.

They are called convalescent plasma transfusions and they may be able to help a patient suffering from COVID-19.  "This is an old concept, and one that has been used for a hundred years in desperate situations," said Dr. Nancy Nielsen, Senior Associate Dean for Health Policy at UB's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She discussed the transfusions and other potential treatments, including some experimental trials being conducted locally, during her weekly appearance on WBFO.

Possibly as soon as Thursday, a new COVID-19 treatment will be given to a local patient. That virus victim will be one of 400 patients across the country who will be treated with the arthritis drug sarilumab. 

New York has now raised the minimum age to buy tobacco and electronic cigarettes to 21 years old, from 18. The law, which went into effect today, "is going to save thousands of lives," said Dr. Andrew Hyland, Chair of the Department of Health Behavior for Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

As an outbreak of severe lung disease and deaths among users of electronic cigarettes continues to spread to new patients and states, many may be wondering if the products are safe, especially smokers who may use e-cigarettes to get off tobacco. Andrew Hyland, chair of the Department of Health Behavior at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, says "yes, but...."

The 11-Day Power Play is now in day five inside Buffalo's HarborCenter. The third-annual marathon charity hockey game reached a fundraising milestone Monday. An estimated 2,500 local hockey players are taking turns in what organizers and original players say is no easy feat, keeping a continuing game in progress for 11 continuous days. To gain a better appreciation for the participants, this year I became one.

Officials from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center joined together at the latter campus Friday morning to announce a new collaboration which both sides say will make specialized services more accessible to patients in Niagara Falls and Niagara County. It's a region where, experts say, cancer rates have increased by 36 percent over the past four decades.

With the stroke of a pen, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz signed into law Friday the Public Health Protection Act of 2018. The measure includes bans on tobacco and nicotine-containing product sales in pharmacies, smoking in NFTA bus shelters and smoking in vehicles where minors are inside.

Cancer research scientists around the world are looking at what might be a revolutionary test for the diseases of cancer. The test is quick, potentially cheap and based on a simple blood test, not some elaborate technical equipment.

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers were in Chicago this weekend, reporting on their new work treating a lethal and abrupt brain tumor. It is a new immunotherapy treatment that appears to keep patients alive much longer.

For the third time in its 120-year history, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center aired a commercial during the Super Bowl. This year’s message was focused on hope and reaching a wide audience.

Forty doctors at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center have been honored in an annual directory that recognizes physicians chosen by their peers.

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center received a significant boost in funding for prostate cancer research and awareness from some well-known members of the Buffalo sports community.

An Erie County legislator and candidate for New York State Assembly has introduced a proposal that, if passed, would ban smoking in a car while a child is inside the vehicle. Although Patrick Burke admits details must still be hammered out, his bill is already drawing the support of local cancer researchers and anti-smoking advocates.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute has ushered in the new year with a new name, logo and mission statement. The CEO of what is now Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center says the rebranding focuses around the central principle and new tagline, "Unleashing the healing power of hope." This freshened-up identity also comes as the hospital prepares to celebrate its 120th anniversary with a series of activities throughout 2018. WBFO's Marian Hetherly talked about the changes with Roswell Park CEO Candace Johnson.