Updates from the Sandra and Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute: February 2024

Welcome, Executive Director of Oncology Services Walter Benton

There is new leadership at the Sandra and Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute at GBMC. Walter Benton, MBA, is the new Executive Director of Oncology Services. On January 22, he began serving alongside Herman and Walter Samuelson Medical Director, Paul Celano, MD, FACP, FASCO.

Walter was most recently the Director of Laboratory Operations at Chesapeake Urology Associates (CUA) and has a long track record as an accomplished leader in healthcare operations. A histotechnologist by training, he advanced to management positions at the University of Maryland Medical Center before joining CUA. He has built a strong background in oncology from the diagnostic and pathology side, growing familiar with therapeutic modalities in his leadership there. He is well versed in continuous quality improvement, patient safety, laboratory testing, and payer/insurance reimbursement issues and skilled in financial management, budgeting, business planning, capital equipment, and healthcare services growth.

He is taking over the position previously held by Michael W. Stein, MHSA, FACMPE, since 2014. Michael is now GBMC’s Vice President of Clinical and Support Operations.

GBMC Clinical Trial Contributes to New Approach in Treating Advanced Melanoma

Patients enrolled in a clinical trial are hoping the experimental treatment will improve their outcomes and extend their lives. They also gain satisfaction from knowing they are contributing to the future of cancer care. One study published last spring and co-authored by Gary I. Cohen, MD, FACP, FASCO, emeritus medical director of the Sandra and Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute, has been honored with the 2023 Paper of the Year distinction by the prestigious Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study was based on research in which GBMC’s Clinical Trials program participated and is changing the way oncologists treat melanoma.

The trial was led by Georgetown University researcher Michael Atkins, MD, and is described by a publication of the school’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. The trial “showed a remarkable 20 percent advantage in the two-year overall survival rate for people with advanced melanoma who first received immunotherapy (72 percent survival rate) versus those who initially got targeted therapies (52 percent survival rate). Progression-free survival, where the cancer is stable or improving, was also trending in favor of those who started on immunotherapy.”

This practice-changing study is just one of many clinical trials in which GBMC oncologists and patients have participated. The Clinical Trials program was begun by Dr. Cohen in 1990. Herman and Walter Samuelson Medical Director of the Sandra and Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute, Paul Celano, MD, FACP, FASCO, and Dr. Marshall Levine were also critical leaders and contributors to the effort to bring clinical trials to community hospitals.

Dr. Cohen became involved in the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) research program, becoming the Community Oncology Committee chair of ECOG-ACRIN (EA), an NCI research group. In that role, he was instrumental nationally in promoting and securing NCI funding for patients in community hospitals to enroll in clinical trials. He is thrilled to see such a rewarding result in this case.

“This remarkable result would not have been possible without the participation of patients in community hospitals like GBMC,” Dr. Cohen said. “Our goal is to give our patients access to the best care available. These studies constitute a vital contribution to the future of cancer patient care.”

Soon after he retired from GBMC, Dr. Cohen passed the baton to GBMC oncologist and researcher Mei Tang, MD, who co-chairs both the Head and Neck and the Community Oncology Committee for EA. According to Dr. Tang, the findings are part of an encouraging trend.

“Metastatic cancer is still a devastating disease,” she said. “But the advances in the last decade, especially the development of immunotherapy and targeted therapy in oncology, have been remarkable. Our hope is we will cure many more cancers like melanoma with chemo-free treatment in the near future. Our patients are offered the opportunity to be part of cutting-edge research like this near home. It’s rewarding to be part of national research programs and to continue offering clinical trials in addition to standard treatment in a community cancer center.”