Learn more about the mission of the Lisa and Scott Stuart Center for Adolescent and Young Adult Cancers at MSK.
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Scott Stuart
There are so many exciting initiatives going on at MSK. Once we heard about the fact that there is this gap in cancer care for the adolescent/young adult community, it was obvious that this is where we’d love to support.
Dr. Julia Glade Bender
The Stuart Center will address two critical needs: It’s going to improve the cancer experience for adolescents and young adults, and it’s going to improve outcomes. Adolescents and young adults are underrepresented on clinical trials and clinical trials are the way we advance care.
Dr. Andrew Kung
The biology of the types of cancers that affect adolescents and young adults are different than the biology of cancers that affect children or older patients.
Dr. Julia Glade Bender
The Stuart Center is going to help us create an infrastructure to help patients in this age group get onto clinical trials.
Dr. William Tap
This is a patient population that I see all the time in my clinics. One of the things that I realized is how little time we have to understand who they are and truly understand how this diagnosis is affecting them and what their needs are.
How are you?
I’m good. How are you?
Dr. Lisa DeAngelis
This period of life is so challenging for these patients because they're trying to become adults, and it's so difficult for them to really step back and have to focus on a disease like cancer.
We intend to really develop the social network and support structure to help them through issues regarding fertility and future childbearing, as well as job security and the ability to complete education.
Dr. Andrew Kung
The Center is going to set a standard for how care of individuals in this age group should be done across the nation.
Dr. Julia Glade Bender
This age group has grown up in the computer age, and this is how they want to communicate with their doctors, how they want to learn about their results from tests, how they want to meet their peers for support around cancer care.
Dr. William Tap
I truly believe the Stuart Center is going to transform care for adolescents and young adults with cancer. The Stuart Center is set up for them. The resources here are for them.
Dr. Julia Glade Bender
I have five children ages 20 to 29. The idea that if they get sick, they might not know where to go and what to do makes me crazy. So I want to create a program where I feel like my kids would get the very best care.
Dr. Lisa DeAngelis
What's most exciting about this opportunity is really being able to give them the hope that we're going to get them through this and that they will be able to go on and continue their life as they planned, even before the diagnosis.