Drs Giaccone and He on Raising Awareness in Thymic Cancers

Giuseppe Giaconne, MD, PhD, is professor of medicine and associate director of clinical research at the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center and Yongfeng He, PhD, is an instructor an instructor of cancer biology in medicine, both at Weill Cornell Medicine, in New York, New York.

Cancers of the thymus, a small organ located in the mediastinum above the heart, are uncommon and understudied. Giaconne and He both say it is difficult to attract attention and research funding for a disease that only affects 400 to 600 Americans annually.

Patient advocacy organizations have worked to raise awareness of thymic malignancies. They would like to see the development of a patient network that helps keep both physicians and patients abreast of new developments in treatment.