GRACEcast - Discussions with the Global Resource for Advancing Cancer Education

In this series, the 2025-26 Clinical Trials Experiences Through Storytelling Program, we talk to cancer survivors who have a passion for telling their stories in order to help others who may be navigating the clinical trials experience.LuAnne Sirdiak spent a year waiting for her cancer to grow enough to qualify for a clinical trial. When she got in, she stayed on treatment longer than anyone else — long enough that her results changed how the trial was run.This is the final part of my conversation with LuAnne. We talk about what being in a trial did to her, and what it gave her: the say she had in her own treatment, the dose decisions she was part of, and what it means to her that the data from her body may help the people who come after. And we talk about the question every patient considering a trial eventually has to answer for themselves — knowing everything she knows now, and where she is today, would she do it again.Music: Ester - Here (BenSound) License certificate #2242649

In this series, the 2025-26 Clinical Trials Experiences Through Storytelling Program, we talk to cancer survivors who have a passion for telling their stories in order to help others who may be navigating the clinical trials experience.After her diagnosis, LuAnne Sirdiak started writing. Not for herself, and not for the world — she created a private Facebook group called Life!, and invited people in. For nine years she has documented the scans, the treatments, the waiting, and everything in between, for a group she chose.Here's part four of my conversation with LuAnne.Music: Ester - Here (BenSound) License certificate #2242649

In this series, the 2025-26 Clinical Trials Experiences Through Storytelling Program, we talk to cancer survivors who have a passion for telling their stories in order to help others who may be navigating the clinical trials experience.There's a part of a cancer diagnosis that doesn't get talked about much — the work of carrying other people's feelings about it. The reassuring, the softening, the deciding what to say and what to keep to yourself.LuAnne Sirdiak knows that work from both sides.She was a sister before she was a patient, and She was caring for her sister who had small cell lung cancer when she received her own diagnosis. Here's part three of my conversation with LuAnne.Music: Ester - Here (BenSound) License certificate #2242649

In this series, the 2025-26 Clinical Trials Experiences Through Storytelling Program, we talk to cancer survivors who have a passion for telling their stories in order to help others who may be navigating the clinical trials experience.There's a word for the place LuAnne Sirdiak has been in quite a lot. Liminal — the space between what was and what comes next, when the thing you were doing has ended and nothing has taken its place yet. For LuAnne, that's time off a clinical trial with no treatment on the calendar, and no clear picture of what's ahead.In our first conversation, she walked through her years of lung cancer treatment — the surgery, the radiation, the prognosis she outlived, the trials. This time we talk about what it's like to live without a plan. We talk about how cancer has changed her life, about loneliness — the particular kind that comes from being the only person in the room who understands your situation — and about what kind of support she's looked for, and what has helped.Here's the 2nd episode of my conversation with LuAnne.Music: Ester - Here (BenSound) License certificate #2242649

In this series, the 2025-26 Clinical Trials Experiences Through Storytelling Program, we talk to cancer survivors who have a passion for telling their stories in order to help others who may be navigating the clinical trials experience.In 2017 Luanne Sirdiak was diagnosed with squamous non small cell lung cancer. She had a lung resection and four cancer free years. Then the cancer came back, resistant to radiation, resistant to several lines of systemic therapy, with no actionable biomarkers to point toward what to try next. For nine months, there were no treatment options at all. In 2023, she was given a six month prognosis. In 2024, Luanne qualified for a clinical trial and completed nine cycles of targeted treatment.  She went on to complete eleven cycles on the CCI-001 trial at the Cross Cancer Institute. She's not on a trial right now and that too is part of this experience. The waiting, the qualifying, the starting and the stopping. She's lived the full arc of the clinical trials process and she wants other patients to hear it in her words.Here's the first in the series of my conversations with Luanne.Music: Ester - Here (BenSound) License certificate #2242649

Dr. Steven Bialick discusses treatment options for pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Steven Bialick discusses the various symptoms that may be present with pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Steven Bialick discusses the types of lab tests done on patients with suspected pancreatic cancer, including CBC, CMP, CEA, and CA19-9.

Dr. Steven Bialick discusses genetic testing in pancreatic cancer, including the difference in germline and somatic testing, and which mutations may have known treatments.

Dr. Steven Bialick discusses the NCCN guidelines for diagnosing pancreatic cancer, as well as the various members of a patient's care team.

Dr. Steven Bialick discusses the main risk factors for pancreatic, including high BMI, smoking, and alcohol abuse.

Dr. Steven Bialick discusses how pancreatic cancer rates are increasing, and overall patterns of diagnosis.

Dr. Steven Bialick discusses the anatomy of pancreas cancer, including why a person may experience weight loss.

Dr. Steven Bialick discusses how location and stage affect prognosis in pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Steven Bialick discusses the types of imaging tests used in diagnosing pancreatic cancer, including CT and PET scans.

Dr. Fiorinda Muhaj discusses advanced BCC, and systemic therapy options for treatment.

Dr. Fiorinda Muhaj discusses the management of high-risk BCC.

Dr. Fiorinda Muhaj discusses the management of low-risk BCC.

Dr. Vernon Sondak discusses alternatives for non-surgical candidates with skin cancer, including systemic therapy.

Dr. Fiorinda Muhaj discusses the risk factors for developing BCC, and how it is diagnosed.

Dr. Vernon Sondak discusses the recent developments in systemic therapy to treat patients with skin cancer.

Dr. Vernon Sondak discusses potential downsides to Mohs surgery, and why not all patients will go that route. 

Dr. Vernon Sondak gives a brief overview of melanoma, and what warning signs to look for. He also gives important information regarding skin cancer prevention overall.

Dr. Fiorinda Muhaj discusses how patients with BCC can follow up after treatment, and how to help prevent future BCC occurrences.

Dr. Vernon Sondak explains what Mohs surgery is, and why it may be preferable in some cases.

Dr. Vernon Sondak discusses two common types of skin cancer: basal and squamous cell. He details their characteristics and statistics.

Dr. Vernon Sondak explains the basics of skin cancer facts: how prominent it is, who is at risk, and what it can look like.

Drs. Desai and Abu Rous discuss trial data from Flaura2 and Mariposa as presented at 2024 ASCO, and the implications in treating EGFR+ NSCLC.

Drs. Desai and Abu Rous discuss the Crown study data as presented at ASCO 2024, and its implications in treating ALK+ NSCLC.

Drs. Desai and Abu Rous discuss the  data, as presented at ASCO 2024, and how it may change the field of treatment for limited stage small Adriatic Studycell lung cancer.

Drs. Desai and Abu Rous discuss trial date from Mariposa2 and Laura as presented at 2024 ASCO, and the implications in treating EGFR+ NSCLC.

Drs. Desai and Abu Rous discuss using tarlatamab in treating extensive stage small cell lung cancer.

Dr. Vernon Sondak discusses what factors go into the decision on staging skin cancer, including the various guidelines that different doctors may use.

Drs. Patel, Sheth, and Weiss discuss emerging data and advances in thyroid cancer treatment.

Drs. Patel, Sheth, and Weiss discuss current treatment options and emerging data in incurable HPV negative head and neck cancer.

Drs. Patel, Sheth, and Weiss discuss current treatment options and emerging data in recurrent/metastatic HPV positive head and neck cancer.

Drs. Patel, Sheth, and Weiss discuss current treatment options and emerging data in curable HPV negative head and neck cancer.

Drs. Patel, Sheth, and Weiss discuss current treatment options and emerging data in curable HPV positive head and neck cancer.

Dr. Marco Ruiz explains the concept of bone marrow transplant, and how it is used in treating blood cancers.

Drs. Goodman, Phillips, Taneja, and Rajeeve discuss whether a patient's location can affect the treatments they can access and their overall prognosis.

Drs. Goodman, Phillips, Taneja, and Rajeeve discuss how to navigate treatment and Covid vaccination.

Dr. Sridevi Rajeeve discusses current FDA approved bispecific antibodies and ones coming from clinical trials.

Dr. Alankrita Taneja examines data from the CESAR trial, and discusses curative strategies for Smoldering Multiple Myeloma.

Dr. Sridevi Rajeeve discusses possible side effects from bispecific antibodies, and how to manage them.

Dr. Sridevi Rajeeve discusses the unprecedented response rates in patients treated with teclistamab, talquetamab, and elranatamab, as well as their clinical trial data.

Dr. Tycel Phillips examines the efficacy of two medications against diffuse large b-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)

Dr. Aakash Desai discusses how to address the issues of cost and insurance approval when obtaining biomarker testing.

Dr. Aakash Desai emphasizes the importance of physicians ordering biomarker testing for patients with NSCLC

Dr. Joshua Reuss discusses the ADAURA trial, which suggested Osimertinib as treatment for EGFR+ NSCLC.

Dr. Aakash Desai discusses the administration of therapy for biomarkers, and how to overcome the gaps in administration, access, and affordability.