The Myeloma Beacon’s Medical Advisor Program Expands, Doubling In Size
The Myeloma Beacon’s Medical Advisor program is expanding.
The current group of five Beacon Medical Advisors is being joined by five additional Advisors from leading cancer centers across the United States.
Beacon Medical Advisors are myeloma specialists who assist The Beacon in reviewing and reporting on myeloma-related research.
The most visible role of the Advisors, however, is in helping to answer questions and provide expert perspective in the Beacon’s online discussion forum.
Beacon Medical Advisors regularly review postings in the discussion forum, provide answers to questions that have been asked, and share their expertise with the Beacon’s global community of myeloma patients, caregivers, and health care professionals.
The continuing rapid growth of the Beacon community is one of the key drivers of the expansion of the Medical Advisor team. That community’s growth has been mirrored by increasing activity in the Beacon discussion forum. It is now common in the forum for there to be more than 30 or 40 new postings in a single day.
The five new Beacon Medical Advisors are:
- Dr. Prashant Kapoor of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota
- Dr. Jonathan Kaufman of Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta
- Dr. Heather Landau of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York
- Dr. Jacob Laubach of the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston
- Dr. Jatin Shah of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
The new Advisors join the existing team of five Advisors, which includes
- Dr. Adam Cohen of the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center in Philadelphia
- Dr. Edward Libby of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle
- Dr. Kenneth Shain of the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa
- Dr. Jason Valent of the Cleveland Clinic
- Dr. Peter Voorhees of the University of North Carolina’s Lineberger Cancer Center in Chapel Hill.
Medical Advisors are selected by the Myeloma Beacon Staff based on the depth of their myeloma-related experience, their involvement in myeloma-related research, and their commitment to the Beacon’s goal of providing balanced and objective perspectives on myeloma-related issues.
The Beacon Medical Advisor program was started three years ago. Since then, the myeloma specialists participating in the program have made more than 1000 postings in the Beacon’s discussion forum. These postings have provided valuable advice to Beacon readers from around the world.
The Beacon’s discussion forum is a key part of the Myeloma Beacon’s service to the global myeloma community. It currently contains almost 3,000 discussion threads with a total of over 18,000 postings by myeloma patients and caregivers.
Taken as a whole, the forum is a significant repository of myeloma-related information and support. There are numerous discussions, for example, about myeloma treatments such as Velcade and Revlimid; stem cell transplantation; maintenance therapy; side effects such as peripheral neuropathy, muscle cramps and soreness, and itching, and common myeloma-related procedures such as bone marrow biopsies. (All links in the previous sentence lead to lists of forum discussions related to the listed topics.)
No registration is required to view the content of the forum or to post to the forum -- discussions in the forum can be viewed and searched by anyone, and guest posting (that is, posting without registration) is permitted.
Registered forum members are able to exchange private messages with one another and also can choose to receive daily or weekly email summaries (“digests”) of all forum postings. Registration is free, and the information provided during registration is used only for forum-related purposes; no registration information is shared with third parties.
Related Articles:
- Latest Myeloma Research To Be Presented At The American Society Of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting (ASCO 2018)
- Adding Clarithromycin To Velcade-Based Myeloma Treatment Regimen Fails To Increase Efficacy While Markedly Increasing Side Effects
- Number And Type Of Stem Cell Transplants Carried Out Each Year For Multiple Myeloma Vary Markedly Across U.S. Cancer Centers
- Dr. Craig Hofmeister On Testosterone And Multiple Myeloma
- Two Darzalex Clinical Trials Halted; Little Impact Expected On Drug’s Use In Multiple Myeloma
Thanks to the MB for providing this valuable service and thanks to the participating physicians for sharing their time and expertise with our community of intensely interested myeloma patients and carers/caregivers.
Welcome to the new advisors!
I have been fortunate to be counted as one of the many multiple myeloma patients that have gained so much from the forums, and the Beacon's articles. The information I get is shared with my oncologist. He is a hemotology oncologist, and with the Beacons help, I have been more involved in my treatment, tests, drug reactions and medications.
The Becon is very important to many of us in our mental health. It is so nice to read that I'm not crazy! That it has happened to someone else, or similar experience. So again thank you and welcome!
I also think that it is great that more medical advisors are willing to engage with patients and caregivers on the Beacon's forum. Many times there are questions posted there that only a doctor could answer, and not only does it help with that particular situation, we all learn from that too. Thanks so much to all of the Medical Advisors!
Wow. Great news. Thanks.
Thank you. Your expertise and input is so greatly valued and appreciated.
Thank you Sean, Mary Dee, and all the rest of you for your feedback regarding the Beacon and its Medical Advisor program. We've passed your comments on to the Medical Advisors.
Please add my appreciation to TMB staff and the Medical Advisors as well!!
Five more great reasons why the MB is the top resource for myeloma patients. I think it is great that so many myeloma docs take time out of their busy day to help out the patients that post in the forum.
Terri already said this but WOW again. The MB is my go to site for up to date information presented in a thoughtful and balanced way. To the current outstanding staff and to the new contributors, thank you for your willingness to share your expertise and your time with this community.
"...now if the damn patients would just read what we say and answer their own questions, we could get back to work !" LOL!
Thanks much, Docs, Allied Providers and Beacon staff.
We'll try to do our part, too.
Regards.
I´ve been visiting this site for 3,5 years and have asked questions to your myeloma experts. So much appreciated!
This site is too good to be true for MM patients!
Åsa from Sweden
Thank you, everyone, for all your kind comments. They mean a lot to all of us here at The Beacon -- particularly now, when things are so busy with the ASCO meeting, the new Medical Advisors, and new columnists.
Let's also take a moment, however, to be sure to thank all the patients and caregivers who contribute to The Beacon through their comments on articles and, especially, through the advice and support they provide in the Beacon's forum. The time they devote to helping others in the Beacon community deserves our recognition and appreciation.
Thanks to all for their help! Would love to see some doctors from the Midwest universities.
Welcome aboard from one of your patients, Dr. Landau! Thanks to you and all the other Medical Advisors, and to the Myeloma Beacon staff for providing us a tremendous resource.
Progress toward fundraising goal
for all of 2020:
15%
For more information, see the Beacon's
"2020 Fundraising: Goals And Updates" page