MCRT Webcast: Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) Essentials: How Should Patients Interpret Results?- August 29, 2020
“As our drugs got better, our need to measure got more important.”
Dr. Jeffrey Wolf, UC San Francisco
Minimal residual disease (MRD) is fast becoming a standard in myeloma by which to measure the effectiveness of treatment and understand prognosis estimates. What is the significance of being MRD-negative or MRD-positive? How does each state determine the next steps of therapy? What are the possible changes in how MRD tests are administered? These and many other questions were addressed in the Myeloma Crowd Round Table Interactive Webcast held on Saturday, August 29, 2020.
Drs. Rafael Fonseca and Jeffrey Wolf discussed how patients should interpret results of minimal residual testing:
Thanks to our Round Table sponsors
Rafael Fonseca, MD
Rafael Fonseca, MD, is the Getz Family Professor of Cancer, Professor of Medicine, interim Executive Director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, Director for Innovation and Transformational Relationships, and a consultant in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Dr. Fonseca’s practice has focused on the diagnosis and treatment of plasma cell disorders and leading the multiple myeloma team in its effort to understand the disease and its impact on patients. In his laboratory, Dr. Fonseca has led his team of researchers in concentrating on the genetic nature of the clonal cells of plasma cell disorders. He is also interested in myeloma bone disease, prognostic markers and development of new therapies. Throughout his training and career, Dr. Fonseca has received numerous awards and honors, including the Young Investigator Award in Hematology (Celgene – Achievement Awards for Clinical Research in Hematology), the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Clinical Investigator Award, and the International Waldenström Macroglobulinemia Research Award. Most notably, he is a Mayo Clinic Distinguished Investigator, the highest academic distinction given to investigators at his institution. Dr. Fonseca holds memberships and serves in positions for organizations such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the International Myeloma Society. His research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute (R01, P01, SPORE), the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Multiple Myeloma Research Fund, and the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fund, for which he also serves as a clinical investigator. Dr. Fonseca serves as reviewer and in editorial capacities for medical publications including Blood, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Cancer Cell, Leukemia, and the New England Journal of Medicine, among others. He is a frequent reviewer of grants and sits on the SPORE grant review panel. He has given many national and international presentations as a visiting professor and has authored more than 300 articles, book chapters, editorials, abstracts, and letters.