Grace Makari-Judson
Adjunct Professor of Medicine
Department of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
Co-Director, The Rays of Hope Center for Breast Cancer Research; Chair, Baystate Health Breast Network
Research areas include breast cancer, hereditary cancer syndromes, cancer survivorship, and benign breast disease.
Current Research
The growing spectrum of cancer therapies provides improving prospects for patients. Our Baystate Regional Cancer Program practice actively participates in Phase 2 and Phase 3 cooperative group and industry sponsored clinical trials. However, identifying which therapies will be successful for individual patients as well as managing the long-term consequences of the treatments remains a challenge. This requires multidisciplinary approaches to identify novel diagnostic tools to recognize disease early, indicate targeted therapies and monitor side-effects that develop acutely and cause chronic complications.
Breast cancer has been a focus of my clinical practice. We have demonstrated that insulin resistance and weight gain are common consequences of cytotoxic therapies, but not radiation and surgery alone. Strategies that limit weight gain is a focus of our survivorship program. In addition, we have collaborative projects to develop a diagnostic test for women with premalignant breast lesions. This population is growing due to improved screening, but for whom treatment options are unclear. Several medications can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer by 50% however, many women are not inclined to take medication for prevention. Since only 20% of women with premalignant breast lesions develop cancer, diagnostic tests are critical to identify the subset of patients who will benefit from preventive therapies and the ~80% for whom treatments are unnecessary.
As Co-Director of the Rays of Hope Center for Breast Cancer Research, I participate in translational research and have actively fostered the development of a Breast Research Registry. This provides a growing resource of women who have consented to provide personal and clinical data as well as tissues for research projects. They have also consented to be re-contacted for follow-up. We are presently consenting over 1000 women. We have recently initiated a Metastatic Breast Research Registry for metastatic breast cancer patients, which will include clinical information, blood samples and tissue. The registries provide valuable resources to understand models that predict development of breast cancer, to study factors associated with response to treatment and to quickly identify patients for clinical trials.
Academic Background
- AB Harvard University, 1977
- MD Cornell University Medical College, 1982
- Research Associate, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 1977-1978
- Internship, The New York Hospital, 1982-1983
- Residency, Internal Medicine, The New York Hospital, 1983-1985
- Fellowship, Hematology/Oncology, The New York Hospital, 1985-1988
- Chief Resident, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1986-1987
