IC-OS Weekly Webinar - Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Myocarditis

Dr Lenihan has been active in cardio-oncology and heart failure, for over 20 years. The main focus of these efforts have included hemodynamic assessments, angiogenic growth factor response, novel cardiac biomarkers as well as optimal methods to prevent or detect heart failure at the earliest stage possible in patients undergoing treatment for cancer. His current research projects include early phase clinical trials in cardio-oncology, heart failure and amyloidosis. He is the Principal Investigator of the PROTECT study looking at cardiac safety in patients undergoing proteasome inhibitor treatment for relapsed multiple myeloma and the recently completed PREDICT study, a large multicenter prospective study examining the role of cardiac biomarkers for the detection of cardiotoxicity during anthracycline based therapy. In addition, he is intimately involved in the latest treatment trials for cardiac amyloidosis. He was recently at Washington University in St Louis to enhance and expand the Cardio-Oncology Center of Excellence. He is at the forefront of concerted efforts to develop a viable Cardio-Oncology fellowship training program and continues to foster collaboration among a host of colleagues both regionally, nationally, and throughout the world. He is the current President of the International Cardio-Oncology Society (ICOS),www.IC-OS.org, which is an international professional association whose primary goal is to eliminate cardiac disease as a barrier to effective cancer therapy.

Nicolas Palaskas MD is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Cardiology. Dr. Palaskas completed cardiology fellowship (2017) and internal medicine residency (2014) at Baylor College of Medicine. He joined MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2017 immediately following completion of fellowship. His clinical interests include cancer therapeutic cardiotoxicity management, echocardiography, and cardiac catheterization for patients with cancer. In addition, Dr. Palaskas leads institutional efforts in immunotherapy cardiotoxicity. His main research focus is on immune checkpoint inhibitor-related myocarditis for which he has three grants related to the diagnosis and surveillance of myocarditis; Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas Early Clinical Investigator Award (2020), Sabin Family Foundation Fellowship (2020), and Division of Internal Medicine Research Development Award (2019).