Using Exercise in Cardio-Oncology Care

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.

Jessica Scott, PhD, is an Associate Member in the Exercise Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center in New York. She received her PhD in Exercise Cardiovascular Physiology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and completed her Post-doctoral Fellowship at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. After 5 years as a Senior Scientist in the Exercise Physiology and Countermeasures Laboratory at JSC, she joined MSK where her research is focused on characterizing multisystem toxicity and studying the efficacy of exercise therapy to prevent and reverse multisystem toxicity. She is the recipient of NASA’s Human Research Program Peer Award, NASA’s Innovation Achievement Award, and NASA’s Group Achievement Award, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space.

Joseph R. Carver, MD, FACC is a Board Certified cardiologist. He is the Founding Editor of the American Journal of Managed Care and was a Senior Corporate Medical Director at Aetna U.S. Healthcare from 1992-2001 where he was responsible for new program development and directed the National Medical Excellence Program. From 1999-2001, he was Co-chairperson of the New Jersey and Michigan Working Groups that established voluntary agreements among the insurers in those states to cover the routine costs of clinical trial participation for cancer patients. He is one of the Founding Editors of Cardio-oncology Journal. He currently is the Bernard Fishman Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, the Chief Operating Officer of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the Chief of Staff of the Abramson Cancer Center. He is the Director of the Thalheimer Cardio-oncology Center at the Abramson Cancer Center and his clinical practice is in the subspecialty of Cardio-oncology. He was the recipient of the IS Ravdin Master Clinician Award at Penn in 2012 and is one of the founding members of Penn Medicine’s Academy of Master Clinicians. He received the Thomas Force Award in 2020.

Steve is a Clinical Exercise Physiologist and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta and the Sports Cardiology lab at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute. He completed his PhD in exercise cardio-oncology at Deakin University and the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute (2021), which was awarded the Exercise and Sports Science Australia medal as the top PhD thesis in exercise physiology. Steve’s research is focused on using exercise testing and exercise training to improve cardiovascular outcomes for individuals undergoing cancer treatment. Steve uses advanced exercise testing and imaging methods including cardiopulmonary exercise testing, exercise cardiac MRI and muscle MRI to understand how cardiotoxic cancer treatments such as chemotherapy affect the heart, blood vessels and muscles, and how these effects can be prevented through personalised exercise interventions. This culminated in the publication of the BReast cancer EXercise InTervention (BREXIT) study – which comprehensively demonstrated the positive effects of personalized exercise training on cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiac function during cardiotoxic breast cancer therapy.