Atlantic Health System Public Relations Department
Janina Hecht
Morristown, NJ – November is national Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month. This year alone, more than 56,000 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic tumors are particularly aggressive and hard to treat "due to a mutational profile that makes it resistant to therapies that work better for other tumor types," explains Angela Alistar, MD, medical director of GI oncology at Morristown Medical Center.
“We know that every patient has a different kind of pancreatic cancer, and therefore will have different outcomes, different tolerances to treatments and different responses to treatments,” says Dr. Alistar.
Dr. Alistar, an internationally known expert on pancreatic cancer, is now enrolling patients in five clinical trials aimed at pancreatic cancer.
“Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, but there are many different ways to try and change the fate of pancreatic cancer,” adds Dr. Alistar, who is also medical director of the phase 1 Breakthrough Treatment Center at Morristown Medical Center. “What makes me optimistic about treating pancreatic cancer is clinical research, because I know that one day we will break through,” Dr. Alistar says.
According to the American Cancer Society, 5-year survival rates for pancreatic cancer are low, even when caught early, before it spreads. In 2016, pancreatic cancer moved from the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S. to the third, surpassing breast cancer.
"Exciting clinical trials are shining a light on our hope to defeat this illness in the near future," says Dr. Alistar.
Pancreatic cancer studies that are currently enrolling patients include:
Each study has specific criteria for participation. Learn more at Atlantic Center for Research >
Atlantic Health System Cancer Care offers an unparalleled network of cancer specialists and resources for more than 6000 newly diagnosed cancer patients annually through its flagship Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Morristown and Overlook medical centers, as well as its comprehensive oncology programs at Chilton, Hackettstown and Newton medical centers. With more than 250 cancer specialists, all five hospitals and Atlantic Medical Group are designated Blue Cross Blue Shield ‘Blue Distinction Centers,’ and participate in The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Oncology Care Model that supports and encourages higher quality care. Morristown and Newton medical centers earned the coveted American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer Outstanding Achievement Award and, along with Overlook and Chilton, earned Three-Year Approval with Commendation. U.S. News & World Report has ranked Atlantic Health System hospitals as high performing in colon cancer surgery, lung cancer surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, and pulmonology. In 2019, Morristown Medical Center (#28) and Overlook Medical Center (#98) were rated as some of the best hospitals in the entire United States by Newsweek in its inaugural hospital rankings.
Atlantic Health System Cancer Care is affiliated with the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) of Phoenix, Arizona, and together they have created the Breakthrough Oncology Accelerator, a pioneering research and clinical collaboration designed to improve patient access to the most innovative and sophisticated therapies for cancer.
Atlantic Health System - Powered by a workforce of 17,000 team members and 4,800 affiliated physicians dedicated to building healthier communities, Atlantic Health System is at the forefront of medicine, serving more than half of the state of New Jersey including 11 counties and 4.9 million people. The system offers more than 400 sites of care, including seven award winning hospitals: Morristown Medical Center, Overlook Medical Center, Newton Medical Center, Chilton Medical Center Hackettstown Medical Center, Goryeb Children’s Hospital, and Atlantic Rehabilitation Institute.
Offering a full continuum of care, the system includes Atlantic Medical Group, one of the largest multi-specialty practices in New Jersey with more than 1,000 physicians and providers, 12 urgent care centers, Atlantic Rehabilitation and Atlantic Home Care and Hospice. Facilitating the connection between these services on both land and air is the transportation fleet of Atlantic Mobile Health.
Recognized as one of the Best Places to Work by both Modern Healthcare and Fortune Magazine, Atlantic Health System attracts leaders in the field of health care, from CEO Brian Gragnolati, who is currently Chairman of the American Hospital Association, to the numerous team members who serve as leaders across a wide breadth of clinical associations and research entities. Atlantic Health System's Morristown Medical Center is named the number one hospital in New Jersey by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, and Castle Connelly.