This week (May 22) Mark Burkard of the School of Medicine & Public Health and the Carbone Cancer Center will be here to talk about his research in oncology and his work in caring for people with cancer. Here’s how Prof Burkard describes his talk, entitled “Transforming Cancer Treatment with Precision Medicine.”

Tonight we’ll explore the Wisconsin Precision Medicine Molecular Tumor Board and its work to implement the “Wisconsin Idea” by making precision cancer care available to cancer patients state-wide. This collaborative effort provides a free service to patients and oncologists to allow them to access experts in precision medicine and share data at no cost to physicians and patients. Moreover, this is linked to a program of clinical trials to provide access to the latest medicines on two tiers—commonly needed medicines are made accessible at multiple sites in the state, and rarely needed medicines are made available at one site.

About the Speaker:

Mark Burkard is a physician-scientist who practices medical oncology with a clinical focus on breast cancer, and laboratory work focused on drug sensitivity and cancer genomics. With his colleague, Dr. Deming, he has led the Wisconsin Precision Medicine Molecular tumor board since 2015. They have provided advice on precision medicine treatment to physicians across the state on over 1500 patients with incurable cancer.