Park and Leyfman Aim to Connect Oncology Community Through MedNews Week

Shyam A. Patel, MD,PhD

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chandler Park, MD, FACP, and Yan Leyfman, MD, launched MedNews Week with the goal of creating global virtual education platform to combat the surge of health care misinformation. Park and Leyfman explained that beyond dispelling medical misinformation, the pair wanted to create educational content for a global audience that could complement available data and guideline recommendations with personal advice and practical information from experts in the oncology field and beyond.

“We wanted to be a vehicle of change, and that is what spawned MedNews Week,” Leyfman said in an interview with OncLive®. “Yes, we are treating patients and doing research; however, we wanted to find an additional medium [to share information]. MedNews Week became that platform where we are able to deliver messages about the latest data and knowledge wherever people are.”

In the interview, Park and Leyfman shared how the pair met and collaborated to launch MedNews Week; explained the goals of their various programs; and highlighted why connecting oncologists from around the globe is vital to continue advancing care for patients.

Park is a medical oncologist at the Norton Cancer Institute in Louisville, Kentucky. Leyfman is an internal medicine physician and clinical researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, New York.

To see the latest from Park, Leyfman, and the MedNews Week team, click here.

OncLive: What is the backstory behind MedNews Week? What inspired you to create this platform, and what was the goal of this work?

Leyfman: I've known Dr Park for almost a decade now. We've maintained close contact since we first met at a City of Hope reception at an ASH Annual Meeting. What I truly appreciate about Dr Park is that he's a humble, dedicated, and passionate individual, and he is heavily invested in mentoring the next generation [of oncologists and dcotrs]. That truly stood out to me from our first interaction.

In addition, he's also a global leader in genitourinary oncology, an accomplished researcher with multiple New England Journal of Medicine publications, and he has given keynote presentations worldwide at leading cancer centers. However, what most people don't know is how approachable and honest he truly is.

During the height of the [COVID-19] pandemic, there was a surge in health care misinformation; that led to widespread confusion and harmful outcomes for both patients and the public. In response, Dr Park and I were inspired to form MedNews Week, which became a global virtual education platform designed to combat health care misinformation and enhance global health care education. Over the past 2.5 years, MedNews Week has experienced remarkable growth. We now reach over 100 countries, 34 of which are of lower socioeconomic status. We're also featuring the exciting work of global oncology leaders and rising stars through our programming.

Park: I met Dr Leyfman close to 10 years ago, and one of the things that captured my eye was his passion for research, clinical medicine, and patient care. Dr Leyfman is also a member of the COVID-19 research task force, and that's another thing that captured my eye. He does a lot of research outside of oncology.

We kept in touch because there are certain people in life that you just remember and see [recurringly]. Then Dr Leyfman started going into training, and he just flourished. In every opportunity he's been given, he's taken off. The initiative he has, the research that he's done, and the collaborations that he's done with leading cancer centers across America [have been impressive].

In terms of the MedNews Week, it all started with the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a lot of misinformation out there, and at that time, everybody was so secluded. We were all on islands. [There were] various platforms. And the things that kept coming up were COVID-19 and vaccines, and there was a lot of information that wasn't necessarily scientifically true.

Using these various platforms, we found had different scientists and physicians come together and talk about the latest information. Using COVID-19 and all of this misinformation [as a springboard], we decided to switch gears and go into oncology. I have a background in medical education working with the ASCO Continuing Medical Education committee, and I'm familiar with how to [present] new information and incorporate [insight from other] oncologists across the country. We put our heads together and said, ‘Let's build MedNews Week and start growing this [platform] together to help [combat] medical misinformation.’

Leyfman: We make a great team. I feel like Dr Park and I both think outside the box. However, what also brings us together is our passion for patient care. Seeing the detrimental impact that COVID-19 was having on our patients, we wanted to be a vehicle of change.

MedNews Week became that platform where we are able to deliver the latest content and knowledge wherever people are. I also have a passion for medical education, and I’ve been inspired equally by Dr Park to simplify content [to the point where] one does not have to have a PhD or an MD [to comprehend it]. One can be an average person and a part of the mainstream and still appreciate and obtain the knowledge to empower their daily decisions.

Park: One of the things that kind of drove me to Dr Leyfman after we started the project is the ability that he has to connect with people. So much of this is about partnerships. Even though we started MedNews Week with just the two of us, it's grown so much. We have so many team members and people who work so hard, and that's a reflection of Dr Leyfman’s leadership to get people from around the world to help out with the MedNews Week team.

What are your thoughts on the MedNews Week team?

Leyfman: As we like to say at MedNews Week, our greatest asset is our unique team. I'm fortunate that throughout this experience, we have been able to bring in a diverse contingency of trainees from across the world, spanning from high school all the way to residency. These are individuals who are equally passionate about carrying out our global mission at the end of the day. Additionally, a lot of these individuals are also from developing nations across the world. They may not have the resources that we possess in the United States, but their passion and dedication speak volumes.

Within MedNews Week, we have created a platform to empower and invest in the next generation of global medical leaders. The most rewarding aspect has been—I owe a lot of this to Dr Park for being such an instrumental, inspirational force—to give our trainees opportunities to thrive, publish their work, win national awards, present at national and international conferences, and secure residency spots for their future, irrespective of their resource challenges. That truly reaffirms our collective belief of the power of mentorship in fostering career success.

What are the specific offerings of MedNews Week? What are the key goals from programs such as Medical Spotlight, Keynote Conference, and Oncology Unplugged?

Leyfman: Keynote Conference is a 1-hour presentation by an internationally renowned global leader about the research that they're doing, and this is followed by an accompanying question-and-answer session from both our hosts and our live audience.

Medical Spotlight is a 30-minute show dedicated to producing a discussion with the guest speaker about their background, their passions, why that individual pursued a career in medicine, and why they chose oncology as a specialty. What are they looking forward to, both in the present and in the future within their respective field? This is all followed by a presentation on their research with an accompanying question-and-answer session from our hosts.

Park: Oncology Unplugged is something that Dr Leyfman and I have thought about a lot. One of the unique features of this [podcast] is that at the end of the day, we're practicing physicians. Whenever new data comes out, it looks great and polished [when it's published in a journal], but we want to have that unplugged discussion.

I remember when I was talking to Stephanie L. Graff, MD, [of Lifespan Cancer Institute in Providence, Rhode Island], about how in the real world, we have the National Comprehensive Cancer Network [NCCN] Guidelines. However, it's not always just about the guidelines; it's about the patient in front of us. For example, she mentioned that for a patient with breast cancer, different treatments have different adverse effects. For the patient in front of us, maybe they do not want to lose hair, or maybe they want to avoid diarrhea.

We get into the day-to-day discussion with leading cancer doctors, not just about what's [recommended in the NCCN Guidelines], but also how the person in front of us might respond to treatment differently when considering different medical comorbidities.

For instance, if there's a medication that may cause severe peripheral neuropathy and a patient has severe diabetes, it may not be the best medication for them. Oncology Unplugged gives us a chance to reach practicing physicians and talk about these issues; there has not really been an area where these topics [can be addressed].