AK Visiting Lecture Series 01 w/ Drs. Singhal and Franco

Provided by: MGH Center for Faculty Development & Mass General Brigham

2023 Anne Klibanski Visiting Lecture Series 01
“Reprogramming Metabolism – Perspectives From Pediatric Thyroid Cancer And Bariatric Surgery”

The Anne Klibanski Visiting Lecture Series was created to support and advance the careers of women. These lectures bring together faculty from institutions that have hosted Anne Klibanski Scholars with MGH scholars, on topics that overlap both research areas.

Dr. Franco presented on “Pediatric thyroid cancer-Reprogramming Thyroid hormone action and metabolism throughout the lifespan.”
Dr. Singhal presented on “Metabolic Effects of Bariatric Surgery in Adolescents.”

Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of this activity, participants were able to:

• Discuss the metabolic impact of bariatric surgery on adolescents
• Discuss and define the most common mutations associated with pediatric thyroid cancer
• Physiological adaptions throughout the lifespan due to long-term survivorship

Target Audience: This activity is intended for faculty and faculty trainees.
Course Director: Miriam A. Bredella, MD, MBA, Director, Center for Faculty Development; Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School

Presenters:
Aime Franco, PhD, Assistant Professor and Investigator with the Center for Childhood Cancer Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Vibha Singhal, MD, MBBS, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Pediatric Program, MGH Weight Center

Dr. Franco is the Director of the Pediatric Thyroid Cancer Translational Research Laboratory at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She joined the faculty in the Division of Endocrinology at CHOP to lead the first Translational Research Program dedicated to pediatric thyroid cancer in the nation. The laboratory is focused on dissecting how identical genetic mutations in pediatric and adult thyroid cancer lead to different disease pathologies and answering patient-centric questions throughout the research continuum. We are particularly interested in how changes in the pediatric tumor microenvironment led to therapeutic resistance, and how we can overcome these challenges to improve therapeutic efficacy in pediatric patients. In addition to our pediatric research program, we also have projects investigating the immune landscape of thyroid cancer and seeking novel therapeutic targets for advanced thyroid cancers. Dr. Franco graduated with a PhD in cancer biology from Vanderbilt University in 2007.  In the laboratory of Richard Peek, Dr. Franco investigated the relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric cancer.  After completing her Ph.D., Dr. Franco moved to New York City for a postdoctoral fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is very passionate about advocacy, both for research and improved patient care and quality of life. In addition to Aime’s research and policy work in the field of cancer, she is a mom and a cancer survivor, being diagnosed and treated for thyroid cancer in 2000.

Dr. Singhal is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and has been the director of the pediatric program at the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center for the past five years. She is board certified in Obesity Medicine and Pediatric Endocrinology. After finishing her medical school at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, she finished her pediatric residency at Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota. She did her endocrinology training at the Massachusetts General Hospital where she is now a faculty and most recently obtained a Master’s in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She is a PI on multiple grants and has co-authored more than 50 original articles and written many reviews and book chapters. Her current K-grant is evaluating the impact on sleeve gastrectomy on insulin secretion in adolescents in the context of bile acids, microbiome and metabolomics. Her passion involves improving outcomes of obesity management via personalized obesity treatments.

ACCREDITATION

In support of improving patient care, Mass General Brigham is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Mass General Brigham designates this live activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.