Pancreatic cancer is most often caught late — but that is starting to change. In this episode of PancChat, host Alisyn Camerota sits down with Dr. Raymond Wadlow, a gastrointestinal oncologist at the Inova Schar Cancer Institute and director of the High Risk Pancreatic Clinic, to talk about what screening and surveillance actually mean for people at elevated risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Wadlow walks through who qualifies for screening, which genetic mutations and family history patterns matter, and what the current imaging protocols look like. He also explains the promise and limitations of blood-based tests in development, the challenges of interval cancers, and how the PRECEDE consortium — now spanning 64 sites worldwide — is working to prove that finding this disease earlier saves lives.

PancChat is a collaboration between Let's Win Pancreatic Cancer and PanCAN. Find us wherever you listen to podcasts.

So far, immunotherapy has been a game-changer in other cancers but not pancreatic cancer. Is that finally changing?

In this episode of PancChat, host Alisyn Camerota sits down with Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee, deputy director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins and chief medical advisor of the Lustgarten Foundation. Dr. Jaffee breaks down the science behind pancreatic cancer's resistance to immunotherapy, the promise of cancer vaccines, and the emergence of KRAS inhibitors as a new class of targeted therapies. After thirty years in the field, she shares why she is more optimistic than ever.

PancChat is a collaboration between Let's Win Pancreatic Cancer and PanCAN.

In this episode of PancChat, host Alisyn Camerota sits down with Dr. Vinod Balachandran, a surgeon-scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the founding director of the Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines, to take a closer look at vaccines being developed to prevent recurrence of pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Balachandran breaks down three promising vaccine approaches currently in development — including the mRNA vaccine his team is working on — and explains how each one works, who may be eligible for clinical trials, and why progress in pancreatic cancer could have implications for other cancer types as well.

PancChat is a collaboration between Let's Win Pancreatic Cancer and PanCAN. Find us wherever you listen to podcasts.

Learn More:

Let's Win Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN)

Let's Win Clinical Trial Finder

PanCAN Clinical Trial Finder

PanCAN Patient Services