June 3, 2025 • 18 mins
City of Hope is a private, non-profit clinical research center, hospital and graduate school located in Duarte, California.On June 3rd, City of Hope will celebrate its 5th Annual Day for Hope. A special event and partnership with iHeart Media, where supporters come together to support City of Hope's mission of fighting cancer and diabetes. City of Hope is encouraging anyone, ESPECIALLY those affected by cancer and diabetes, to rally together and make this Day for Hope the most impactful yet. Your support can make a difference for families facing cancer.
Donate now and your Day for Hope gift will be TRIPLE MATCHED by our friends at Domtar up to $100,00!! And matched 5x ON JUNE 3rd!! Go to Day for Hope dot org or call #250 and say 'City of Hope'.
Aired June 1, 2025: In this interview, Lisa Foxx talks to Dr. Sumanta 'Monty' Pal about all the lifesaving cancer treatments doctors are working on at City of Hope. We also discuss how City of Hope is different from other treatment centers and how having their own laboratory on campus, helps to speed up the treatment process.
Day for Hope is held every first Tuesday of June to align with National Cancer Survivors Month — a time to celebrate survivorship and recognize the care and research that make it possible. Day for Hope brings together donors, survivors, caregivers, physicians and supporters nationwide to raise critical funds that accelerate breakthrough treatments and bring hope to more families facing cancer and diabetes. Help us make a difference by giving back!
Visit DayforHope.org or dial #250 and say 'City of Hope' to give today."
Donate now and your Day for Hope gift will be TRIPLE MATCHED by our friends at Domtar up to $100,00!! And matched 5x ON JUNE 3rd!! Go to Day for Hope dot org or call #250 and say 'City of Hope'.
Aired June 1, 2025: In this interview, Lisa Foxx talks to Dr. Sumanta 'Monty' Pal about all the lifesaving cancer treatments doctors are working on at City of Hope. We also discuss how City of Hope is different from other treatment centers and how having their own laboratory on campus, helps to speed up the treatment process.
Day for Hope is held every first Tuesday of June to align with National Cancer Survivors Month — a time to celebrate survivorship and recognize the care and research that make it possible. Day for Hope brings together donors, survivors, caregivers, physicians and supporters nationwide to raise critical funds that accelerate breakthrough treatments and bring hope to more families facing cancer and diabetes. Help us make a difference by giving back!
Visit DayforHope.org or dial #250 and say 'City of Hope' to give today."
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, It's Lisa Fox and this is the iHeart so
Cal Show. All right, So, Day for Hope is City
of Hope's annual day of Giving now and it's fifth year,
taking place this coming Tuesday, June third. This event is
held every first Tuesday of June to align with National
Cancer Survivors Month, a time to celebrate survivorship and recognize
(00:20):
that the care and research that makes it possible. Day
for Hope brings together donors, survivors, caregivers, physicians, and supporters
nationwide like you and me, to raise critical funds that
accelerate breakthrough treatments and bring hope to more families facing
cancer and diabetes. We're going to be promoting this a
big time on the radio. They partner with iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia
(00:41):
to make sure that we get the word out about
this and how easy it is to make a donation.
Starting today through Tuesday, a Day for Hope and on
to tell us why it's so crucial that we give.
As one of the incredible doctors at City of Hope,
doctor Monty Powell.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Hi, doctor Palell, Hey, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Okay, before we talk about the amazing work that you
do with City of Hope.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I got to brag about you a little bit.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I looked up your bio on the City of Hope
website and wow, Okay, So doctor Pell internationally recognized an
internationally recognized leader in the area of kidney, bladder, and
prostate cancer. He's the co director of City of Hope's
Kidney Cancer program and the head of the Kidney and
bladder cancer Disease Team at City of Hope. Entered college
(01:27):
at the age of thirteen. Wow, and began medical school
at UCLA at the age of seventeen. And then when
all on you know, and then you went straight to
City of Hope and you've been doing wonderful things there
since two thousand and nine. I mean, such a smart guy, clearly,
But did you know when did you know that you
wanted to be a doctor?
Speaker 3 (01:46):
What did you know?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Oh? Gosh, you know. I loved science as a kid,
but I just love being around people, and I think
that oncology, cancer medicine is just the perfect field for that.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Wanting to be a doctor is one thing, But then
when did you know that you're the guy the It's like,
I want to cure it. I want to cure cancer.
I want to end this thing for everybody? Why cancer?
Why did cancer become your total career in life focus?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah? You know, gosh. I mean, it's just one of
those diseases where no one ever deserves to have it, right.
I mean, so many times you see young patients with cancer,
old patients with cancer. The one common entity is that
you know, it's just something that is atrocious and it's
a disease that really takes the lives of way too many.
And you know, when you see a cancer patient for
the first time in medical school, I think everyone feels
(02:30):
the same way. You just want to really do something
about it.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
And boy have you been and the entire team there
at the City of Hope in de WARDI let's talk
about why City of Hope is so unique and what
sets it apart from other hospitals.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I've been there many times.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I've toured the campus, I've done fundraisers there, so I'm
very familiar with I know my answer as to why
it's unique and different from others. But how would you
explain why City of Hopes approach to cancer treatment is different,
what sets it apart from other hospitals.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
So you've actually been out to visit us so you
can see that when you step foot on campus. We
certainly have this amazing hospital and clinic enterprise, but really
flanking it is a huge number of research laboratories. So
if you kind of took an aerial picture of City
of Hope, you'll see that it's almost fifty to fifty.
It's fifty percent of folks that are really dedicated to
treating patients and fighting cancer in the clinics, and then
(03:19):
the other half of City of Hope, this huge arm
is actually in the laboratory developing new drugs, figuring out
why current treatments don't work. It's a really really amazing
sort of mix of research and clinical work.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
And because you have it all there on campus, it
cuts through a lot of red tape. Right The point
is getting answers faster. You don't have to wait. The
lab is right there. You're not waiting for results to
come in the mail. Whenever it shows up. You know,
some people's lives are depending on what's happening in that lab,
and you can get it right away.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
It's right there.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
You know, it's amazing. When I started at City of Hope,
I had these patients with the prostate cancer that just
weren't responding to treatment, wanted to come up with the
new drugs for them, look at their blood, identify what
we call biomarkers. And I actually remember getting blood from
the clinics and actually walking over to the labs just
a couple hundred yards away and actually delivering that blood
so our scientists could do analysis. You know, that sort
of cooperation doesn't happen too often on most medical campuses,
(04:12):
so that that really is one of the things that
represents City of Hope's you know, secret sauce if you
will mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And then again with your area of expertise in kidney,
bladder and prostate cancer, how do you I don't know, like,
how do you try to conquer all three? Or do
you have times when you're focusing more so on one
or the other, or like you said, it depends on
how many pages you have with you know, maybe more
with prostate right now, but then next month it might
be more with kidney.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You know, it's interesting my program has grown in the
same way that City of hope has grown. You know,
if you looked at my department in oncology twenty years
ago when I started at City of Hope, you could
fit us all and room the size of anyone's living room.
You know, now you've actually grown to about one hundred
and fifty on cologists. We're all over the country in Chicago, Atlanta,
and Phoenix, throughout southern California, and so that huge broad
(04:58):
reach allows us to really sort so specialized. So your
question is actually an excellent one. Over the years, I've
actually sort of honed my practice. I actually focus more
and more on kidney cancer, and it's actually allowed me
to really take my kidney cancer clinical trials to the
next level, focus on trials that are focused on really
rare populations of patients. And you know, I'm really proud
(05:19):
to say that we probably have the best kidney cancer
clinical trials program on the West Coast.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Wow, look at that.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I know, I hate to say, God forbid any of
us gets a kidney blader or prostate cancer. We're driving
straight to you and asking for doctor Powell at City
of Hope.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Driving.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I'm going to get the car, drive straight to the
two ten and drive to Dolorty and ask for you.
Another part of why City of Hope is so unique
and special is how fast or able to get people
into these clinical trials, talk about the life saving clinical
trials and kind of like the day to day cancer
fighting that's going on at City of Hope.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah, yeah, you know, whenever patients actually ask me, what's
the key to long term survival for cancer? Right, there's
no one answer. There's no one answer to that. It's
so many factors that contribute. But what I've observed over
the past two decades is that the patients that are
living longer are the ones who and if this makes
sense intuitive, we have early access to novel treatments, right,
(06:14):
and the way to get novel treatments is through clinical trials. Oftentimes,
my patients have access to a drug that won't be
approved for five years, for ten years, but they've got
it ahead of time because they've taken the leap really
in a very benevolent way for other patients, and they've
joined a clinical trials. So I do think clinical trials
are the way of the future, and a lot of
my colleague seri at City I've hope, I'd say almost
(06:34):
all of them share the belief that clinical trials are
really an essential part of oncology care.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
And wow, and to be able to offer that in
hopes of saving someone's life, getting them healthy and well
in hopes of saving their life. Exciting, right, I mean,
we hear all the time about these terribly draining toxic
cancer treatments radiation, chemo, how horrible it is on the body.
Being able to offer other methods, other routes, other treatments
(07:04):
to help somebody get better kind of exciting.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Right, Absolutely. You know, there's so many really cool and
innovative therapies that have been developed over the past decade.
We can engineer immune cells, we can modify gigantic lobs
of protein to really sort of target unique cell populations
and drive cancer. The technology these days is just amazing.
I think what you really need to do is identify
the right patients for trials and really build that trust
(07:30):
with your patients so that when you do recommend a
clinical trial, they say, look, doc, I'm in.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay now, and real quick send. You're an expert in kidney,
bladder and prose cancer. Can you tell us what to
do and what not to do a little bit for each.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
A little bit?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, you know, I got to tell you, if you
think it's bad for your health, it probably is, you know.
I think that's probably the best advice I can give.
So you know, I'm really not so emphatic about things
as to suggest that one shouldn't drink any alcohol or
one shouldn't have any sugar. But I do think that
all of those things need to be done and really
substantial moderation in order to really go about healthy living
(08:06):
and hopefully in some cases mitigate the risk of cancer.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Well. And yeah, look a million conversations on this radio
show with doctors nutrition is our friends of the American
Heart Association, and then some and just in life.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
We know moderation is.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Key, but getting our body moving, stain in good shape
as best.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
You can, eating clean as best you can, a little
cheat here and there, it's all good overall, doing what you.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Can to treat your body well, treat yourself well, be
good to yourself.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
All that is highly advised.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And doctor Powell, any thoughts on prostate cancer? How soton
should men be getting checked to see to check on
the health of their prostate what age?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
You know, it's such a loaded question, and I really
sort of hate to pump the question, but I always
say that this is worth a discussion with your primary
care physician. You know, there's different stipulations for when you
should start getting checked with a blood test called a
PSA for prostate cancer, based on things like your family history,
whether or not you have relatives with cross state cancer,
based on other factors that are related to the disease.
(09:04):
So there's a whole host of things that we factor
into the decision making. But because it's so nuanced, it's
hard for me to say that, Okay, well, at this
sage you should get tested, or at that age you
should get tested. Very very different these days.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Okay, but like you said, a conversation with your doctor
to make sure you know, and blood tests can be
so very telling. And with the right doctors, they want
to look and they want to check off all the
boxes to make sure your blood is looking clean and
nice and healthy and there's no issues.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Right, absolutely, absolutely, right, rong.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
With doctor Monty Palell been with City of Hope for
twenty years doing everything is power and the whole team
there to tackle cancer. He's on today because we are
pomping people up about Tuesday. Tuesday is their fifth annual
Day for Hope, hoping we can all come together and
raise the much NETO funds crucial funds to continue their
great work because the funding for a City of Hope
(09:54):
and their life saving clinical trials, it comes from us
from the people, So you guys need us.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
One hundred one hundred percent. You know, we really lean
heavily on just amazing philanthropic souls who you know, support
the research that we do from day to day at
the institution. You know, these are changing times, indeeds, so
I think more and more we really rely on those
individuals who have had friends and family members with successful
outcomes at the City of Hope, you know, to really
(10:21):
support some of our research programs. And really that's what
we're hoping to get support from your listeners in as well.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's why we're doing this big push for the Day
for Hope is officially this Tuesday. You don't have to
wait to donate until Tuesday. You can actually make a
donation now, and thanks to our friends at dom Tar,
your donation will be triple matched. Every donation will be
triple matched up to one hundred thousand dollars now through Tuesday, and.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Super easy to do it.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You'll pop on the website Day Forhope dot org. Day
for Hope dot org or even easier, call pound two
point fifty and say City of Hope. They'll walk you
right through it. You low donation over the phone, and
whatever you give twenty five bucks is seventy five dollars.
Whatever you give it to be triple matched thanks to
dom Tar. It all adds up. So if I give
one hundred bucks, I'm given three hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
You know whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Everyone listening, if we all gave even just twenty five dollars,
that'll be triple match thanks to dom Tar.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Today through Day for Hope Tuesday. Isn't that exciting?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
That is amazing. Thank you so much, and thank you
to all your listeners. This is incredible.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Exciting what we can do when we all come together.
So please donate whatever you can between starting today through Tuesday,
and it will be triple matched thanks to dam Tar.
All the info at Day.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
For Hope dot org.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Day for Hoope dot org or call Pound two fifty
and say City of Hope.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Doctor pal let's talk as a doctor at City of
Hope for over twenty years.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Let's talk about what you and your team do there
in terms of turn things around for people. Can you
share some stories of Hope? You know somebody came in there,
they're diagnosed with the C word. Things are not looking good,
and City of Hope is able to turn it around.
Give them in a clinical trial at life saving clinical trial,
things turn around. Share with those stories that offer some hope.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Oh gosh, yeah, I have to tell you. I have
this group of folks that I call the Three Musketeers. Now,
I've been at City of Hope for twenty years and
this was a group of three patients young in their
early teenage years with testicular cancer at the time. And
you know, they were diagnosed, they went through aggressive chemotherapy
back then, and these were really really trying times for them.
You can imagine they're in their formative years as young
(12:24):
men that I'm just so impressed with these three Musketeers
because they all went into remission from their testicular cancer.
They've all gone on to achieve amazing things. Ones in
architect ones in business. The other actually has a successful restaurant.
You know, it's just incredible to see what all these
individuals are doing after they really sort of get through
their cancer diagnosis. Wow. And I'm so proud to say
(12:47):
that we're seeing more and more of that as time
goes on.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Wait, doctor, were they friends before before they got diagnosed.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Did they become friends in the process.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
You know, I have to hazard to guess that they
probably actually don't even know each other, but there is
in my mind because gosh, they were going through the
exact same thing at the same time, and you know,
just so unique that all three of them turned out
to be such such motivated and driven individuals. And I
guess really they had to be the face cancer in
the way that they did.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Sure, and then to get that quote unquote second chance
at life, they must feel like, Wow, I beat cancer
in my teens.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I got to go for it.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I live the rest of this life like every you know,
I've got a chance to make amazing things happen every
single day every chance I get.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Yeah, exactly, Yeah, you got it.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Doctor.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
What's one thing you wish that more people understood about
cancer research or cancer treatments?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah? You know, I have to tell you that. You know,
in cancer research, the growth that we see from day
to day is going to be incremental. You know, there's
not going to be a change that occurs overnight that
just eradicates the disease. I think what we're going to
need to focus on are the small wins that over
time really sort of pushed the survival curves forward for
us and improve outcomes for everyone. And that's really what
(13:59):
we're doing. At City of Hope. We have labs focused
on breast cancer, on prostate cancer, on colon cancer, and
each one of those is actually making regular contributions to
the science, and I think they're the ones who collectively
are pushing the prognosis into a better direction for so
many people.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And again exciting to hear that those things are happening,
especially in the world of cancer right there at their campus,
the City of hub campus and Duerti. And then how's
it going doctor at the new campus. It's an Irvine right.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, it's fantastic. You know. I spend a day a
week over there, most of my times up at the
main campus in Duarte. The Irvine campus is gorgeous. It's
actually a world class facility. A hospital is actually in
the process of being built right now next to a
massive clinic building. And just like at the campus in Duarte,
we have just brilliant, absolutely brilliant colleagues that I work
with down there, who I think are really bringing a
(14:49):
new wave of exceptional care to Orange County.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
H I love that again, just knowing that this help
not just that you know help is available, but some
of the best, the best doctors in town and at
one of the topknots facilities in the country, in the world.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
When you say.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
City of Hope without a doubt, without a doubt.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Okay, doctor, Hey, I also heard that you are hosting
a podcast called On the Edge of Breakthroughs.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Talk about that.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, you know, so, I have to tell you we
have so many phenomenal scientists, so many phenomenal clinicians at
City of Hope. I just wanted to give everybody who
works here a platform to discuss the exciting work they're doing.
As it retains to cancer research. We have some folks
focused on diabetes research here, and really I hope your
listeners are able to check it out because it really
brings such life and vivacity to the various investigators who
(15:38):
again are doing so much to change the field.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
So essentially, you're just interviewing your favorite people doing exciting
things in the world of cancer. So you picked your
guests and you just had a chat about it on
your show, on your podcast.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
It's such a cool gig. That's exactly right. They talk
about everything that's happening in the lab, and we really
kind of get to know them. We dive into the
weeds of the same questions that you asked me. Why'd
you get into cancer research? What motivated you to do this?
Been such a wonderful experience so far.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
But what I like already about your voice, your tone.
You seem like you're definitely like a positive guy, which
is great and we need that in all of our doctors.
By the way, somebody who'll write a positive help helping
us out to have a positive outlook and a hopefully
positive outcome in our treatment. So I'm saying, like somebody
might think, oh, a cancer podcast, but I think that
you you bring a friendliness to it which I can
(16:24):
hear in your voice, and so thank you for that,
because it's not necessarily everyone's favorite topic. But it sounds
like your show is not going to be serious and
dry and crying and heavy.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
And uh, I couldn't agree with you more. It really
is one of the most uplifting podcasts. If you have
a quick listen to it, you'll see that, you know,
are things are looking up for us with cancer research,
and you know, I think that your support for places
like City of Hope is really what's driving the field forward.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Okay, people, So it's doctor Monty Pal's podcast on the
Edge of Breakthroughs. On the Edge of Breakthroughs and doctor
Monty palet with the City of Hope. Thank you so
much for all that you do. We're so excited to
make a difference, all of us together by donating whenever
you can. Remember it's gonna be triple match today tomorrow
and of course on the big day, the Day for
Hope on Tuesday, Triple match thanks to dom Tar super easy.
(17:13):
Just go to Day for Hope dot org to make
a donation Day for Hope dot org or call pound
two fifty and say City of Hope. They'll walk you
through the whole easy process. Triple match. Even twenty five
bucks will be seventy five triple match. Together we can
make a difference. Triple match donations today, tomorrow and on
Day for Hope Tuesday, all for City of Hope, and
(17:34):
all to make a life saving difference for cancer patience
in need. All right, and thank you again, doctor Monte Pale.
Thank you for being an incredible doctor. Thank you for
caring so much about people and about fighting cancer. Thank
you for making that your mission and your purpose at
City of Hope with the whole team there and Duarty
and Irvine, thank you for all that you do. And
(17:54):
God forbid any of us get sick. We're coming to
Douarty and we're asking for you.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Thanks a lot for having me.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Oh, thank you so much, and everybody give it you can,
for day, for hope, for a City of Hope.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Thank you so much for this. I really appreciate it.
Hi, It's Lisa Fox and this is the iHeart so
Cal Show. All right, So, Day for Hope is City
of Hope's annual day of Giving now and it's fifth year,
taking place this coming Tuesday, June third. This event is
held every first Tuesday of June to align with National
Cancer Survivors Month, a time to celebrate survivorship and recognize
(00:20):
that the care and research that makes it possible. Day
for Hope brings together donors, survivors, caregivers, physicians, and supporters
nationwide like you and me, to raise critical funds that
accelerate breakthrough treatments and bring hope to more families facing
cancer and diabetes. We're going to be promoting this a
big time on the radio. They partner with iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia
(00:41):
to make sure that we get the word out about
this and how easy it is to make a donation.
Starting today through Tuesday, a Day for Hope and on
to tell us why it's so crucial that we give.
As one of the incredible doctors at City of Hope,
doctor Monty Powell.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Hi, doctor Palell, Hey, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Okay, before we talk about the amazing work that you
do with City of Hope.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I got to brag about you a little bit.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I looked up your bio on the City of Hope
website and wow, Okay, So doctor Pell internationally recognized an
internationally recognized leader in the area of kidney, bladder, and
prostate cancer. He's the co director of City of Hope's
Kidney Cancer program and the head of the Kidney and
bladder cancer Disease Team at City of Hope. Entered college
(01:27):
at the age of thirteen. Wow, and began medical school
at UCLA at the age of seventeen. And then when
all on you know, and then you went straight to
City of Hope and you've been doing wonderful things there
since two thousand and nine. I mean, such a smart guy, clearly,
But did you know when did you know that you
wanted to be a doctor?
Speaker 3 (01:46):
What did you know?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Oh? Gosh, you know. I loved science as a kid,
but I just love being around people, and I think
that oncology, cancer medicine is just the perfect field for that.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Wanting to be a doctor is one thing, But then
when did you know that you're the guy the It's like,
I want to cure it. I want to cure cancer.
I want to end this thing for everybody? Why cancer?
Why did cancer become your total career in life focus?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah? You know, gosh. I mean, it's just one of
those diseases where no one ever deserves to have it, right.
I mean, so many times you see young patients with cancer,
old patients with cancer. The one common entity is that
you know, it's just something that is atrocious and it's
a disease that really takes the lives of way too many.
And you know, when you see a cancer patient for
the first time in medical school, I think everyone feels
(02:30):
the same way. You just want to really do something
about it.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
And boy have you been and the entire team there
at the City of Hope in de WARDI let's talk
about why City of Hope is so unique and what
sets it apart from other hospitals.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I've been there many times.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I've toured the campus, I've done fundraisers there, so I'm
very familiar with I know my answer as to why
it's unique and different from others. But how would you
explain why City of Hopes approach to cancer treatment is different,
what sets it apart from other hospitals.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
So you've actually been out to visit us so you
can see that when you step foot on campus. We
certainly have this amazing hospital and clinic enterprise, but really
flanking it is a huge number of research laboratories. So
if you kind of took an aerial picture of City
of Hope, you'll see that it's almost fifty to fifty.
It's fifty percent of folks that are really dedicated to
treating patients and fighting cancer in the clinics, and then
(03:19):
the other half of City of Hope, this huge arm
is actually in the laboratory developing new drugs, figuring out
why current treatments don't work. It's a really really amazing
sort of mix of research and clinical work.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
And because you have it all there on campus, it
cuts through a lot of red tape. Right The point
is getting answers faster. You don't have to wait. The
lab is right there. You're not waiting for results to
come in the mail. Whenever it shows up. You know,
some people's lives are depending on what's happening in that lab,
and you can get it right away.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
It's right there.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
You know, it's amazing. When I started at City of Hope,
I had these patients with the prostate cancer that just
weren't responding to treatment, wanted to come up with the
new drugs for them, look at their blood, identify what
we call biomarkers. And I actually remember getting blood from
the clinics and actually walking over to the labs just
a couple hundred yards away and actually delivering that blood
so our scientists could do analysis. You know, that sort
of cooperation doesn't happen too often on most medical campuses,
(04:12):
so that that really is one of the things that
represents City of Hope's you know, secret sauce if you
will mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And then again with your area of expertise in kidney,
bladder and prostate cancer, how do you I don't know, like,
how do you try to conquer all three? Or do
you have times when you're focusing more so on one
or the other, or like you said, it depends on
how many pages you have with you know, maybe more
with prostate right now, but then next month it might
be more with kidney.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You know, it's interesting my program has grown in the
same way that City of hope has grown. You know,
if you looked at my department in oncology twenty years
ago when I started at City of Hope, you could
fit us all and room the size of anyone's living room.
You know, now you've actually grown to about one hundred
and fifty on cologists. We're all over the country in Chicago, Atlanta,
and Phoenix, throughout southern California, and so that huge broad
(04:58):
reach allows us to really sort so specialized. So your
question is actually an excellent one. Over the years, I've
actually sort of honed my practice. I actually focus more
and more on kidney cancer, and it's actually allowed me
to really take my kidney cancer clinical trials to the
next level, focus on trials that are focused on really
rare populations of patients. And you know, I'm really proud
(05:19):
to say that we probably have the best kidney cancer
clinical trials program on the West Coast.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Wow, look at that.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
I know, I hate to say, God forbid any of
us gets a kidney blader or prostate cancer. We're driving
straight to you and asking for doctor Powell at City
of Hope.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Driving.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I'm going to get the car, drive straight to the
two ten and drive to Dolorty and ask for you.
Another part of why City of Hope is so unique
and special is how fast or able to get people
into these clinical trials, talk about the life saving clinical
trials and kind of like the day to day cancer
fighting that's going on at City of Hope.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah, yeah, you know, whenever patients actually ask me, what's
the key to long term survival for cancer? Right, there's
no one answer. There's no one answer to that. It's
so many factors that contribute. But what I've observed over
the past two decades is that the patients that are
living longer are the ones who and if this makes
sense intuitive, we have early access to novel treatments, right,
(06:14):
and the way to get novel treatments is through clinical trials. Oftentimes,
my patients have access to a drug that won't be
approved for five years, for ten years, but they've got
it ahead of time because they've taken the leap really
in a very benevolent way for other patients, and they've
joined a clinical trials. So I do think clinical trials
are the way of the future, and a lot of
my colleague seri at City I've hope, I'd say almost
(06:34):
all of them share the belief that clinical trials are
really an essential part of oncology care.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
And wow, and to be able to offer that in
hopes of saving someone's life, getting them healthy and well
in hopes of saving their life. Exciting, right, I mean,
we hear all the time about these terribly draining toxic
cancer treatments radiation, chemo, how horrible it is on the body.
Being able to offer other methods, other routes, other treatments
(07:04):
to help somebody get better kind of exciting.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Right, Absolutely. You know, there's so many really cool and
innovative therapies that have been developed over the past decade.
We can engineer immune cells, we can modify gigantic lobs
of protein to really sort of target unique cell populations
and drive cancer. The technology these days is just amazing.
I think what you really need to do is identify
the right patients for trials and really build that trust
(07:30):
with your patients so that when you do recommend a
clinical trial, they say, look, doc, I'm in.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Okay now, and real quick send. You're an expert in kidney,
bladder and prose cancer. Can you tell us what to
do and what not to do a little bit for each.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
A little bit?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, you know, I got to tell you, if you
think it's bad for your health, it probably is, you know.
I think that's probably the best advice I can give.
So you know, I'm really not so emphatic about things
as to suggest that one shouldn't drink any alcohol or
one shouldn't have any sugar. But I do think that
all of those things need to be done and really
substantial moderation in order to really go about healthy living
(08:06):
and hopefully in some cases mitigate the risk of cancer.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Well. And yeah, look a million conversations on this radio
show with doctors nutrition is our friends of the American
Heart Association, and then some and just in life.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
We know moderation is.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Key, but getting our body moving, stain in good shape
as best.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
You can, eating clean as best you can, a little
cheat here and there, it's all good overall, doing what you.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Can to treat your body well, treat yourself well, be
good to yourself.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
All that is highly advised.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And doctor Powell, any thoughts on prostate cancer? How soton
should men be getting checked to see to check on
the health of their prostate what age?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
You know, it's such a loaded question, and I really
sort of hate to pump the question, but I always
say that this is worth a discussion with your primary
care physician. You know, there's different stipulations for when you
should start getting checked with a blood test called a
PSA for prostate cancer, based on things like your family history,
whether or not you have relatives with cross state cancer,
based on other factors that are related to the disease.
(09:04):
So there's a whole host of things that we factor
into the decision making. But because it's so nuanced, it's
hard for me to say that, Okay, well, at this
sage you should get tested, or at that age you
should get tested. Very very different these days.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Okay, but like you said, a conversation with your doctor
to make sure you know, and blood tests can be
so very telling. And with the right doctors, they want
to look and they want to check off all the
boxes to make sure your blood is looking clean and
nice and healthy and there's no issues.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Right, absolutely, absolutely, right, rong.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
With doctor Monty Palell been with City of Hope for
twenty years doing everything is power and the whole team
there to tackle cancer. He's on today because we are
pomping people up about Tuesday. Tuesday is their fifth annual
Day for Hope, hoping we can all come together and
raise the much NETO funds crucial funds to continue their
great work because the funding for a City of Hope
(09:54):
and their life saving clinical trials, it comes from us
from the people, So you guys need us.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
One hundred one hundred percent. You know, we really lean
heavily on just amazing philanthropic souls who you know, support
the research that we do from day to day at
the institution. You know, these are changing times, indeeds, so
I think more and more we really rely on those
individuals who have had friends and family members with successful
outcomes at the City of Hope, you know, to really
(10:21):
support some of our research programs. And really that's what
we're hoping to get support from your listeners in as well.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's why we're doing this big push for the Day
for Hope is officially this Tuesday. You don't have to
wait to donate until Tuesday. You can actually make a
donation now, and thanks to our friends at dom Tar,
your donation will be triple matched. Every donation will be
triple matched up to one hundred thousand dollars now through Tuesday, and.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Super easy to do it.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You'll pop on the website Day Forhope dot org. Day
for Hope dot org or even easier, call pound two
point fifty and say City of Hope. They'll walk you
right through it. You low donation over the phone, and
whatever you give twenty five bucks is seventy five dollars.
Whatever you give it to be triple matched thanks to
dom Tar. It all adds up. So if I give
one hundred bucks, I'm given three hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
You know whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Everyone listening, if we all gave even just twenty five dollars,
that'll be triple match thanks to dom Tar.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Today through Day for Hope Tuesday. Isn't that exciting?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
That is amazing. Thank you so much, and thank you
to all your listeners. This is incredible.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Exciting what we can do when we all come together.
So please donate whatever you can between starting today through Tuesday,
and it will be triple matched thanks to dam Tar.
All the info at Day.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
For Hope dot org.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Day for Hoope dot org or call Pound two fifty
and say City of Hope.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Doctor pal let's talk as a doctor at City of
Hope for over twenty years.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Let's talk about what you and your team do there
in terms of turn things around for people. Can you
share some stories of Hope? You know somebody came in there,
they're diagnosed with the C word. Things are not looking good,
and City of Hope is able to turn it around.
Give them in a clinical trial at life saving clinical trial,
things turn around. Share with those stories that offer some hope.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Oh gosh, yeah, I have to tell you. I have
this group of folks that I call the Three Musketeers. Now,
I've been at City of Hope for twenty years and
this was a group of three patients young in their
early teenage years with testicular cancer at the time. And
you know, they were diagnosed, they went through aggressive chemotherapy
back then, and these were really really trying times for them.
You can imagine they're in their formative years as young
(12:24):
men that I'm just so impressed with these three Musketeers
because they all went into remission from their testicular cancer.
They've all gone on to achieve amazing things. Ones in
architect ones in business. The other actually has a successful restaurant.
You know, it's just incredible to see what all these
individuals are doing after they really sort of get through
their cancer diagnosis. Wow. And I'm so proud to say
(12:47):
that we're seeing more and more of that as time
goes on.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Wait, doctor, were they friends before before they got diagnosed.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Did they become friends in the process.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
You know, I have to hazard to guess that they
probably actually don't even know each other, but there is
in my mind because gosh, they were going through the
exact same thing at the same time, and you know,
just so unique that all three of them turned out
to be such such motivated and driven individuals. And I
guess really they had to be the face cancer in
the way that they did.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Sure, and then to get that quote unquote second chance
at life, they must feel like, Wow, I beat cancer
in my teens.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
I got to go for it.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I live the rest of this life like every you know,
I've got a chance to make amazing things happen every
single day every chance I get.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Yeah, exactly, Yeah, you got it.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Doctor.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
What's one thing you wish that more people understood about
cancer research or cancer treatments?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Yeah? You know, I have to tell you that. You know,
in cancer research, the growth that we see from day
to day is going to be incremental. You know, there's
not going to be a change that occurs overnight that
just eradicates the disease. I think what we're going to
need to focus on are the small wins that over
time really sort of pushed the survival curves forward for
us and improve outcomes for everyone. And that's really what
(13:59):
we're doing. At City of Hope. We have labs focused
on breast cancer, on prostate cancer, on colon cancer, and
each one of those is actually making regular contributions to
the science, and I think they're the ones who collectively
are pushing the prognosis into a better direction for so
many people.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And again exciting to hear that those things are happening,
especially in the world of cancer right there at their campus,
the City of hub campus and Duerti. And then how's
it going doctor at the new campus. It's an Irvine right.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, it's fantastic. You know. I spend a day a
week over there, most of my times up at the
main campus in Duarte. The Irvine campus is gorgeous. It's
actually a world class facility. A hospital is actually in
the process of being built right now next to a
massive clinic building. And just like at the campus in Duarte,
we have just brilliant, absolutely brilliant colleagues that I work
with down there, who I think are really bringing a
(14:49):
new wave of exceptional care to Orange County.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
H I love that again, just knowing that this help
not just that you know help is available, but some
of the best, the best doctors in town and at
one of the topknots facilities in the country, in the world.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
When you say.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
City of Hope without a doubt, without a doubt.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Okay, doctor, Hey, I also heard that you are hosting
a podcast called On the Edge of Breakthroughs.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Talk about that.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, you know, so, I have to tell you we
have so many phenomenal scientists, so many phenomenal clinicians at
City of Hope. I just wanted to give everybody who
works here a platform to discuss the exciting work they're doing.
As it retains to cancer research. We have some folks
focused on diabetes research here, and really I hope your
listeners are able to check it out because it really
brings such life and vivacity to the various investigators who
(15:38):
again are doing so much to change the field.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
So essentially, you're just interviewing your favorite people doing exciting
things in the world of cancer. So you picked your
guests and you just had a chat about it on
your show, on your podcast.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
It's such a cool gig. That's exactly right. They talk
about everything that's happening in the lab, and we really
kind of get to know them. We dive into the
weeds of the same questions that you asked me. Why'd
you get into cancer research? What motivated you to do this?
Been such a wonderful experience so far.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
But what I like already about your voice, your tone.
You seem like you're definitely like a positive guy, which
is great and we need that in all of our doctors.
By the way, somebody who'll write a positive help helping
us out to have a positive outlook and a hopefully
positive outcome in our treatment. So I'm saying, like somebody
might think, oh, a cancer podcast, but I think that
you you bring a friendliness to it which I can
(16:24):
hear in your voice, and so thank you for that,
because it's not necessarily everyone's favorite topic. But it sounds
like your show is not going to be serious and
dry and crying and heavy.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
And uh, I couldn't agree with you more. It really
is one of the most uplifting podcasts. If you have
a quick listen to it, you'll see that, you know,
are things are looking up for us with cancer research,
and you know, I think that your support for places
like City of Hope is really what's driving the field forward.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Okay, people, So it's doctor Monty Pal's podcast on the
Edge of Breakthroughs. On the Edge of Breakthroughs and doctor
Monty palet with the City of Hope. Thank you so
much for all that you do. We're so excited to
make a difference, all of us together by donating whenever
you can. Remember it's gonna be triple match today tomorrow
and of course on the big day, the Day for
Hope on Tuesday, Triple match thanks to dom Tar super easy.
(17:13):
Just go to Day for Hope dot org to make
a donation Day for Hope dot org or call pound
two fifty and say City of Hope. They'll walk you
through the whole easy process. Triple match. Even twenty five
bucks will be seventy five triple match. Together we can
make a difference. Triple match donations today, tomorrow and on
Day for Hope Tuesday, all for City of Hope, and
(17:34):
all to make a life saving difference for cancer patience
in need. All right, and thank you again, doctor Monte Pale.
Thank you for being an incredible doctor. Thank you for
caring so much about people and about fighting cancer. Thank
you for making that your mission and your purpose at
City of Hope with the whole team there and Duarty
and Irvine, thank you for all that you do. And
(17:54):
God forbid any of us get sick. We're coming to
Douarty and we're asking for you.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Thanks a lot for having me.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Oh, thank you so much, and everybody give it you can,
for day, for hope, for a City of Hope.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Thank you so much for this. I really appreciate it.
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