Dina Ioffe, MD

How did you first find out about Clin-STAR and the pilot grant program?

I learned about the pilot grant program from Clin-STAR through my mentor, Dr. Efrat Dotan

What inspired you to pursue aging research and how does your perspective as a non-geriatrician specialist contribute to your research activity?

I initially developed an interest in the care of older adults with cancer during my internal medicine residency where I collaborated on a retrospective SEER-Medicare analysis, which confirmed that older patients with head and neck cancers were often undertreated based on chronologic age alone. My interest in this area solidified during my hematology/oncology fellowship training as I refined my approach to the care of older adults with cancer in clinic alongside my mentor Dr. Dotan, a geriatric oncologist. Cancer is a disease of aging and cancer treatment accelerates aging; as such, aging research is essential to elucidate this dynamic relationship and ultimately improve treatment outcomes in this vulnerable patient population. This pilot study aims to evaluate potential aging biomarkers in older adults with metastatic pancreatic cancer and correlate them with prospective clinical, geriatric, and quality of life data. My perspective as a gastrointestinal medical oncologist is crucial in ensuring this research translates to direct patient care with a focus on treatment personalization, improving access to cancer care, minimizing treatment toxicity, and maintaining a good quality of life.

In your view, what does Clin-STAR mean to the field and what does it mean for you to receive a Clin-STAR pilot grant now?

Clin-STAR plays a critical role in bridging bench-side and clinical aging research, ensuring meaningful and clinically relevant progress, while fostering collaboration across fields and institutions that accelerates this vital work. This Clin-STAR pilot grant will be a launching pad to advance my experience in geriatric oncology and translational research early in my academic career. As I aspire to develop a translational research career focused on the interface between cancer and aging, it will also provide me with the necessary early career support to further explore these research interests and develop my skills in translational research under the mentorship of Dr. Mina Sedrak.

What’s exciting about your research’s potential impact to your career, field, and patients?

This award and the project it supports will be a foundation for future research and grants to evaluate cancer and aging. This study aims to develop an important model that would subsequently be tested in a larger cohort. Our research has the potential to develop a groundbreaking biomarker tool that could easily be adopted into clinical practice to help determine a patient’s “biologic age,” assess patients’ frailty, and personalize treatment decisions in older patients with cancer. I will be able to leverage this translational research knowledge and experience throughout my career in academic gastrointestinal and geriatric oncology by designing clinical trials and correlative studies that will lead to a deeper understanding of the biology of aging, as well as its relationship to outcomes in older adults with cancer, and to eventually inform our personalization of therapy in this vulnerable population.

How have you collaborated with your mentor or co-investigators?

I have strong mentorship in the field of gastrointestinal oncology and clinical geriatric oncology under Dr. Dotan, the division chief of GI oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center and a leader in the field of geriatric oncology. Throughout this project, I will be under the mentorship of Dr. Mina Sedrak, a geriatric and breast oncologist with extensive translational research experience in this area. Dr. Sedrak’s experience in geriatric clinical research and geroscience, and particularly his transition from primarily clinical medicine and research to translational research, will be a critical aspect of his mentorship and will complement my other mentoring relationships at Fox Chase.