Melanie Cole: You're listening to GW Doc Pod, a peer-to-peer podcast for medical professionals with The George Washington University Hospital. I'm Melanie Cole. And joining me today is Dr. Julie Bauman. She's the Director of the GW Cancer Center, a head and neck medical oncologist at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences, and she's affiliated with The George Washington University Hospital.

Dr. Bauman, thank you so much for joining us today. And as the new director of the cancer center, can you please start by telling us a little bit about yourself and how you came to The George Washington University Hospital?

Dr. Julie Bauman: Of course, and thank you for the welcome. I came to the George Washington University Cancer Center as its director in March of this year, in 2022. I was drawn here and inspired to come and build a cancer center built upon the twin pillars of scientific excellence and equity in our nation's capital.

Previously, I was the deputy director at the University of Arizona Comprehensive Cancer Center, where I was also the chief of hematology-oncology. I am a medical oncologist. This is the type of cancer specialist that uses medications such as chemotherapy, targeted therapy or the new class of immunotherapy. Those are medications that activate the natural immune system to fight cancer.

My background is a subspecialist in head and neck cancer. Head and neck cancer is a cancer that affects the lining of the mouth and throat and has two dominant causes, environmental carcinogens such as tobacco and alcohol exposure or the human papillomavirus, the same virus that causes cervical cancer among women.

As one can imagine, head and neck cancer is located in an anatomically vulnerable location of the human body, and both the cancer and its treatment affect intimate, critical functions unique to our humanity, such as eating, speaking, breathing, facial expression and appearance.

Melanie Cole: Well, thank you, Dr. Bauman, for telling us about yourself. So tell us about your research and how did you become interested in these areas of research?

Dr. Julie Bauman: I went to the Tufts University School of Medicine and got a dual medical degree and master's of public health. That training really placed me at the intersection of oncology and public health, which is where I focused my career, specifically on clinical trials that prevent or treat cancer to improve outcomes.

I am a clinical researcher. When I was a young oncologist, I observed the fragmented care and the deeply impactful suffering that people with head and neck cancer experience. This awakened in me a research program that was designed to enhance prevention of head and neck cancer or to treat it with better outcomes, both functional and survivor outcomes.

My research program in the prevention domain is so-called green chemoprevention. This is the use of plants or their simple extracts to prevent cancer. For instance, I just completed a clinical trial in otherwise healthy people who smoked combustible tobacco and evaluated a broccoli seed and sprout extract nutraceutical, and showed that this upregulated the detoxification of benzene and other carcinogens that are found in tobacco. This has led the way to a larger randomized trial comparing broccoli seed and sprout extract to placebo for a three-month period of time to assure that this mechanism persists over a longer period of time, which would advance it to an actual cancer prevention trial with cancer as the endpoint.

Melanie Cole: That's fascinating, Dr. Bauman. That's such Interesting research. And as you're telling us about how to neck cancers, and you already mentioned that these can have really devastating effects on the appearance and function of the patient and are among some of the most disabling and socially isolating defects with significant impact on a patient's quality of life, can you speak about, as you are the new director, the multidisciplinary approach that is so important for these patients? Because they've got so many things, as you mentioned earlier, speech and swallowing and eating and appearance, all of these things tying together. Tell us how the GW Cancer Center is really highlighting that multidisciplinary approach.

Dr. Julie Bauman: Head and neck cancer is the poster child for why multidisciplinary care is fundamental for the best outcomes for a patient with cancer. Every lens, every specialty lens, the surgical oncologist, the radiation oncologist and the medical oncologist must come to a consensus about a multidisciplinary care plan before the first cut, before the first fraction of radiation, before the first drop of chemotherapy. This is in order to ensure the optimal outcomes in both the patient's survival, but also their survivorship.

In addition to the physicians who treat patients with head and neck cancer, we have assembled an expert interdisciplinary team, for example, speech and language pathology, nutrition, social work, lay navigation in order to assure that patients can understand their complex treatment plan and be compliant with it because we know that barriers to care and interruptions in the plan, once it begins, are detrimental to all outcomes.

The head of neck cancer team at George Washington University is exceptional, really is the prototype for the kind of multidisciplinary teams that we are now building at the George Washington Cancer Center.

Melanie Cole: What are some exciting future directions that you're pursuing? And tell us if there's any interesting collaborations other providers might want to know about that your engaged to cross the campus and even beyond.

Dr. Julie Bauman: The future direction for cancer therapeutics is what I would describe as precision immunotherapy. I talked about my prevention research. I would also like to discuss my therapeutic research, that's clinical trials to treat cancer. I have been deeply involved in the development of a new class of treatments called immunotherapy. Immunotherapy are drugs that activate T cells and other arms of the immune system to enhance the body's response to fight cancer.

I've been involved in the personalized mRNA cancer vaccine. These are vaccines that are made personalized to the mutational profile of a patient's cancer. When I look at the future of cancer therapeutics, it is that ability to understand what is different about the patient's cancer as compared to their normal self, and then awaken the natural T cells that recognize the cancer and destroy it. By awakening T cells that are specific to the cancer, we avoid autoimmune side effects. We avoid the kinds of complications we observe with cytotoxic chemotherapy and we leave a resident army in the patient's body.

We are at the dawn of a new class of therapies where immunotherapy is going to change the paradigm for how we treat cancer. We are seeing this in head and neck cancer and, in fact, we're seeing it across the vast majority of cancers now. Immunotherapy is bringing together oncologists of all specialties around a common principle, which is the scientific insight into how the immune system eradicates cancer and disrupting the ways in which the cancer hides from the immune system.

Melanie Cole: Isn't that fascinating? What an exciting time to be in your field. Dr. Bauman, as the new director of the cancer center, tell us a little bit about your family and life outside of work. What are some things your colleagues may not know about you? What do you do for fun? What are some hobbies?

Dr. Julie Bauman: I am a martial artist. I train in chung do kwan tae kwon do, and I'm a black belt. And that has been an extraordinary component of my physical and mental health throughout medical training and now, being a physician in practice. The school of tae kwon do that I study is not available here in DC. So with my relocation, I have reunited with shotokan karate, which I study during medical school. So not very many people are aware of my martial arts experience.

Melanie Cole: That's a great thing to learn about you. Thank you for sharing that. And as we wrap up, I'd like you to just reiterate the unique areas that set you apart and the GW Cancer Center, why it's important to refer to the specialists at the George Washington University Hospital. And if someone wanted to refer a patient for treatment of head and neck cancers, when is the best time to do that?

Dr. Julie Bauman: The future is very bright at the George Washington Cancer Center. The most important components of what we are building include cutting edge multidisciplinary teams with expertise in cancer, as well as a clinical trials portfolio that offers the right treatment to the right patient at the right time, precision oncology, precision immunotherapy.

For head and neck cancer, we are well underway with the breadth of this vision. The best time to refer a patient with head and neck cancer is when there is the first diagnosis, either a patient presents with a lump or a lesion in the mouth or throat, or they present with a neck mass. At that point, it's critical to get that person to an otolaryngologist and, upon diagnosis of head and neck cancer, to a head neck cancer surgeon for further diagnostic evaluation.

Here, the head and neck surgeon is the gateway to the multidisciplinary treatment plan where we meet together weekly as a tumor board to discuss each case and to make sure that each specialist is in agreement with the consensus plan and recommendations that we will then relay to the patient.

I'm very excited and privileged to be building the George Washington Cancer Center. There is so much excellence already in place. And as our multidisciplinary teams and clinical trials portfolio grow, I will continue to communicate about the exciting developments.

Melanie Cole: Thank you so much, Dr. Bauman, for joining us today and welcome. We're so glad that you're here and sharing your incredible expertise with us today.

And for more information about treatment of head and neck cancers, please visit GWHospital.com/Cancer

To refer your patient, you can call 1-800-4GW-DOCS. Or if you have a question for one of our specialists, you can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

That concludes this episode of GW Doc Pod, a peer-to-peer podcast for medical professionals with The George Washington University Hospital. I'm Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for tuning in today.

Physicians are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of the George Washington University Hospital. The hospital shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians.

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