Dr. Zdenka Ena Segota is a medical oncologist at Holy Cross Hospital with more than 20 years of experience. In addition to providing patients with standard-of-care oncology treatment, she also specializes in research and clinical trials, helping Holy Cross to be at the forefront of innovations in cancer care.

 

A: I am a medical oncologist who sub-specializes in breast and gynecological malignancies. Prior to joining Holy Cross, I completed a research fellowship in experimental therapeutics at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation’s Taussig Cancer Center in Cleveland, as well as another fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at the same institution.

 

A: Yes, I am focused on offering my patients precision medicine through genomic testing. We are able to offer it to all patients when appropriate, even if it’s not covered by insurance, thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Broward County.

 

Targeted therapies are offered to all patients who qualify as an addition to standard-of-care treatments or when standard-of-care options have been exhausted, including Phase I or Phase II clinical trials matched to the patients’ particular condition through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

 

A: In general, the cancer research department at Holy Cross offers all phases of trials, including early Phase I trials, which opens up more options for patients who have exhausted all standards of care. For breast cancer, we are focused on researching options to improve pre-surgical and post-surgical outcomes and to improve the metastatic cancer survival rate. For example, FELINE is a Phase II clinical trial studying whether two drugs combined can effectively shrink a tumor before surgery to give patients the option of a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy. The EARLEE trial is a Phase III clinical trial studying the effects of a combination of two non-chemotherapy drugs (hormone and CDK4/6 inhibitor) to reduce the probability of breast cancer reoccurrence.

 

 

A: Not all regional hospitals are able to offer research options to patients locally. Holy Cross is unique in being able to offer leading-edge care to patients without the need for travel.

 

Specifically, Holy Cross has been designated as an ECOG-ACRIN site, which means we are members of a consortium group of research institutions and can participate in trials at any phase for just one patient if that trial is the best option for that patient. As an ECOG-ACRIN site, we give our patients more options. We also have a collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital, the teaching hospital of Harvard University, which allows patients even greater access to clinical trials, as well as timely second opinions and coordination of care.

 

A: We received a $30,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Broward to increase diversity outreach to help ensure that minorities will be well represented in clinical trials. Hospital leaders and physicians presented to community groups and talked to members about the benefits of clinical trials, ethics standards in place, and other educational factors. Our goal is to develop trust in communities that are historically underserved and wary of institutions in general. The Community Foundation of Broward County also gave Holy Cross a $120,000 grant to support our clinical trial collaboration with Mass General and cover expenses in trials that aren’t sponsored, which allows us to bring additional cancer studies to Holy Cross.

 

Overall, Holy Cross is committed to furthering research in all of our practice areas and offering patients the latest studies available in the fields of cardiovascular, orthopedic, pain management and neuroscience, in addition to cancer, so that our patients can receive leading-edge treatment right here at home.