Vani Katheria, Senior Scientific Program Manager at the Center for Cancer and Aging at City of Hope, shared on LinkedIn:
“Grateful for a wonderful SIOG 2026 and the opportunity to connect, learn, share our work, and reflect on the current research and advances in the field of geriatric oncology.
At this year’s SIOG, I was honored to present on chemotherapy toxicity and the CARG Toxicity Tool during the Geriatric Assessment Workshop.
I also presented a Rapid Oral Abstract highlighting a secondary analysis from our GAIN study on behalf of our team, as well as a poster on behalf of Irene Guterman, who has been a valued collaborator on this work.
Our City of Hope team also shared two posters highlighting our work on the Practical Geriatric Assessment (PGA) and PGA-derived Frailty Index, led by William Dale and Canlan Sun and supported by our incredible team committed to advancing geriatric assessment in cancer care.
There were many highlights from my second SIOG, but one of the most meaningful was having the opportunity to present our PGA work to our Cancer and Aging Research Group (CARG) SCOREboard patient partners.
It was also a special moment to pause and remember Arti Hurria, an early pioneer and champion in the field.
This year’s SIOG coincided with the eight-year anniversary of her passing, and it was an honor to take a moment while I had the stage to pay tribute to her, as well as to recognize William Dale and our team, who have done our best to carry forward the baton she handed us.
I hope she would be proud to see how far the work has come and how many people continue to carry it forward.
Thank you to SIOG, CARG, our collaborators, patient partners, colleagues and friends for another inspiring meeting.
I returned home energized by the conversations, collaborations and shared commitment to improving care for older adults with cancer.”
Geriatric Assessment and Treatment Toxicity
SIOG’s geriatric assessment framework emphasizes evaluating areas including function, nutrition, cognition, psychological health, social support, comorbidities and medication use to better identify vulnerabilities and guide treatment decisions in older adults with cancer.
The GAIN randomized clinical trial, which included Vani Katheria among its investigators, enrolled 613 adults aged 65 years and older receiving chemotherapy and evaluated whether geriatric assessment-driven interventions could reduce treatment-related toxicity.
City of Hope’s Center for Cancer and Aging continues work in geriatric assessment training, supportive care and aging-focused oncology research, building on the legacy of Arti Hurria, the Center’s founding director and a pioneer in geriatric oncology.
Read more articles about Geriatric Oncology on OncoDaily.