Dr. Oana Danciu started as junior faculty in the Hematology-Oncology division as she had an avid interest in experimental therapeutics. To accomplish her goals, Dr. Danciu started and completed the Master for Clinical and Translational Research. She joined the Cancer Canter Protocol Review Committee and became an active member of the University of Illinois Cancer Center Phase I group. She was accepted to participate in the annual ASCO/AACR Workshop on Methods in Clinical Cancer Research. As part of this, she had developed her phase I protocol with a new experimental agent, PAC-1. PAC-1, first procaspase activating compound, a small molecule that directly activates procaspase-3 and induces apoptosis of cancer cells. This treatment was very well received by patients and collaborators and multiple patients were referred to me from the community. As a breast oncologist, Dr. Danciu was chosen to represent UIC in the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium – Breast Cancer Working group. This led her to collaborations outside the institution with nationally recognized breast oncologists. Her trial A Single Arm Phase II Study of Palbociclib in Combination with Tamoxifen as First Line Therapy for Metastatic Hormone Receptor Positive Breast Cancer was awarded by Pfizer as part of the ASPIRE program. Her research involvement in the breast cancer survivorship program focused primarily on quality improvement projects. With that platform, she was able to deliver survivorship care plans and treatment summary to all UI Cancer Center breast cancer patients when they completed the active part of their treatment (surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy). Dr. Danciu presented her research at major national conferences such at ASCO Breast Cancer symposium, San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and ASCO Cancer Survivorship Symposium.
Her research is focused on breast cancer, early phase clinical trials development and experimental therapeutics.