Hollings Horizons

Hollings Horizons is MUSC Hollings Cancer Center’s bi-annual magazine featuring the innovative and inspiring work happening in our clinics, labs, and community.

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Hollings Horizons magazine cover with a man wearing a baseball hat and text about highlighted articles with another magazine on top of it open to the Hereditary cancer spread

a man in baseball cap and sunglasses drives his boat with text over the image that says South Carolina Strong Fighting Lung Cancer

After exhausting traditional treatment options, Matt joined a clinical trial at Hollings that is keeping his cancer stable and getting him back out on the coastal waterways he loves.

More about clinical trials at Hollings

Featured Articles

Colon Cancer Q&A

Colorectal cancer surgeon Thomas Curran, M.D., shares the latest on colorectal cancer screening, diagnosis and prevention.

A Second Chance

If Sylvie Baele had been diagnosed 10 years ago, she isn't sure that she'd still be around. She credits a healthy lifestyle and research that helped develop new treatments for her particular type of leukemia.

Survivor's Guilt

His diagnosis was terminal — four to six months — but that was 15 years ago now and Nathan Calhoun is still healthy and cancer-free.

Bone Marrow Guy

There are almost a half-million active-duty soldiers in the U.S. Army. But across this entire organization, with outposts across the world, Spc. Christian Sutton is the single, solitary soldier tasked with his particular job. And once he completes it, the position disappears.

A Difficult Diagnosis

Only about 3,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed each year with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). Rich Maxwell found a specialized team at Hollings to manage his treatment and get him back to enjoying retirement.

Fierce Foundations

Candy Stalteri was cancer-free. Life should have been good. And yet, she was struggling. Getting connected with a new wellness program for gynecologic cancer survivors was just what she needed.

Computer rendering of new comprehensive cancer hospital also showing the surrounding buildings and intersection; Draft for conceptual use only, images may change

MUSC is building a new, state-of-the-art comprehensive cancer hospital that will provide innovative care for patients in Charleston and across the state.

Director's Message — Winter/Spring 2026

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center holds a unique responsibility as South Carolina’s only NCI-designated cancer center.

Our mission is threefold: providing exceptional patient care, advancing cancer research in our laboratories, and training the next generation of scientists and clinicians.

At Hollings, patients have access to more than 200 clinical trials, ranging from studies on smoking cessation to trials of innovative cancer therapies. These include trials developed by our own physicians in response to challenges they see in the clinic, as well as those led by pharmaceutical companies and national academic research groups. Through these efforts, we offer patients new treatment options while contributing to the scientific discoveries that shape tomorrow’s standards of care.

As you’ll see in these pages, we are expanding across South Carolina with new facilities, programs, and physicians to meet the state’s growing health care needs. Our plans include a best-in-class cancer hospital in downtown Charleston—bringing inpatient and outpatient services under one roof—slated for completion in 2030, along with a new integrated Center for Cellular Therapy.

Our vision is clear: to reduce cancer incidence and mortality across South Carolina. This work is challenging, but it is profoundly rewarding and deeply meaningful. I extend my heartfelt thanks to our dedicated staff, physicians, scientists, and supporters for being an essential part of this mission.

Best Wishes,

Raymond N. DuBois, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, MUSC Hollings Cancer Center
Associate Provost of Cancer Programs, MUSC

Research News

Dr. Abirami Sivapiragasam and nurse Bonnie Vasenda in clinic at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center.

Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

A new clinical trial at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center focuses on finding answers for a group of women who don't have clear treatment options.

"We're at a watershed moment in this country," said tobacco researcher Dr. Benjamin Toll.

Nicotine Limits

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has endorsed a proposed federal policy that would make cigarettes far less addictive. The proposed policy would set a maximum nicotine product standard at about 95% less than what is currently allowed. That reduction would make cigarettes minimally or nonaddictive, striking at the chemical that keeps people hooked.

Dr. Amboree, standing outside of Hollings Cancer Center by statues and a garden.

Dr. Trisha Amboree focuses on understanding and addressing problems in accessing cervical cancer preventive care and treatment.

Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer diagnoses among rural U.S. women have been increasing since 2012, after years of decreases, according to an analysis from MUSC Hollings Cancer Center.

Fueled by curiosity about a puzzling observation, Dr. Besim Ogretmen and a multidisciplinary team delved into the relationship between Alzheimer's and cancer.

Alzheimer's-Cancer Connection

For years, population studies hinted at something puzzling: People with Alzheimer’s disease seemed less likely to develop cancer. That paradox caught the attention of Besim Ogretmen, Ph.D., associate director of Basic Science at Hollings, and drove him and his team to dig deeper into the biology linking these seemingly disparate conditions.

Thomas Blouin, working in the lab of Dr. Natalie Saini, earned a National Cancer Institute fellowship to continue his cancer research studies.

NCI Graduate Student Award

MUSC graduate student Thomas Blouin earned a fellowship from the National Cancer Institute which is awarded to fewer than 100 applicants each year. Receiving the fellowship signifies both current scientific excellence and strong potential as a future cancer researcher.

Hereditary Cancer

Hear from patients who used genetic testing and guidance to shape how they approached decisions about their health.

Testing Skeptic

When Kenneth Reid was diagnosed with colon cancer at age 43, his doctors suggested genetic testing. But the Charleston native, who was living in Minnesota at the time, didn’t trust the idea.

Adapting to New Reality

When Carson Thomas signed up for In Our DNA SC, the last thing he expected was to learn he was at higher risk for certain cancers. “I was more interested in the ancestry and personality traits,” he said.

Mother Daughter Duo

When Debbie Herman says that cancer runs in her family, she isn’t exaggerating. Her mother was one of nine siblings, seven of whom had cancer.

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