Faina Shtern, MD

Faina Shtern, MD

AdMeTech Foundation

Boston, Massachusetts

Faina Shtern, MD, is the President and CEO of AdMeTech Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to ending the prostate cancer crisis. As a Founder of AdMeTech, Faina Shtern, MD, has been leading groundbreaking programs in prostate cancer research, education, awareness and advocacy, with a focus on the advancement of precision diagnostics and their integration with precision treatment, since 1997. This work has led to: a) Development, global PI-RADS standardization, clinical evaluation, and implementation of precision MRI; b) Establishment of molecular imaging, with priority focus on PSMA PET; c) Original work in robotics for precision biopsy and treatment; d) Recognition and expansion of radiogenomics; and e) Precedent-setting legislation in US Congress and Massachusetts. Prior to founding AdMeTech, Dr. Shtern served as Chief of the Diagnostic Imaging Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute, and Associate Director for Science and Technology, Office of Women’s Health, Office of the Secretary, US Department of Health and Human Services. She also led radiology research at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and at Boston Children’s Hospital between 1999 and 2008. Dr. Shtern has led and participated in numerous scientific and advisory committees, including the Breast Cancer Study Group of the National Academy of Medicine and Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Program. In 2016, she was named a “Woman of Influence” by the Boston Business Journal.

Disclosures:

Talks by Faina Shtern, MD

NIH NCI Study on Focal Therapy

NIH NCI Study on Focal Therapy

Posted by | Sep 2023

Faina Shtern, MD, presents a review of image-guided focal therapy in diagnosing and treating localized prostate cancer. Dr. Shtern examines the benefits of minimally-invasive, image-guided focal therapy combined with radiogenomics using studies from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Shtern discusses the importance of using radiogenomics, a combination of MRI and genetic cancer profiling, in diagnosing localized prostate cancer, as some prostate cancer lesions may not appear on an MRI alone. Using radiogenomics in patient diagnosis can help practitioners determine the appropriateness of image-guided focal therapy as a treatment, and provides a comprehensive picture for monitoring the patient post-treatment.

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Future Directions in Smart Prostate Cancer Screening – Highlights from the 6th Annual Global Summit on Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostate Cancer

Future Directions in Smart Prostate Cancer Screening – Highlights from the 6th Annual Global Summit on Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostate Cancer

Posted by | Aug 2023

Faina Shtern, MD, discusses future directions in smart prostate cancer screening and highlights from the Sixth Annual Global Summit on Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostate Cancer. Dr. Shtern explains prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer and guidelines for reducing risks associated with it. She mentions “smart” PSA screening, and she stresses the importance of novel quantitative approaches to risk management.

Dr. Shtern outlines advances in noninvasive diagnostic tools such as liquid biomarkers, testing for germline mutations in men with family history, and imaging. She displays a list of major international clinical trials studying integration of PSA, liquid biomarkers, and MRI and summarizes the ongoing PROBASE and BARCODE 1 trials, which may help define the role of genetic profiling in targeted screening.

Dr. Shtern outlines the IP1 PROSTAGRAM Study comparing MRI, PSA, and ultrasound. She reviews major international clinical trials studying integration of PSA, liquid biomarkers, and MRI (e.g., REIMAGINE Study).

She addresses micro ultrasound (microUS), explaining it provides improved visualization vs. standard US, has comparable diagnostic accuracy to MRI, and is supported by institutional series as an option to MRI-US fusion prostate biopsy. She cites the ongoing OPTIMUM trial seeking to confirm equivalence with MRI in a randomized prospective study and evaluate the benefit of adding MRI fusion to microUS prostate biopsy.

Finally, Dr. Shtern discusses a study on prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, examining combined MRI/PET before prostate cancer diagnosis, explaining it may improve differentiation of GG1 vs. GG2 disease but emphasizing the need for further research.

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Highlights from the 5th Global Summit on Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostate Cancer

Highlights from the 5th Global Summit on Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostate Cancer

Posted by | Jun 2022

Faina Shtern, MD, President and CEO of the AdMeTech Foundation, presents key highlights from the 5th Global Summit on Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostate Cancer, a virtual event organized by the AdMeTech Foundation and held from September 23 through September 25, 2021. After introducing the AdMeTech Foundation, Dr. Shtern goes over the rationale for the annual summit and brain trust, explaining that the goal is for multi-disciplinary key opinion leaders to address fundamental challenges in patient care by: developing accurate diagnostic tools; integrating anatomic, biologic, and histologic diagnostics; and integrating precision diagnosis with precision treatment. She discusses the AdMeTech Foundation’s approach, which includes reaching consensus on the best emerging clinical practices, identifying clinical needs and related research priorities, educating the medical community and general public, and expediting the transfer of promising diagnostics and therapeutics to patients. Dr. Shtern then considers the 5th Global Summit specifically, noting that it focused on integrating precision diagnostics and therapies and addressing fundamental problems in prostate cancer care. She summarizes key points from the four meeting sessions, which focused on: the population of men prior to diagnosis with prostate cancer (Session I); the population of men with newly diagnosed localized disease (Session II); precision oncology of advanced prostate cancer (Session III); and image-targeted, minimally-invasive focal procedures. Dr. Shtern concludes by summarizing the key findings of the 2021 meeting’s Panel on Health Disparities and Panel on Bioinformatics, Machine & Deep Learning, and Artificial Intelligence.

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