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Colon Cancer Under 50: Latest Update On the Numbers

UCI Health webinar

September 17, 2015

While we know about the rise in this disease in those under 50, recent studies by UCI Health digestive disease physicians put a real and alarming fact into hard focus: you're never too young for colon cancer.

UCI Health hematology-oncology specialist Dr. Jason Zell discusses this trend, as well as new research showing that the science behind this disease is changing, even if statistics say the risk remains relatively low. Zell coauthored a recent study with UCI Health colorectal surgeon Dr. Michael Stamos entitled “Colorectal Cancer Incidence Among Young Adults in California” that was published in the Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology.

This webinar originally aired on Sept. 17 at 4 p.m. PST.

About the speaker

Jason A. Zell, DO
Program Director, Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, UC Irvine School of Medicine

Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, UC Irvine School of Medicine

Dr. Jason Zell is a hematology-oncology specialist who focuses on the prevention and treatment of colon and other gastrointestinal cancers at the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Board-certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology, he has received extramural research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to perform genetic epidemiology-based colorectal cancer research, and is principle investigator or co-investigator for several NIH-funded Phase 2 clinical trials involving patients with gastrointestinal malignancies.

Within SWOG, a clinical trials organization of the National Clinical Trials Network, Zell is the cancer control and prevention liaison to the gastrointestinal committee. Additionally, he is national principal investigator for S0820, a large multicenter randomized Phase 3 trial involving risk reduction among resected colon cancer patients, which is supported by the NIH National Cancer Institute Division of Cancer Prevention, and conducted by SWOG. He has published more than 70 manuscripts and two book chapters.

Zell received his medical degree from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He completed his internal medicine residency training and hematology-oncology fellowship at University of California, Irvine, via the American Board of Internal Medicine Research Pathway.