Gynecologic Oncology Beedlelisa

Lisa M Stern PA-C

Gynecologic Oncology nccpa logo

Physician Associate, Integrative Medicine and Gynecologic Oncology

Saint John’s Cancer Institute

 

Coordinator, Gynecologic Oncology Patient Services & Robotic Surgery

St. John’s Health Center

AREAS OF EXPERTISE


  • Robotic Surgery
  • Integrative Medicine
  • Endometriosis
  • Cervical Cancer
  • Ovarian cancer
  • Uterine cancer
  • Vaginal cancer
  • Vulvar cancer
  • Complex benign surgery

SPECIAL INTERESTS: 


  • Minimally invasive surgery
  • Genomics-based precision therapy
  • ctDNA screening and monitoring
  • Natural & Integrative therapies
  • Clinical trials

Biography

My name is Lisa Stern and I am a USC-trained Physician Associate. I joined Dr. Vasilev’s team in March 2017 because I believe in an integrative and multi-disciplinary approach in treating gynecologic cancers and endometriosis. Some of my contributions to the team include responding to patient phone calls and emails; coordinating imaging, labs, referrals, and appointments; informing patients of laboratory and imaging results; rounding on patients post-operatively; assisting Dr. Vasilev in surgery and clinic; coordinating the resident program; and facilitating research at the Saint John’s Cancer Institute. I am Hearth Math certified and will conduct workshops alongside Becky Crane-Okada. Since joining St. John’s gynecologic oncology, integrative team, I feel I have found my true calling.

BACKGROUND

EDUCATION AND TRAINING: 
PA – University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine

BA – University of California at Santa Barbara


CERTIFICATIONS: 
California State Medical License
National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA)
Heart Math

Dr. Vasilev’s research interests include the genomic characterization of gynecologic cancer and their application to the development of targeted therapies, monitoring and early detection.

Ovarian Cancer Immunotherapy Program

The long-range goal of our studies is to harness the potential of cellular immune responses for improving the outcome for patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). While the majority of women with advanced stage ovarian cancer respond to first-line chemotherapy, most of these responses are not durable and more than 70{e1e3d526fd36fc01ebced66f8743c136750b0fc895f2fe665098c818ee436a7e} of patients die of recurrent disease within 5 years of diagnosis. This has stimulated interest in the development and application of alternative therapeutic strategies for the disease. Among them, immunotherapy has attracted considerable interest in recent years because of major progress in the identification of human tumor antigens (TA) suitable for clinical use. However, considerable obstacles to the development of effective immunotherapy exist including inability to (i) induce expansion of large pools of antigen specific CD8 T cells (ii) maintain durable anti-tumor immunity (iii) overcome inherent tolerogenic mechanisms, such as CD4 CD25 regulatory T cells (Tregs). In our preliminary studies, we have shown (i) improved clinical outcomes are associated with increased frequency of intraepithelial CD8 tumor infiltrating T cells in human EOC (ii) the beneficial prognostic effect of CD8 TIL is modulated by CD25 FOXP3 subpopulation of CD4 T cells with immunosuppressive properties. Therefore, the development of strategies to enhance the potential of tumor-antigen specific CD8 T cells is urgently needed for extending remission rates in this disease. These strategies should attempt to prime robust CD8 T cell expansion, promote durable anti-tumor immunity and counteract the immunosuppressive conditions produced by Tregs in order to reveal greater anti-tumor immunity.