‘Healthy Rounds’: Great Strides in Cancer Treatment - UConn Today

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September 1, 2026

Research & Discovery UConn Health

September 1, 2026 | Chris DeFrancesco '94 (CLAS)

‘Healthy Rounds’: Great Strides in Cancer Treatment

Dr. Margaret Callahan, chief of UConn Health’s Division of Hematology and Oncology, joins Dr. Anthony Alessi’s podcast

collage Drs. Magaret Callahan and Anthony Alessi — Dr. Margaret Callahan (left), chief of UConn Health’s Division of Hematology and Oncology, joins Dr. Anthony Alessi on his “Healthy Rounds” podcast at UConn Health. (File photos)

"Healthy Rounds Podcast with Dr. Anthony Alessi, UConn Health" graphic with portrait of Dr. Alessi — Dr. Anthony Alessi’s “Healthy Rounds” radio program is now a UConn Health podcast. (Tina Encarnacion/ UConn Health photo)

The idea of using cells from your own tumor to develop a personalized vaccine that guides your immune system to fight your cancer goes back several decades. Today, we are on the verge of using messenger RNA to bring this concept to a new level, one that could change how we treat melanoma and other cancers. Dr. Margaret Callahan(opens in new tab), chief of UConn Health’s Division of Hematology and Oncology and medical director of the clinical trials office, joins Dr. Anthony Alessi(opens in new tab) to explain how immunotherapy works and why it holds so much promise.

These therapies, they don’t work directly on the cancers. They work on your immune system, and let your immune system do the job. — Dr. Margaret Callahan

Listen now:

Find the transcript on Podbean.(opens in new tab)

Submit questions for “Healthy Rounds” to healthyrounds@uchc.edu.

Support comes from UConn Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine and Coverys(opens in new tab).

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