Never Done, Never Outdone: Translating Research Into Better Care for Patients With Head and Neck Cancer

Lurdes Queimado, M.D., Ph.D., is part of OU Health, the University of Oklahoma’s academic health system, where healing and discovery go hand in hand. Her research into head and neck cancer — the sixth most common cancer worldwide — is guiding how patients are treated in Oklahoma and beyond. In a state with high smoking rates, her work is especially vital.

Queimado’s studies revealed for the first time how quitting smoking after a cancer diagnosis dramatically increases patients’ response to chemotherapy. Those who quit smoking within the first month after diagnosis, before they started chemotherapy, became cancer-free at a four-fold higher frequency than those who continued to smoke. These patients had reduced tumor recurrence and were able to maintain critical organ functions such as a normal voice box. They also increased their survival up to 12 years.

Another recent study revealed that exposure to secondhand smoke reduces the effectiveness of cisplatin chemotherapy, one of the primary drugs used to treat head and neck cancer. In laboratory experiments, cancer cells exposed to secondhand smoke for 48 hours required double the usual dose of cisplatin to be destroyed. Even more concerning, the surviving cancer cells multiplied rapidly, making the disease more aggressive.

“If chemotherapy can’t kill all the cancer cells, the cancer comes back – and it comes back sooner because the surviving cells divide so quickly,” Queimado said.

While most people understand that smoking worsens cancer outcomes, many don’t realize that secondhand smoke exposure can significantly reduce chemotherapy’s effectiveness. This means even non-smokers living in households with smokers may face poorer treatment outcomes.

This is academic medicine in action: discovery that informs patient care. Her research underscores OU Health’s commitment to breakthroughs that are for everyone, for all 77 counties and beyond.

Beyond research, Queimado is committed to mentorship and education. Two postdoctoral fellows from her laboratory – Balaji Sadhasivam, Ph.D., and Jimmy Manyanga, Ph.D. – played key roles in her study and have now launched their own research careers.

Training the next generation of cancer researchers is central to OU Health’s mission

“Educating the next generation is at the heart of academic research,” Queimado said. “The students and fellows I’ve mentored are now making discoveries that will further improve cancer treatment.”

Her leadership spans patient care, research and education, the three integrated pillars of OU Health’s academic health system. As director of the Tobacco Regulatory Science Lab at OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center, she continues to demonstrate that the work is never finished. For OU Health, never done means continuous discovery, and never outdone means setting the standard for improving cancer prevention and treatment.

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Queimado holds the Presbyterian Health Foundation Chair in Otorhinolaryngology in the OU College of Medicine Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery. She is also director of the Tobacco Regulatory Science Lab in the TSET Health Promotion Research Center, a component of OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center.