The release of the Spring 2014 issue of Cancer Today was timed to align with the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

I’m pleased to report that our editors who attended the conference earlier this month received a lot of positive feedback about the magazine and its importance to the cancer community.

Included in this issue’s Forward Look section, which I assign and edit, are these articles:

• Push Needed to Increase HPV Vaccination Rates, an article I wrote on a new report by the President’s Cancer Panel that describes what needs to be done to increase the number of girls and boys in the U.S. who are vaccinated against HPV, the virus responsible for cervical and other cancers.

• An Herbal Surprise, which discusses a recent study that showed that the herbal supplements you take may not contain the ingredients you thought you bought. Some herbal supplements include ingredients not listed on the label while others fail to even include the primary plant ingredient.

• Moving Closer to a Menthol Ban? This story describes the work anti-tobacco advocates are doing worldwide to get countries to outlaw menthol in tobacco products. Will the U.S. Food and Drug Administration take action?

• Clues to Stomach Cancer Discovered in South America. Did you know that more than half the world’s population is infected with a stomach bacteria called H. pylori, which is the primary cause of stomach cancer? This article describes new findings that may help researchers understand why in some people the infection causes no problem while in others it can be deadly.

• ACA to Cover Breast Cancer Reduction Drugs, an article I wrote on the two drugs that are available for high-rsk women for chemoprevention, and why they are underused.

You can also read a short piece I wrote, Gazing on Cancer, about a new Italian ad campaign featuring a bald Mona Lisa that was recently launched by Fondazione ANT Italia. (And a shout out to Google Translate, which made it effortless to write my email in Italian to their press contact.)

Lastly, to get a good understanding of the new cancer treatments that are attempting to harness the power of the immune system, take a look at Unleashing the Immune System. All eyes (and lots of money) are on this new approach to cancer.