Dr. Soma Sengupta uses her integrative medicine background to find additional approaches to fight cancer and improve patient well-being.
Tracy, a busy mom of five and marathoner, began experiencing frequent headaches in 2022. She and her husband Jason had just built their dream home outside of Greensboro. As a runner used to pushing her body to its limit, she assumed the pain would go away. One Sunday morning, she told Jason to take the kids to church so she could go to the emergency room to get a scan to figure out what was causing her headaches. Tracy’s scan showed a 4 cm brain tumor in the left frontal lobe.
Jason worked in pharma for years and knew all about brain tumor clinical trials and the urgent need to find experts to manage Tracy’s care. After speaking with different specialists, Tracy had a resection surgery to remove the tumor. The surgery went well, but the surgical team could not diagnose it. “I went from panic to terrified,” recalled Jason.
Tracy and Jason were told by their care team that they needed to postpone further treatment until more was known about the tumor. Three weeks after resection surgery, Tracy woke up throwing up all night. Back at the hospital, her surgical team told her that the tumor had come back. This time, Tracy had a second resection surgery and went straight into brain and spine radiation treatment.
During the first round of chemotherapy, Tracy developed shingles and described the symptoms as more painful than the two brain surgeries. During this time, Tracy could no longer run or coach sports. “Our whole life was upside down,” said Jason.
At the end of 2022, Tracy finished treatment. She wore Optune for 18 months, and took it off in December of 2023. At this point, she and Jason decided to try and enjoy life, rather than live in the shadow of recurrence.
In April 2024, Jason started a coaching practice. Through the coaching, Jason and Tracy connected with many different members of the brain tumor community. Tracy and Jason co-founded, Aware Coaching, a program dedicated to helping families navigate life’s challenges with resilience and purpose.
In September 2024, Tracy’s tumor came back. Her surgical team recommended another resection surgery. “I realized that we had to be aggressive with her treatment,” said Jason. “We started looking into other places and options.”
The Binder family received tremendous support from their community and friends. Neighbors and local church members brought meals, drove their kids to school and sports practices, and even finished the family’s driveway to their new home and built a barn on their property. Through their brain tumor community, Jason found neuro oncologist Dr. Soma Sengupta. “Three different pathways validated her before I even met her,” said Jason.
Because of Tracy’s early treatment, she was no longer a candidate for 80% of the brain tumor clinical trials offered to patients with her diagnosis. However, Dr. Sengupta told Tracy and Jason that she would be a good candidate for the Expanded Access to Gallium Maltolate (GaM) program. The expanded access program is for a new cancer therapy for patients with recurrent glioblastoma. “She was very thoughtful and answered all of our questions,” said Jason.
UNC Health is one of only three centers in the United States that offers this expanded access program. “The Gallium Maltolate expanded access program was one that I found out about through the Musella Foundation and offer the option when other options have been exhausted,” said Dr. Sengupta, Division Chief of Oncology at UNC Health.
Jason and Tracy still wanted to preserve Tracy’s quality of life and allow her to continue doing the things she loves. “Tracy runs four and a half miles a day,” said Jason. “We didn’t want to do in-patient infusions or knock her out. We wanted high quality of life.”
Tracy and Jason also met with neurosurgical oncologist Dr. Dominique Higgins to discuss a precise surgical procedure called LITT. Tracy’s tumor is located on the speech area of the brain, and surgical resection of the tumor could damage her ability to speak. “My mom lost her speech after a brain aneurysm when I was 21,” said Jason. “LITT was precise and non-invasive enough to address the recurrence, get a biopsy, and more genetic insight into the tumor.”
“With Dr. Sengupta’s integrative medicine background, she helped Tracy add food and think about a metabolic approach. She thinks about everything.”
Tracy went in for her LITT procedure with Dr. Higgins. After the procedure, Tracy and Jason waited in the neuro ICU, anxious to be discharged. When the discharge came, Tracy went to the hospital pharmacy while her husband got the car. “Dr. Higgins ran down to the pharmacy to show Tracy the results of her surgery on his phone,” said Jason. “Most surgeons don’t do that. We’ve been impressed by the humility that Dr. Higgins and Dr. Sengupta have shown.”
Now, Tracy will continue as a participant in the expanded access program. Jason continues to advocate for brain tumor patients and is an active member of the brain tumor community, attending local events including the 2025 Weatherspoon Brain Tumor Symposium.
Jason explained that he is able to contact Dr. Sengupta on her cell phone, which is important for brain tumor patients and caregivers. “With UNC, I can call and talk to Dr. Sengupta on her cell, rather than having to go through MyChart,” said Jason. “Nurse navigator Ann Dixon is also very responsive.”
Dr. Sengupta also introduced the Binders to complementary approaches to fight cancer. After her first round of treatment in 2022, Tracy no longer liked the taste of many foods. “With Dr. Sengupta’s integrative medicine background, she helped Tracy add food and think about a metabolic approach,” said Jason. “She thinks about everything.”
Both Dr. Sengupta and Dr. Higgins are researching complementary approaches to fighting cancer. Dr. Higgins studies iron metabolism in glioblastoma, and gallium maltolate depletes the iron in cancer cells making them less able to proliferate. He will conduct a clinical trial evaluating diet and the effect it has on brain tumors.
Dr. Sengupta is researching natural products, an art therapy app to enhance quality of life for brain tumor patients, and opening integrative medicine clinics. “I like to treat the whole patient, so mindfulness, nutrition, alternative therapies, and supplements are areas we discuss,” said Dr. Sengupta. “We are fortunate at UNC to have experts in integrative medicine, for example, Susan Gaylord (mindfulness), Amanda Corbett (supplements, Assistant Dean at the School of Pharmacy, UNC), Aisha Chilcoat (naturopath associated with UNC), and Denise Spector, who offers integrative oncology services at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.”
Tracy still gets nervous going in for her scans, but is comforted by the ability to get ahold of her care team and the exceptional patient care that she experiences at every appointment. Both Jason and Tracy recognize the importance of complementary approaches to fighting cancer, and the positive impact that it can have on patient outcomes. For now, both Tracy and Jason will continue to spend time as a family and continue coaching other brain tumor patients and caregivers through diagnosis and treatment.
Written by Makenzie Hardy, Marketing Coordinator, Department of Neurosurgery