I am a medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer. I often try to conceal what I do for a living when I meet people for the first time as it always leads down a particular road. “Is that so depressing? I don’t know how to deal with that all day, every day.” But in truth, it …
The most valuable lessons in life can be learned in oncology
I love breast cancer awareness month. As a breast medical oncologist, it gives me an opportunity to spread the message of how important early detection is for improving the success of breast cancer treatment. I am surprised regularly at the number of women who either are not doing mammography at all or who do it every couple of years when they remember. We know that women who are participating in …
This October, share the message of early breast cancer detection
I see more and more patients decline to participate in clinical trials. Simultaneously, I hear patient advocates on the national stage clamoring for better trial access. Why the disconnect?
Let’s explore 7 reasons why clinical trial participation is right for you:
1. The smartest minds in medicine designed this for you. Clinical trials are not designed by one doctor on the fly. Most oncology drugs have been studied for at least six years …
Scared of clinical trials? 7 reasons to not be.
In 2017, results of a study were published in JAMA suggesting women are better doctors than men. While I celebrated the acknowledgment for myself and my female physician peers, it prompted me to reflect on how my gender impacts how I practice medicine. Reflection kept bringing me back to a simple truth: my …
Where physician and mother meet
As an oncologist, I spend my days with women and men diagnosed with cancer. My patients, particularly my advanced-stage or Stage 4 (metastatic) patients, often ask what they did wrong. How did they end up with metastatic cancer? They share with me the subtle accusations made by friends, family and acquaintances that somehow they brought this on themselves. “If only Susan had done her screening mammograms faithfully, she never would …
The only perfect cancer statistic is an imperfect one
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