journalist

Doctors today generally caution against framing malignancy as an enemy that one must personally defeat...

No question about cancer is more contentious than its causes...

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By speaking up, advocates at the meeting have shifted the direction of breast cancer research. Some are alive, improbably, as a consequence of new treatments enabled and promoted by their advocacy. ...

These results have the potential to reduce overtreatment of breast cancer—stopping patients’ unnecessary exposure to chemotherapy—in a large fraction of cases...

For patients with metastatic breast cancer, doctors don’t yet know how to predict long-term responses to this PARP drug...

What’s at issue is the right of all cancer patients—regardless of wealth—to obtain high-quality information about their conditions...

Social media does have its advantages for patients. But once you post about your medical condition, you can’t take it back...

Few doctors, even oncologists who subspecialize, can keep up with developments in the field...

The paradigm for using chemo first to treat advanced breast cancer may change, as we gain experience with these new drugs...

Before choosing any treatment after genetic testing, hit the pause button. Ask questions. Get a second opinion...

Perhaps the literature fails to capture the clinical value of oncology drugs. This could happen for several reasons...

Her disclosure reflects on the positive impact of awareness, the unfortunate frequency of breast cancer, and benefits of having medical insurance...

A new type of cancer medication, called PARP inhibitors, is gaining traction in clinical practice...

Language can be a powerful tool in medicine. As with physical remedies, there are potential harms and risks to consider, but potential upsides, too...

I hope for the future that other brilliant minds will have found and implemented ways to prevent most breast cancers, established accurate methods to detect it early, and developed better treatments, aimed at cures...

Who should decide when evidence for a drug sufficient to support a patient’s decision to give it a try?...

“Medicine is rapidly falling behind business in the accrual of high-quality evidence,” Califf said...

Now, there’s ample data to assuage most concerns. Among 1207 women with breast cancer before age 50, those who later delivered babies experienced no more likelihood of recurrence than did those who didn’t bear more children...

“This tool brings us closer to the country doctor model,” Basch said. “I never thought that survival would be impacted.”...

  The key to the positive results is molecular matching. Patients received larotrectinib, a TRK inhibitor, only if their cancers were marked by a switch…It’s a perfect example of how precision medicine can benefit patients with rare conditions...

The FDA’s accelerated approval of this drug might surprise traditional oncologists. It suggests the agency may be ditching an archaic system for classifying cancers based on body parts—like breast or liver or colon cancer—and instead will focus...

Metastatic breast cancer patients represent a significant group within the U.S. population who live with a chronic or terminal condition and stand to benefit from new treatments...

None of 42 experienced radiologists recalled having seen a single case of breast cancer vanish or regress without treatment...

My enthusiasm for this new drug, Stivarga, is tempered by the low response rate and toxicity...

What’s most compelling about the new movie is that it illuminates the patient, Henrietta Lacks, and renders her unforgettable...

It’s possible that tumor mutation burden (TMB) predicts if cancer―of any type―will respond to treatment with immune drugs, but this remains to be tested...

Lynparza—a PARP inhibitor taken as an oral tablet, daily— keeps qualified cases of advanced ovarian cancer in check for two years, as compared to placebo...

In this article, I reflect on the circumstances that led me to stop practicing medicine—work that I loved—and why the health of experienced doctors should be valued, and protected. Here’s the full article and podcast...

Dancing for cancer may seem a crazy idea, paradoxical, and wildly inefficient as a fundraising scheme. But it’s become the thing to do, a good karma-generating phenomenon, and year-round source of pride for the Penn State community...

Is there such a thing as statistical gas-lighting?...

My worry for Grail is that a lot of people will get worked up upon finding genetic changes of unknown significance. Meanwhile, it might fail to detect cancer in people who really have it...

Can you perform a sentinel lymph node biopsy, and avoid removing all of the glands from my armpit?...

The question for the new year is not if there’s reason to exercise, or to modify your habits, but if you want to do so...

Are unbridled profits necessary to drive medical innovation and progress?...

The new agent, a monoclonal antibody to CD22 with a toxin attached, is manufactured by Pfizer. It’s called inotuzumab ozogamicin...