About the Author

Dr. Schattner knows what it’s like on either side of the doctor’s desk.

Dr. Elaine Schattner is a trained oncol­ogist, hema­tol­ogist, medical edu­cator and jour­nalist who writes and speaks on med­icine. Her views on health care are informed by her expe­ri­ences as a patient with sco­l­iosis since childhood and other con­di­tions including breast cancer. She is a fierce advocate for patients’ rights and informed medical decisions.

After grad­u­ating from Yale College she earned a medical degree at the New York Uni­versity School of Med­icine in 1987. She com­pleted a res­i­dency in Internal Med­icine and com­bined fel­lowship in Hema­tology and Medical Oncology at the New York Pres­by­terian Hos­pital. Prior to 2006, she cared for patients on the oncology unit, directed the hema­tology clinic and served as an attending physician at the hospital’s out­pa­tient breast cancer center. As a faculty member at Weill Cornell Medical College, she ran an NIH-​​funded cancer immunology lab, authored sci­en­tific papers and lec­tured on lym­phoma, cell sig­naling and death pathways. She taught medical stu­dents, res­i­dents and fellows in hema­tology (blood dis­eases), oncology (cancer) and internal medicine.

Now, she is a Clinical Asso­ciate Pro­fessor of Med­icine at Weill Cornell Medical College, where she teaches part-​​time. She is now a Fellow-​​elect of the American College of Physi­cians, a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, a Fellow of the New York Academy of Med­icine and a Dis­tin­guished Member Emeritus of the American Society of Hematology.

Elaine is an inde­pendent jour­nalist whose work has appeared in the Atlantic, Slate, the New York Times, Sci­en­tific American, Cure Mag­azine and the New York Observer. She has a column on the Huff­ington Post. Her work at Medical Lessons has been fea­tured in the ACP Internist, the Pre­pared Patient Forum, the Health Care Blog, and else­where. She is a member of the Society of Pro­fes­sional Jour­nalists and Asso­ci­ation of Health Care Journalists.

She’s a wife and mother who likes to read, cook, swim and travel.

Contact: Medical<dot>Lessons<at>gmail<dot>com

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Other Work by ES

Talks, Radio, Interviews