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By Elaine Schattner, MD, on May 11th, 2012
 Last week the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) held its annual summit. The meeting drew over 600 women to its opening rally in a Crystal City ballroom on Saturday, along with students who participated in sessions for Emerging Leaders, and a few men who joined in lectures and panels, and lobbied on Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
The NBCC aims to get HR 3067, the Accelerating the End of Breast Cancer Act, passed by the House of Representatives and, ultimately, into law. The bill ties in with Deadline 2020 and with the conference theme: “It’s Time.”
The opening rally, organized in the style of a political convention, was lively. When I entered, participants – or “activists,” as they might be called – were rocking to Three Dog Night’s Joy to the World. Attendees congregated by state and region. Most wore festive garments and signs over black tee shirts carrying the Deadline logo: women from Maine wore
See more The NBCC Holds Annual Summit and Pushes for Deadline 2020
By Elaine Schattner, MD, on April 30th, 2012
 The 10 molecular BC categories bear prognostic (survival) information and, based on their distinct mutations and gene expression patterns, potential targets for novel drugs.…I wonder if, in a few years, some breast cancers might be treated without surgery.
See more 10 Newly-Defined Molecular Types of Breast Cancer in Nature, and a Dream
By Elaine Schattner, MD, on April 10th, 2012
 If a drug helps, keep it going; if it hurts, stop. There are so many algorithms in medicine, and molecular tools, but maybe the bottom line is how the, one, your patient is doing.
See more The Outlier’s Message, and Evolutionary Science in Breast Cancer
By Elaine Schattner, MD, on April 3rd, 2012
Few forms of invasive breast cancer warrant no treatment unless the patient is so old that she is likely to die first of another condition, or the patient prefers to die of the disease.…“Mammograms Spot Cancers That May Not Be Dangerous,” said WebMD, yesterday. This is feel-good news, and largely wishful.
See more New Article on Mammography Spawns False Hope That Breast Cancer is Not a Dangerous Disease
By Elaine Schattner, MD, on April 1st, 2012
 This week’s New Yorker profiles Christine Quinn, Speaker of the NYC City Council. I don’t know Ms. Quinn personally, so I was glad for the likely fact-checked bio of the woman who might be my next mayor.
NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn marching in a Gay Pride event on Staten Island, June 2008 (Wikimedia Commons)
It turns out that Quinn lost her mother to breast cancer when she was 16 years old. This interests me at several levels. Surely, the life-long effects of such a loss vary among souls — from bitterness to ambition to kindliness. I don’t know if the Speaker holds particular sympathies for BC causes, or gives to cancer-related agencies. I wonder if she’s a little more concerned about environmental toxins that might contribute to disease, or a touch more generous than the next NYC resident in her attitude, generally, about people who are sick and need care. But this is conjecture, nothing more.
She’s
See more Reading on Christine Quinn, Who Might Become NYC Mayor, and Public Health
By Elaine Schattner, MD, on March 27th, 2012
 Profit is not what medical care is about, or should be about. What we need is a simple, national health plan, Europe-style, available to everyone, with minimal paperwork and, yes, limits to care.
See more Why I Support Health Care Reform
By Elaine Schattner, MD, on March 15th, 2012
The new findings have no bearing on whether or not cancer screening is cost-effective or life-saving. What the study does suggest is that med school math requirements should be upped and rigorous, counter to the trend
See more What Does it Mean if Primary Care Doctors Get the Answers Wrong About Screening Stats?
By Elaine Schattner, MD, on March 6th, 2012
 In this new climate of shame, it’s easy to imagine a girl might feel really, really bad about herself simply for being sexually active.
See more Harsh Words, and Women’s Health at Risk
By Elaine Schattner, MD, on February 28th, 2012
 My take is that periodic colonoscopy has the potential to halve the number of deaths from colon cancer in the general population…As to how colonoscopy relates to fecal blood testing as a screening method at the population level, and the optimal start and frequency of either test, those remain uncertain.
See more New Studies on Colon Cancer Screening by Colonoscopy and Fecal Blood Testing
By Elaine Schattner, MD, on February 17th, 2012
 The movie, based in part on the true story of scriptwriter Will Reiser, surprised me by its candor. Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt smoothly portrays Adam Lerner, who soon finds out he has cancer. The opening scene
See more 50–50, A Serious Film About a Young Man With a Rare Cancer
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