Episodes
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
How Diet and Lifestyle Influence Your Breast Cancer Risk with Dr. Graham Colditz
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
Can cancers resulting from lifestyle choices be preventable? What foods should you be eating to reduce your risk of breast cancer? And what non-lifestyle decisions should be considered when looking to reduce their risk?
Dr. Graham Colditz, a BCRF investigator since 2004, has spent decades diving into these questions and more. Dr. Colditz is an internationally recognized leader in cancer prevention. As an epidemiologist and public health expert, he has a longstanding interest in the preventable causes of chronic disease, particularly among women. He is also interested in strategies to speed translation of research findings to prevention strategies that work.
Tuesday Dec 21, 2021
BCRF’s 2021 Boston Hot Pink Symposium
Tuesday Dec 21, 2021
Tuesday Dec 21, 2021
BCRF’s annual Boston Hot Pink Luncheon and Symposium convenes the Foundation’s dedicated New England–based supporters to honor the area’s investigators and raise additional funds for lifesaving breast cancer research.
This year’s virtual program included an outstanding expert panel of BCRF investigators, moderated by BCRF Scientific Director Dr. Judy Garber. The panelists discussed novel breast cancer therapies and what’s on the horizon in research. The symposium panelists included Dr. Melinda Irwin, Dr. Elizabeth Mittendorf, and Dr. Dennis Sgroi.
We’re proud to make their discussion available in this special episode of Investigating Breast Cancer.
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Breast Cancer Research with Dr. Connie Lehman
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Effective medicine has always relied on clear and verifiable diagnoses. Of course, for patients, the wait and uncertainty of diagnostics can be especially trying.
BCRF investigator since 2019, Dr. Connie Lehman, is among the scientists and practitioners trying to change that. And she’s doing it in myriad ways to drastically reduce wait times and detect cancers earlier. Dr. Lehman is a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, and chief of Breast Imaging and co-director of the Avon Comprehensive Breast Evaluation Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Friday Nov 12, 2021
Friday Nov 12, 2021
Can breast cancer be found with a blood test? What role do genes and proteins play in developing cancer? What, exactly, are personalized diagnostics? We spoke with BCRF investigator Dr. Joshua LaBaer to answer these questions and more.
Dr. LaBaer is one of the country’s foremost investigators in personalized medicine. He serves as executive director of the Biodesign Institute, director of the Biodesign Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics, and the Dalton Endowed Chair of Cancer Research at Arizona State University. Dr. LaBaer's research involves discovering and validating biomarkers to detect cancer and other diseases early.
Thursday Oct 14, 2021
Understanding Global Breast Cancer Disparities with Dr. Temidayo Fadelu
Thursday Oct 14, 2021
Thursday Oct 14, 2021
While academic and medical research has led to incredible breakthroughs in breast cancer care—including new treatments and screening methods—these advances have not reached every patient in every corner of the globe. With breast cancer now the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world, it’s critical that lifesaving advances are deployed more equitably and universally—especially to women and men in lower-income and -resource countries. Dr. Fadelu discussed his work that lies at the intersection of breast cancer and global health services research
Each year, BCRF underwrites several grants to breast cancer researchers in partnership with Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation. Dr. Temidayo Fadelu recently received the Career Development Award for Diversity, Inclusion and Breast Cancer Disparities. His BCRF-supported project aims to improve adherence to endocrine therapies among patients in Rwanda and Haiti.
Wednesday Sep 01, 2021
Unraveling the Mysteries of Inherited Gene Mutations with Dr. Ephrat Levy-Lahad
Wednesday Sep 01, 2021
Wednesday Sep 01, 2021
How can genetic testing data encourage prevention and agency without amplifying personal fear? What can research reveal about genetic markers of risk and predisposition? Or, put differently, how can understanding one’s inherited risk improve approaches to precision prevention?
Dr. Ephrat Levy-Lahad is on the forefront of this research, focusing on breast cancer–associated genetic mutations among various populations, including Arab and Ashkenazi Jewish women. She is a professor of internal medicine and medical genetics at Hebrew University and director of the Medical Genetics Institute at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
Friday Jul 30, 2021
Perfecting and Personalizing Risk Assessment with Dr. Katherine Nathanson
Friday Jul 30, 2021
Friday Jul 30, 2021
While breast cancer is not typically caused by inherited factors, as many as 10-15 percent of people diagnosed with breast cancer carry a known genetic mutation. The most well-known mutations are in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. But these only account for 5-10 percent of inherited breast cancers, so what about the many other gene mutations that increase a person’s risk of breast cancer? Also, what does this mean not only for genetic testing—but also how we should consider results? More significantly, what effect might this have on the personalization of risk?
We talk with BCRF investigator and cancer geneticist Dr. Katherine Nathanson to answer these questions.
Thursday Jun 10, 2021
New Approaches to Reducing Repeat Breast Cancer Surgeries with Dr. Mehra Golshan
Thursday Jun 10, 2021
Thursday Jun 10, 2021
There are many challenges in managing breast cancer. Top among them is the fact that initial breast conserving surgeries often miss vestiges of a patient’s tumor. In fact, up to 40 percent of women require another procedure following lumpectomy. Not only can additional surgery, of course, increase a patient’s anxiety and be physically taxing, but it can cause delays in critical subsequent treatments like chemotherapy and radiation.
So, why is that rate so high? Why is properly identifying the tumor so difficult? Most importantly: What can be done to reduce repeat surgeries? Dr. Mehra Golshan is working to uncover answers to these questions.
A BCRF investigator since 2014, Dr. Golshan is the deputy chief medical officer for surgical services and director of the Breast Cancer Program for the Yale Cancer Center, Smilow Cancer Hospital, and Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Centers.
Thursday May 13, 2021
Thursday May 13, 2021
How do you measure quality of life? As researchers across fields discover new drug therapies or disease prevention—in breast cancer as well as other fields—science finds innumerable ways to measure physical results. But what about the social, behavioral, and psychological aspects of cancer care? And how should medical providers discuss such realties with patients?
This is just one area of extraordinary impact that Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield has made in medicine. Dame Lesley is professor of psycho-oncology at Brighton & Sussex Medical School at the University of Sussex where she is director of the Sussex Health Outcomes Research & Education in Cancer group.
She has been a BCRF Investigator since 2016—the same year she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for services to psycho-oncology.
Thursday Feb 25, 2021
Understanding Radiation Resistance and Barriers to Quality Care with Dr. Lori Pierce
Thursday Feb 25, 2021
Thursday Feb 25, 2021
For so many breast cancer patients, radiation therapy can bring extraordinary benefits—top among them improved survival rates and reduced recurrence. But there are also challenges and questions: Why do some people experience a recurrence after treatment? How can we reduce side effects? How can we ensure the right patients receive radiation therapy—and that the treatment works as well as possible?
These are among the many medical mysteries to which Dr. Lori Pierce, BCRF investigator since 2003, has dedicated her career to answering.