Everyone deserves great care - everyone, everywhere

A breast cancer diagnosis can make it feel like your life has been turned upside down overnight. Within days, many women find themselves facing difficult questions: Do I need a mastectomy? Can I keep my breast? What happens to my lymph nodes? Should I consider reconstruction? What surprises many patients is how much breast cancer surgery has changed. A generation ago, treatment often meant removing the entire breast and many lymph nodes under the arm. Today, surgery is far mo

Most breast cancer isn't inherited. But for a meaningful minority of patients, a single inherited gene mutation dramatically raises the risk, and knowing about it in advance can change the entire course of someone's life. As a surgical oncologist, some of the most powerful conversations I have are with patients learning, often for the first time, that their family history is a message worth decoding. What Is BRCA1 and BRCA2? BRCA1 and BRCA2 are genes that normally help repair

You may have learned, years ago, a rigid, calendar-based routine for checking your breasts. That specific technique has fallen out of formal guidelines, mostly because studies didn't show it reduced deaths on its own. But here's what hasn't changed: knowing what's normal for your body, and noticing when something changes, still saves lives. This is called breast self-awareness, and it works alongside, not instead of, your regular mammograms. What Is Breast Self-Awareness? It'

Breast cancer does not treat every woman in America the same way. Not because of biology, but because of access, bias, and a healthcare system that has historically served some communities far better than others. Four groups carry a disproportionate share of this burden: Black, Native American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Latina women. The size of the gap is not equal across these groups, and it shouldn't be flattened into one generic statement. Here is what the dat

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and you'll see pink ribbons everywhere. But behind the ribbons is a statistic that should stop you cold: Black women are about 5% less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than White women, yet roughly 38% more likely to die from it. Black women have a 38% higher risk of dying from breast cancer, compared to White women, even though Black women have a 5% lower likelihood of being diagnosed with breast cancer. This isn't a story a

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men, other than skin cancer. About 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed in their lifetime. Yet many men never have a conversation with their doctor about screening, often because they don't know it's a decision they get to make. Prostate cancer screening starts with a simple blood test called the PSA test. Here's what every man should know about it. What Is a PSA Test? PSA stands for prostate-specific antigen, a protein made by th

For years, women heard conflicting advice about mammograms. Start at 40? Wait until 50? Every year or every other year? The confusion kept many women from getting screened at all. Here's the good news: the guidance is now much clearer. And the most important change is simple. Breast cancer screening starts at 40. Why the Guidelines Changed In 2024, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force updated its recommendation. It now advises that all women at average risk get a mammogram

If you're 45 or older and haven't been screened for colorectal cancer, this post is for you. And if you've been putting it off because you dread the colonoscopy, you may be glad to hear that it's not your only option. As a surgical oncologist, I've operated on many patients whose cancers could have been prevented or caught much earlier with a simple screening test. Colorectal cancer is one of the few cancers we can stop before it starts. Screening finds precancerous growths c

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States. It claims more lives than colon, breast, and prostate cancer combined. Yet most people who qualify for lung cancer screening have never been screened. Many don't even know the test exists. That needs to change, because screening works. When lung cancer is found early, before it causes symptoms, the chance of a cure is dramatically higher. What Is Lung Cancer Screening? Lung cancer screening uses a low-dose

Screening mammogram - important and possibly life-saving when cancer is detected early Most breast cancers are found before they can be felt — not by accident, but because someone showed up for a mammogram on a day that felt entirely ordinary. That's the quiet power of screening: catching disease before it announces itself. Why This Actually Matters Cancers found early are easier to treat, survival rates climb sharply, fewer patients need aggressive therapy, and overall morta

Cancer care isn't just about having the right treatment available — it's about whether a patient can actually reach it, afford it, understand it, and trust the people delivering it. When any of those pieces breaks down, the treatment might exist, but it might as well not. Barriers to care contribute directly to delayed diagnosis, reduced treatment access, and poorer outcomes across marginalized communities — and they rarely show up alone. They stack. The Major Barriers, All a

A missed colonoscopy. A delayed mammogram. A follow-up appointment that never happens — not because someone didn't care, but because the nearest cancer center was two hours away, the car wasn't reliable, and taking a full day off work wasn't an option. Transportation is one of the most overlooked, and most common, reasons patients miss screening, delay diagnosis, or fall out of treatment entirely. Screening mammograms save lives What "Transportation Barriers" Actually Means L

Cancer screening has a simple job: find disease before it becomes dangerous. But that only works if screening actually reaches everyone equally — and right now, it doesn't. Screening gaps are one of the single strongest drivers of late-stage cancer diagnosis, and they fall disproportionately on Indigenous, Black, rural, and low-income populations. Where the Gaps Show Up Lower mammography rates. Lower colonoscopy and FIT test participation. Lower lung cancer screening eligibil

Bias doesn't always announce itself. It rarely looks like open hostility. More often, it looks like a shorter appointment, a rushed explanation, an assumption about whether a patient can afford treatment or will follow through with it — small moments that add up to very different care for different people. Provider bias, conscious or not, shapes communication, decision-making, referrals, and treatment recommendations. And it contributes directly to cancer disparities across I

Nobody chooses cancer. But too often, patients are forced to choose how much cancer care they can afford — and that choice can be the difference between early detection and late-stage disease, between the standard treatment and a diluted version of it. Financial barriers touch every stage of cancer care: screening, diagnosis, treatment, and the long road of survivorship. They affect patients across every community, but land hardest on those already carrying the most. What "Fi

Picture holding a pathology report full of words like "invasive," "poorly differentiated," and "lymphovascular invasion" — with no one to translate what any of it actually means for you. That gap between what's written and what's understood is called health literacy, and it may be one of the strongest predictors of how well someone survives cancer. Low health literacy isn't about intelligence. It's about systemic communication failures: rushed appointments, dense medical jarg

Every new cancer drug, every breakthrough therapy, every treatment protocol that saves lives tomorrow — it all starts in a clinical trial today. Which raises an uncomfortable question: if certain communities are consistently left out of those trials, are we building tomorrow's medicine for everyone, or just for some? Clinical trial disparities occur when certain populations face lower participation, limited access, or reduced eligibility for cancer research. The consequences

Numbers rarely tell the whole story, and nowhere is that more true than in Indigenous cancer care. Indigenous peoples across First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities often have lower cancer incidence than the general population — and yet face higher mortality. That contradiction is the story. It's not that Indigenous communities get more cancer. It's that when cancer arrives, it's too often caught late, treated in environments that don't feel safe, and unsupported by a hea

Imagine needing a colonoscopy, but the nearest gastroenterologist is two hours away, your job doesn't offer paid time off, and the weather might make the drive dangerous half the year. For millions of people in rural America, that's not a hypothetical — it's Tuesday. Rural communities face higher cancer mortality, lower screening rates, and dramatically reduced access to oncology specialists. It's not that rural patients get sicker cancers. It's that distance itself becomes a