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Why I'm "Here"

I did not choose to be on this Lung Cancer Patient/Advocacy Road; it chose me. Had my late mother not been diagnosed with late stage inoperable lung cancer, I can say with a fair amount of certainty, I would not be on this road. We never considered the possibility of lung cancer because we did not know the facts. Lung Cancer is Not Just for Smokers.
I became an advocate because I did not want one other family to face the shock that our family did. NO ONE IS IMMUNE from a lung cancer diagnosis. My goal is to empower people with information in order to give them a fighting chance. My goal is to reframe the issue of lung cancer in order to address the social stigma currently associated with the disease. My goal is to support increased lung cancer research to find the cure.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Personalized Medicine

Last week I was in Boston attending the 5th annual Personalized Medicine conference, subtitled: The Time is Now. The event was once again held at the Martin Conference Center of the Harvard Medical School. Raju Kacherlapati and his team once again did an incredible job; over 600 people in attendance.
There is momentum; there is a need to bring this subject to the forefront of people's consciousness because I believe, as a patient advocate, that making personalized medicine a reality will result in better outcomes for patients, that cancer as a disease calls for personalization, and that costs will be reduced.
One of the most interesting presentations, for me, came from Jon Friedenberg, VP of El Camino Hospital in California. This is a community hospital that is making genetic testing available to its patients, that is dealing with cost factors and that is achieving wellness for its customers.
More to come on this subject.
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