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Pandemic

A New Simpler Blood Test To Screen For Colorectal Cancer May Help Save More Lives

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains one of the most common and deadly forms of cancer in the United States. That sobering reality is in no small part because we don’t do enough screening to find the cancer at its earliest stages when it is most treatable or find and remove a colon polyp before it turns into cancer. Despite all the awareness and all the attention, we don’t get enough folks screened. For almost all of us who are 45 years of age and older and are at average risk of the disease (meaning we don’t have a strong family history,… Read More »A New Simpler Blood Test To Screen For Colorectal Cancer May Help Save More Lives

Message From “The Deathclock”: “Your Time Has Expired.” Really???

“I am sorry, but your time has expired. Have a nice day!” Nope, not a friendly message from a parking meter app. This was from Deathclock.com, a site that purports to tell folks their predicted date of death based primarily on their date of birth. Mine was May 3, 2020 according to “the clock”. Uh, I don’t think so… Clearly—and fortunately for me as I write this blog—the date was more than a little off. Frankly, predicting a date of death is not something to laugh about. Too many folks facing serious illnesses deal with the burden of their mortality… Read More »Message From “The Deathclock”: “Your Time Has Expired.” Really???

How We Deliver Cancer Care: Time For A Change?

One cannot ignore that fundamental change is coming to how we deliver cancer care. And although we don’t know how all of this will work out, we should be concerned that with change we run the risk there will be folks who could be left behind. And that is not a good thing. This past week’s annual conference for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network—an organization I admire for its efforts to keep cancer treatment guidelines up to date in real time—gave some hint as to how these shifts are taking hold. Usually this is a meeting chock full of updates… Read More »How We Deliver Cancer Care: Time For A Change?

March Is National Colorectal Cancer Month. So What Are We Going To Do About It?

March is National Colorectal Cancer Month, a month devoted to bringing attention to the third most common cancer in men and women, as well as the third most common cause of cancer deaths in each birth gender. Screening and improvements in treatment for colorectal cancer (CRC) have proven effective in reducing both incidence and death from the disease, yet despite the considerable progress that has been made over the past 30 years we still have a long way to go if we are to further reduce that burden. We often say that we want to make progress in cancer treatment,… Read More »March Is National Colorectal Cancer Month. So What Are We Going To Do About It?

An Actionable Framework to Address Cancer Care Disparities: A Call To Action

Health equity has been top of mind for many this past year, in large part because of the impact of the pandemic especially on people of color and underserved communities. Now that we recognize that health equity is not a reality for far too many, the question remains what are we actually going to do to make certain that everyone has the tools they need to pursue a life of health and healthy behaviors? And more specifically, what are we going to do in the cancer care sphere—from prevention to diagnosis to treatment to end-of-life care—to address the glaring inequities… Read More »An Actionable Framework to Address Cancer Care Disparities: A Call To Action

Getting Back To Cancer Screening: It’s Time To Give Priority To Those Most In Need, Not Those With The Loudest Voice

“How will be certain coming out the pandemic that those who should be a priority for cancer screenings based on risk and need in fact get to the head of the line? And how will we be certain that those who lack voice in the healthcare system are heard and their needs addressed?” That was the question I asked frequently a year ago as we went into the initial shutdown phase as a result of COVID-19. It was a time when there was fear and a lack of understanding about the pandemic, when resources had to be shifted to acute… Read More »Getting Back To Cancer Screening: It’s Time To Give Priority To Those Most In Need, Not Those With The Loudest Voice

The Tragic Anniversary of COVID-19

It is hard to believe it was just a year ago when all of this started. And now to realize that after everything that we have gone through we are still not near the end of the journey. One year ago I had just started having conversations with knowledgeable colleagues about the threat of this new potentially fatal virus. It was the beginning with cases of a new viral illness reported out of China, a killer virus that was still very much a theoretical threat of what could happen here in the United States.  The back-of-the-envelope COVID-19 death projections we… Read More »The Tragic Anniversary of COVID-19

COVID Truth In A Post-Truth World: Is It Another Big Lie?

“Biden’s Covid-19 Plan Is Maddeningly Obvious: You can’t help but wonder why the Trump administration left so many of these things undone.” That’s the headline for Ezra Klein’s opinion column in today’s New York Times. It is a question many have been pondering for months. And although I had a thought as to why it was so, I didn’t want to share because at its heart it was so outrageous and unbelievable:  Maybe, just maybe, it was all intentional. They planned it this way. It was—simply put—another “Big Lie.” Why was this Big Lie also so successful? Just think where… Read More »COVID Truth In A Post-Truth World: Is It Another Big Lie?