BACK of the BOOK
Heard in the Blogosphere
Extreme Weather, Extreme Devotion
In late August, Hurricane Harvey devastated the Houston
area, and, just two weeks later, Hurricane Irma hit Florida.
During the extreme weather and closures, devoted staff at
hospitals and health-care centers in these areas weathered
the storm to care for patients. Below are some Tweets
shared by employees from Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer
Center, Tampa’s Moffitt Cancer Center, and Miami’s Sylvester
Comprehensive Cancer Center, which were among the
health-care facilities affected by the storms.
Karen Lu, MD
@karenluMD
Incredible devotion and teamwork from all here on
@MDAndersonNews rideout team. Our patients are safe.
#houstonstrong
Anisa J. Meraz
@ajmeraz147
Just one third of the team on G12
Leukemia holding it down during
rideout for #HurricaneHarvey
@MDAndersonNews day 5!
Kim Littles, RN
@iamMrsLittles
@MDAndersonNews This is what
resilience looks like. #Harvey2017
#HemeDreamTeam
The ‘Business-ization’ of Biomedical
Science
“More money is not enough to create better science. Indeed, the
scientific enterprise has been betrayed by the mismanagement of its
financial support. … The infusion of [research] funds increased the
scientific workforce and the number of products marketed to scientists,
but did little to boost excellence. It brought about a ‘quantity, not
quality’ approach that is the antithesis of what science should be
about. It fueled an idea that academic science is a business that has to
sustain constant yearly growth. This ‘business-ization’ of science, with
its emphasis on job creation and translatability, is undermining the
freedom of ideas that allows huge, often unpredictable, progress.”
—Michele Pagano, MD, on the unfortunate side effects of running
biomedical science as a business in Nature
The Invisible Cancer Population
MD Anderson
@MDAndersonNews
We’re grateful to our volunteers from @UTSWNews
@BannerHealth @OhioHealth @NorthwellHealth helping us
the next few weeks. #mdandersonstrong
Naveen Pemmaraju, MD
@doctorpemm
Thinking of our colleagues,
patients & families @MoffittNews &
@SylvesterCancer in path of #Irma
| We stand ready to help
@MDAndersonNews
Stephen D. Nimer, MD
@DrSDNimer
Exhausted @SylvesterCancer
nurses finishing 3 day shift!!
So proud of them & amazing
teams who kept our patients
safe!!
“I thought I knew enough about how cancer ‘worked.’ I was wrong.
I didn’t know anything until after becoming that rare anomaly who
was ‘too old’ to be considered a kid and ‘too young’ for adult cancer
protocols. I was the outlier on a graph sheet, not a person fighting for
her life. … A cancer diagnosis between [ages] 15 and 39 comes with a
lifetime of increased medical expenses and twice the lost productivity
compared to peers without a cancer history. … Surviving is just the
beginning for the invisible adolescent or young adult impacted by cancer.
Oncology teams, cancer systems, industry leaders, and government
bodies all have a role to play by acknowledging that adolescents and
young adults can and do get cancer. It’s time to ensure every American,
no matter their age, can survive and thrive after a cancer diagnosis.”
—Kate Yglesias Houghton, president and CEO of Critical Mass: The Young Adult Cancer Alliance, shares her
experiences as a young adult diagnosed with leukemia in The Huffington Post
Cancer Is ‘Natural,’ the Best Treatments
Aren’t
“It is human nature to believe that anything that is ‘all natural’ is
intrinsically good. That line of thought can lead people astray. The
truth is, cancer is all natural. … ‘Natural’ treatments with few side
effects appear irresistible when compared to surgery, chemotherapy,
and radiation. But it is almost impossible for most people to know
beforehand that these natural remedies won’t do anything for their
cancer. If the cancer returns, they are more likely to blame the cancer
rather than the ineffective natural remedies they received. … There’s no
doubt that alternative medicine can play important roles in cancer care.
Making a decision about treating cancer shouldn’t be based solely on a
natural versus unnatural algorithm. We should focus on making choices
that realistically have the best chance to help us. Sometimes, the
‘unnatural’ option is the best one.”
—Suneel D. Kamath, MD, weighs the risks and benefits of natural and
alternative cancer treatment in STAT News
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ASH Clinical News
October 2017