In this episode, two American Cancer Society grantees discuss recent findings related to how breast cancer patients feel about de-escalating chemotherapy as well as a new paper on comorbidities in breast cancer patients. The first half of the conversation is not necessarily technical, but it’s geared for a scientific audience. The second half is a more general discussion for a lay audience.

Avonne Connor, PhD, is a breast cancer epidemiologist focused on health disparities research. She is Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Oncology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and has a joint appointment at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. She recently published findings in the journal Cancer on “Comorbidities and the risk of cardiovascular disease mortality among racially diverse patients with breast cancer:” https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.33530

Gabrielle Rocque, MD, is a breast medical oncologist and health services researcher with an interest in quality and value in health care delivery. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine at The University of Alabama at Birmingham with joint appointments in hematology and oncology as well as gerontology, geriatrics, and palliative care. Her recent paper in Cancer Medicine was on “Patient perspectives on chemotherapy de‐escalation in breast cancer:” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cam4.3891

3:02 – Dr. Rocque shares takeaways from her recent study on patients’ “interest in de-escalation trial participation, perceived barriers/facilitators to participation, and language describing de-escalation”

8:44 – How the pandemic influenced patients’ decisions

10:58 – How she became interested in exploring patient perspectives on de-escalating treatment

12:44 – Dr. Connor discusses findings on “associations between newly diagnosed comorbidities and the risk of cardiovascular disease mortality among (breast cancer) patients”

20:36 – Dr. Rocque reacts to the paper and asks, “Where do we go from here in terms of interventions?”

24:40 – On how a cancer diagnosis can prompt patients to reflect on their lives and how they can take care of their health

27:55 – Dr. Connor talks about how rewarding and exciting it is to train a postdoctoral fellow

29:39 – Dr. Rocque on her passion – how do we provide the best supportive care to patients, and how do we integrate research and clinical care?

30:50 – How American Cancer Society funding impacted their research and careers