Fumiko Ladd Chino, MD, FASCO
@fumikochino
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#RadOnc. Reformed Artist. Cancer Widow. I study #FinancialToxicity #Access #Equity @MDAndersonNews 📲me COI https://t.co/NoevEyYBhy
Houston, TX
Joined January 2009
"For both patients and providers, prior authorization can feel like an unfair game they are designed to lose.". Honored to work w/ Dr @NathanAGray on a graphic op-ed out now @USATODAY on how #PriorAuth can leave some patients literally dying in pain.
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@akilahgreen @acweyand My mom had the highest GPA in her HS class but for some reason there was no valedictorian her year. 🧑🏻🎓.
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When you died from cancer at 28, the light went out for me. You were going to change the world with your brilliance. My plans (wife, artist, mother) had to change. We were always a team, so now 11 yrs later I'm a cancer doctor. trying to change the world. #ShareAStoryInOneTweet.
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💡Many cancers develop despite excellent "life long health decisions". I spent all day telling my patients that #cancer is NOT their fault. Can we reduce cancer risk? Yes. Can we PREVENT cancer? No.
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Simple #TipsforNewDocs:.1) Introduce yourself & your role to everyone in room.2) never assume relationships, (verify spouse, kid, friend).3) SIT DOWN (no chair? GET A CHAIR).4) Speak in plain language (oncologist = cancer doctor).5) “what ?s do you have” is better than “any ?s”.
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I have fielded insults (“Really? This is what you consider research? No better ideas?”) for doing this study. Physicians make fun that @JAMAOnc felt it was important enough to publish. But parking costs have real negative effects on patients & families.👇.
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Too often people are #underinsured and financially burdened by the cost of #cancer care. Faced with a choice between their money and their lives, some patients lose both. Proud of our #graphicmedicine OP-ED in @latimes @NathanAGray #financialtoxicity.
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We have a #cancerbell but I also privately give my patients a hand folded origami crane (symbol of hope & healing) at their last status check with me. I include a short note to acknowledge that the end of treatment can be both a triumphant & paradoxically scary time.
Many patients love the #CancerBell (rung at the end of #cancer treatment); however, some can be hurt by this “celebratory” ritual. Are we helping some & harming others? If so, what do we do with the bell?. This @ASTRO_org podcast discusses this phenomena.
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My favorite books of the decade:.1. I didn’t.2. Barely read .3. Any books.4. Because I was .5. In Med school.6. And then residency .7. Trying to cram.8. All cancer knowledge .9. Into my brain .10. #whenbreathbecomesair.
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@CSonic235 459.0. See, for me it's the significant digit on the mangoes that cracks me up. LET'S BE REAL. NOBODY BUYS PART OF A MANGO.
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Saw a dear patient in follow up today and she showed me her new tattoo. I cried. ❤️😭🙏 Never say this job is a one way street. My patients lift me up. (picture with permission)
We have a #cancerbell but I also privately give my patients a hand folded origami crane (symbol of hope & healing) at their last status check with me. I include a short note to acknowledge that the end of treatment can be both a triumphant & paradoxically scary time.
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Beyond honored to receive this @ASCO Excellence in Equity Award. I must point to the amazing work that has come before to bow to true leaders in healthcare equity research 🙏Drs @DrWinkfield @NarjustDumaMD @ChristinaChapMD @DrRobWinn CRT/@DHMC_RadOnc etc.
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1,000+ comments about our @JAMAOnc study about the costs of parking for patients w/ #cancer. People feel very passionately about this topic. I do too. I paid $15+/day for parking when my husband was treated. It seemed so cruel. #financialtoxicity .
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🚨Updating my bio for #ASTRO24: Assistant Professor in Radiation Oncology at @MDAndersonNews. It's bittersweet to leave my amazing colleagues at @MSK_RadOnc, I have really thrived here. But excited to return home to Houston & for my new collaborators in TX starting Sept 2024. 🙏
Happy #ASTRO24 abstract notification day! 🥳 I am excited to present (first time in a while 😅) & to meet up with colleagues, collaborators, and friends in DC. LOVE THIS GUIDELINE for the "Culture of Respect". ✅Treatments may fail patients but patients don't "fail" anything.
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#ASCO22 highlights: coordinating my outfit to my @GoHealio #DisruptiveInnovator award for “The Patient Voice”. But seriously… I become an oncologist bc my experiences as a #cancerCaregiver highlighted large flaws in health care in the US. I wanted to try and help fix them. 🙏
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If you’re the praying type or just the kind to send good wishes into the universe, I need your help. Both my parents (and my aunt & uncle) have #covid19. Currently quarantined, doing okay with low grade temps & mild symptoms. Both with PMH that put them at risk. I’m so scared.
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#RestInPower Chadwick Boseman, this one really got me. I know all people with cancer are secretly superheroes. I just didn’t know that some superheroes secretly had cancer. #wakandaForever #crcsm .
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Change in status: First day at @MDAndersonNews and first day as associate editor for @JAMANetworkOpen. Excited for new beginnings! 🌅
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Finally hung my @ASCO award in my office. 🤩 I am grateful and privileged to do research in affordability, access, and equity. I am standing on the shoulders of giants; make no mistake that this work has a long history primarily done by those who do not have awards (or offices).
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#weekendThoughts: After we move out from this apartment, I sure will miss the sunrises and sunsets from the 37th floor. #ManhattanLife
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@StephenGrantMD I'm so sorry for this cruelty. Your son deserves better from his community, school, and from those purporting to be part of his education.
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This beautiful photograph is in my office. It is from my best friend’s wedding. I love the layered humanity and the captured intimacy of me and my husband. This is before he got sick. We were young, healthy, and in love. #NationalCaregiversMonth
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@marklewismd I’m beginning to think this is all a scam perpetrated by “big grocery” to keep us complacent and dependent on our next meal. I’m going to do my own research on this.
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A patient I met for the first time today brought in the @sloan_kettering article that she had just read. She thought I might need a copy. And I did!! First time I saw the story in print. ❤️
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~20 yrs ago, my husband was treated at MD Anderson. When he died from cancer, I reinvented my life with purpose and trained to become an oncologist. Now I work in this world leading hospital . fighting for MORE cures and LOWER costs. Help me #EndCancer:.
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This is my periodic alert that @costplusdrugs has #Ondansetron #Zofran at $13 for 90 tabs. I was spending $35 PER PILL out of pocket & having to ration when my husband was puking his guts out from #cancer related nausea. 🤢🤮 Zofran caused significant #FinancialToxicity for us.
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My beloved Franklin has a leg sarcoma with ?lung mets. I have cancelled my #ASTRO23 travel plans to stay with the guy who got me thru dark times. I’d welcome suggestions for vet palliative radiation venues in NY/NJ. Read how Franklin saved my life: .
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Honored that our small study on parking fees for patients with #cancer really struck a cord. It was the #1 most viewed/downloaded article in @JAMAOnc in 2020. #FinancialToxicity is driven by both small and large costs, we have alot of work to do!.
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Happy Mother’s Day! My mom grew up in a trailer in Tennessee, worked throughout school to support her family, & lived in the YMCA. She ultimately went to Med school in the 1960s & become a #RadOnc in the 1970s. Along the way, she had 5 kids while building a successful career!
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Mourning the loss of my collaborator & friend Dr @TarlieTownsend. The best way I can honor her phenomenal resilience and keen intellect is to share her powerful words from #ASCOQLTY21. Her talk in the #Metavivors panel outlined her strength and her message to oncologists. 🧵1/
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This tweet was 2 yrs ago and now I'm at @sloan_kettering doing research on 1) how to improve the patient experience during #cancer treatment and 2) how to improve equity in all aspects of health care delivery. It's been 13 yrs since Andrew died & I still think about him every day.
When you died from cancer at 28, the light went out for me. You were going to change the world with your brilliance. My plans (wife, artist, mother) had to change. We were always a team, so now 11 yrs later I'm a cancer doctor. trying to change the world. #ShareAStoryInOneTweet.
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I was beyond honored to receive two different awards yesterday at #ASCO22. The @ASCO Excellent in Equity Award and the @GoHealio The Patient Voice Award, both for work that I have been privileged to do in the field of #financialToxicity and health care #affordability. 1/3
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I'm not just the President of the Hair Club for Men. I am also a client. #FinancialToxicity #Cancer #MedicalDebt.
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"The stress & overwhelming crushing defeat of these bills that would come in every week —it had an effect on our quality of life." .After keeping it secret for over a decade, I went public in 2017 on how #financialtoxicity had affected me & my late husband.
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Clinicians HATE #priorAuth. How do patients feel?.We asked. their experience is also bad. Most experienced a delay in recommended oncology care leading to:.1⃣ increased anxiety.2⃣ decreased TRUST.3⃣ patient administrative burden. @JAMANetworkOpen:
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One of my patients gave me a small pin with the motto “Radiate Positivity” and it’s everything to me today. ☢️⚡️🩺👩🏻⚕️⚛️.#radonc #womenwhoCurie
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Walked out from my 12 hr day (not bad right? I’m usually 14hrs on Weds) into sunshine & this ❤️ message at @sloan_kettering Monmouth. 100% started crying. The days are getting longer, the sun is shining brighter, & we’re going to beat this thing, together. #Covid19NJ #COVID19nyc
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I'm not sure why it just hit me that none of my old life's plans are true today. I am not a wife nor an artist or a mother. Those dreams are gone, lost, erased. I am happy as an oncologist but wow, this hit me like a tonne of bricks today. #beforeAndafterCANCER.
When you died from cancer at 28, the light went out for me. You were going to change the world with your brilliance. My plans (wife, artist, mother) had to change. We were always a team, so now 11 yrs later I'm a cancer doctor. trying to change the world. #ShareAStoryInOneTweet.
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☝️I actually counsel students looking at residency programs to evaluate the research output of the department. The majority of manuscripts should have trainee or junior faculty first authors. Otherwise it’s a signal that senior members of the dept don’t know how mentorship works.
As I scroll major journals, I sometimes wonder: why’re long tenured full profs still first authoring major publications? What’s the driver? #MedTwitter #radonc.
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#WomenWhoCurie are so ready for this!! “From the 1870s to the modern era, #Radioactive is a journey through #MarieCurie's enduring legacies – her passionate relationships, scientific breakthroughs, & the consequences that followed for her & for the world” #radoncwomen
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1⃣Overcoming adversity is a huge success. 2⃣Pulling oneself out of a big hole is a big accomplishment. 3⃣Acheiving a normal life after everything goes sideways is an incredible win. 🙏@fosslien
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Whenever Andrew thought something was funny or amazing he would always grab his head as if his brain couldn't handle the information. Words cannot really explain how much I miss this guy. We move forward but we don't move on. #MarchForth
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I wrote a story about my cat. He's a good cat. He might have just saved my life. Please read it in @ASCO_pubs.
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Patients w/ #metastatic #pancreaticCancer are spending 10% of their remaining time alive on doctors appointments (including >half spent commuting or in waiting rooms). When time is limited, is THIS how we want to spend our last days? #pancsm #pallonc #hpm.
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"My husband would not be defined by his cancer and I will not be defined by being a cancer widow. I am physician, an oncologist, and I am on a mission to improve cancer care in America." .@endwellproject #Take10: today 12/10/2020.
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Orientation starts today! Honored to work @sloan_kettering and join a team dedicated to exceptional patient care, innovative research, and outstanding educational programs. #radonc #womenwhocurie #radoncwomen
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Every week I fold cranes for my patients who complete their radiation for cancer. It no longer surprises me when patients cry as it’s an emotional time, however what still surprises me is how many times *I cry*. Thousands of patients later I hope I never stop feeling this bond.❤️
We have a #cancerbell but I also privately give my patients a hand folded origami crane (symbol of hope & healing) at their last status check with me. I include a short note to acknowledge that the end of treatment can be both a triumphant & paradoxically scary time.
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Celebrating #DoctorsDay by printing out a physical reminder for myself that it is OKAY to pass on some “opportunities” and to protect myself and my time. #burnoutMitigation #selfcare. IT👏IS👏OKAY👏TO👏SAY👏“NO”
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It is an honor and a privilege to be able to cure cancer, palliate pain, and do meaningful research about #cancer delivery and costs @sloan_kettering @MSK_RadOnc . I am grateful to be one of 3 #womenwhocurie (and one proud #heforshe) in a #radonc family. #radoncWomen
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It's the classic American story:. Boy meets girl. Boy is dx with #cancer. Boy reaches insurance cap & starts paying out of pocket. Girl quits job to take care of boy. Boy dies anyway. Girl is left grieving and threatened by debt collectors.
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Treatment for cancer should not bankrupt families. Treatment for cancer should not bankrupt families. Treatment for cancer should not bankrupt families. Treatment for cancer should not bankrupt families. Treatment for cancer should not bankrupt families.
Palliative care and hospice is not “giving up.”.Palliative care and hospice is not “giving up.”.Palliative care and hospice is not “giving up.”.Palliative care and hospice is not “giving up.”.Palliative care and hospice is not “giving up.”.
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#ASCO21 #Day1: I am a #radiationoncologist and part of a growing group of #womenWhoCurie. Today I will share some of my clinic day as well as my thoughts on abstracts presented at the @ASCO annual meeting. My focuses are: #radonc #healthequity #healthpolicy & #financialToxicity
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How many successful women have been labeled #TooAmbitious like it is a problem? From now on I’m considering it a compliment. #KamalaHarrisForVP . “#AmbitiousWomen have always been a problem for those who have wanted to maintain the status quo”.
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Happy Mother’s Day to my #radoncMom ☢️⚡️🧬. She went to medical school in the 1960s, did residency in the 70s, raised 7 kids in the 80s and retired in the 2010s. #womenWhoCurie #weWhoCurie 💪🩺🩻
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Got this from a patient & hung it in my office. If you were to ask me what I value more, it’s not AOA or honors on a diploma. It’s that my patients trust me with their life, during their darkest hours, in their triumphs, & with their greatest fears. 🙏 .#IAmARadiationOncologist
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“Fumiko Chino, MD, a radiation oncologist at @MSKCancerCenter, and the first recipient of the Excellence in Equity Award at the 2022 @ASCO Annual Meeting, doesn't just understand the harrowing financial shock of a cancer diagnosis: she has lived it."
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My most anticipated session from #ASCOQLTY20: "The Patient is a Member of the Care team". Say it louder for the people in the back!!.THE PATIENT IS A MEMBER OF THE CARE TEAM. #patientadvocates @ASCO
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✅ #ASCOQLTY21 .I have arrived! Checked in and picked up my badge. First lanyard in 2 years. Is it weird to say I’ve missed these ribbons?
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I learned about the lifesaving power of #radiation from an early age. I was the youngest of 7 kids, and my mother was one of the first female radiation oncologists in Indiana. Her dedication to her patients has been the model for me in my practice. #WomenWhoCurie #RadOncWomen
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A bit saddened by the #ageDiscrimination of this grant call requiring applicants be born ≥1980. I understand (and applaud) the desire to fund those establishing careers but an age limit punishes those (like me) who came late to academia but are still early in our faculty career.
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Good morning Washington DC from some of the women of @asco. We’re passionate about improving cancer care in America and we’ve got something to say. #ASCOAdvocacySummit
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My husband was diagnosed with a #NET in his 20s. It took his life & left me a cancer widow besieged by debt collectors. Grief galvanized me become a physician & to do research on access, affordability, & equity. 🙏My prayers are with you @JoaquinCastrotx.
12 days, $126k. That was the cost for surgery prep, surgery and ten days in the hospital. It’s easy to see how that could bankrupt someone without insurance or without enough insurance. With very good insurance I got billed several thousand dollars. 17.5/.
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🚨@Oncoalert: Providing hospital funded rideshare transportation for resource-limited pts with #cancer increased their #radiation completion rates & was a net benefit for the hospital. 🚗Turns out that helping pts get necessary care is good for business.
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Left my office for the last time in the appropriately named Joy Building. Thank you for an amazing 5 years on faculty @MSKCancerCenter 🙏❤️🙌✅🏁. One last #weekendsinNYC before I fly down to Houston TX. 🏙️🌇
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@eugenegu Last year in clinic an older white male patient told me with glee that he had the right to grab my ass if he wanted to. [I asked him politely not to and then proceeded to make a plan to treat his cancer.] .And, yes, he was wearing a large Trump pin (I wish I was kidding). #medToo.
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Well, it's official now. The email is out of the bag. Formally announced as new faculty @MRadonc @sloan_kettering treating #gynecologicalcancer #breastcancer #gyncsm #bcsm & trying to find solutions to #financialtoxicity. Continually improving #cancercare is our top priority.
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We are in a different #covid19 world today than 3 yrs ago, but masking when practical and taking a rapid today is not a burden on me. I know I’m in the minority now. We used to judge people for not wearing masks and now we do the same for those who continue to wear them. 🤷🏻♀️.
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“People don’t quite understand how an animal is a therapeutic agent for people with cancer. It’s more effective for some of my patients than an anti-nausea pill or a pain pill. And yet, sometimes we don’t respect that, as clinicians.” 🐱🐶@TheCancerLetter.
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Excited to start this #survivorship project for those treated for #cancer as young adults. #FinancialToxicity can be a lingering side effect of tx, limit education/career growth, and leave lasting financial burden. I am working w/ the amazing Bridgette Thom, PhD @sloan_kettering.
Congrats to PI Dr @fumikochino for her 2019 Chanel Endowment to Fund Survivorship Research Award for her project: “Running.on Empty”: Financial Literacy, Financial Capacity and Enduring Financial.Toxicity in Young Adult Cancer Survivors. #ayacsm #financialtoxicity #survivorship
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🤩Excited to be selected for the 2024 @ASCO Leadership Development Program. Overjoyed to join a group of motived oncologists for essential leadership skills training. The 2025 application is open soon. Completed training 2015-2020? You are eligible!.
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👏How many patients:.1) were denied an appt bc of insurance issues?.2) had their appt cancelled bc they were 40 min late due to public transit?.3) couldn’t afford gas or parking?.5) couldn’t find childcare?.6) had to work instead?.7) budgeted for groceries instead of a co-pay?.
Your patient can have a PD-L1 expression of 90% but if he/she doesn't have a way to get to treatment (transportation)- The response rate is 0% !! . Social determinants of health are an essential part of oncology care. Ask! Inquire! . @dsmithgraz @fumikochino @DrWinkfield.
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"At a certain point, if your dying husband wants a cat … you get a cat, right?". Before the pandemic I wrote a piece about how my cat saved my life. It's still true. #CatMedTwitter .
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For the record, I posted a screen shot bc I felt confident that @CDC_Cancer would immediately post a correction with the intended statement “Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death in the US.” But now we’re >24 hours and they appear to just be leaning in. 🤷🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️.
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Let me clear why this is important to me & to millions who grieve their loved ones daily: My husband DID NOT “lose his battle” —he WON the good days he had after his cancer dx. He was taken too soon by a horrible disease. His life was a TRIUMPH; it’s the world’s loss not his.
“We will all die 1 day; perhaps the winner here is the person who does it under his/her own terms; the person who dies peacefully & not at war. Let us . remember them as victors in life, not losers in death. Let us stop letting cancer appear to be the winner.” #endthebattle.
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Sometimes you need to take a midday break back to your room to take an hour to eat chips and gummiworms and drink a Coke Zero in blessed silence before returning to the conference. 👀 I see you introverts. #ASCOQLTY22
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Scientists NEED to become better communicators. Proud of this manuscript highlighting HOW to present your research to diverse audiences, WHY it matters, and some Do's & Don'ts. With: Drs @aaronecarroll @DusetzinaS @yzafar & Ms. @sangerkatz in @JNCI_Now
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@arghavan_salles YES. This is on my formal, academic CV:. "Cancer Caregiver and Subsequent Cancer Widow,Ann Arbor MI and Houston TX,08/2006-08/2008". To "explain the gap". Is this really necessary?.
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