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Understanding the Tests that Could Save My Breasts
October 12, 2022 @ 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm EDT
In the United States, there are more than 100 diagnostic tests and procedures available for detecting diseases and monitoring their progression. Diagnostic tools are also used to guide treatments and evaluate their effectiveness. Some tests are invasive, such as a biopsy or endoscopy; whereas others are noninvasive, such as x-rays and ultrasound imaging procedures.
Innovations in diagnostics provide access to health information, helping women make informed decisions about their health care at every stage of their lives. Screening and diagnostic testing can lead to earlier detection of disease, improve health outcomes, and contribute toward reducing health disparities among women.
SWHR hosted a series of public forums to share educational information about the importance and value of innovative diagnostics throughout the lifespan and across disease states and conditions. The events discussed how to improve health outcomes for diseases and conditions that disproportionately or exclusively affect women, with special a focus on cancers, reproductive health, and bone health.
The SWHR Value of Diagnostics within Women’s Health series includes:
- How Vaccines and Screening Can Prevent Cervical Cancer (January 26, 2022)
- Improving Lives by Detecting Sexually Transmitted Infections Early (April 13, 2022)
- Assessing and Promoting Bone Health Across the Lifespan (May 18, 2022)
- How Hormones Can Tell a Fertility Story (June 8, 2022)
- Ovarian Cancer Screening: More than a Pelvic Exam (September 7, 2022)
- Understanding the Tests that Could Save My Breasts (October 12, 2022)
Follow the conversation on Twitter at @SWHR and #SWHRtalksDiagnostics.
This event is free and open to the public.
Goals
- Discuss the impacts of breast cancer on women’s health, including disparities in disease burden and access to care
- Provide an overview of screening guidelines, diagnostic tests, and key considerations for disease management
- Emphasize ways to empower women, improve quality of care, and general wellbeing
Panelists
Oluwadamilola “Lola” Fayanju, MD, MA, MPHS, FACS
Oluwadamilola “Lola” Fayanju, MD, MA, MPHS, FACS
Dr. Fayanju is the Helen O. Dickens Presidential Associate Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Chief of Breast Surgery for the University of Pennsylvania Health System. She is also Surgical Director of the Rena Rowan Breast Center in the Abramson Cancer Center, Director of Health Equity Innovation at the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation (PC3I), and a Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics (LDI) at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an academic breast surgical oncologist whose research focuses on redressing health disparities; improving prognostication and management of aggressive breast cancer variants; generating value in oncology, particularly through the collection and application of patient-reported outcomes (PROs); and promoting diversity and inclusion in healthcare and research. She received her undergraduate degree in History and Science and an MA in Comparative Literature from Harvard. She received her MD and a master’s of population health sciences (MPHS) from Washington University in St. Louis, where she also completed her residency in General Surgery. She completed fellowship training in Breast Surgical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. In 2019, she was recognized by the National Academy of Medicine as an Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar. Her research is supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and she has published in a variety of journals including Annals of Surgery, Cancer, and JAMA.
Myrlene Jeudy, MD
Myrlene Jeudy, MD
Whether a routine OB/GYN visit or a more complex patient case, Dr. Myrlene Jeudy’s approach is the same: Listen, and allow individuals to be heard. Most of Dr. Jeudy’s time is spent treating people of all ages as a board-certified OB/GYN. Every day and patient is different: she may see a pregnant person, perform an operation, treat periods and menopausal concerns, or help with family planning. Dr. Jeudy returned to VCU Health in 2021 after a brief time in Georgia. In her role as a professor in the VCU Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, she teaches and trains future OB/GYNs to carry on her work. Dr. Jeudy was first introduced to the field of obstetrics and gynecology in Cameroon, Africa. There, she worked with an OB/GYN at the University Teaching Hospital of Yaoundé. In addition to general obstetrics and gynecology, Dr. Jeudy has specialized training in cancer genetics and breast health, and treats women who are at an elevated risk of breast or ovarian cancer. That includes discovering harmful variants of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which put women at higher risk of breast and ovarian cancers. For those women who are diagnosed with cancer, she works closely with oncologists and cancer specialists to ease the gynecologic side effects of treatment, including safety of pregnancy, hormonal therapies, chemotherapy or treatment-induced menopause, vaginal dryness, sexual dysfunction, and surgeries.
Sponsor
SWHR’s Value of Diagnostics within Women’s Health series is supported by an educational sponsorship from Roche. SWHR maintains editorial control and independence over educational content.
