New Faces at GRACE

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July 24, 2008 - 8:45 pm Dr. West

   I’m pleased to announce that several new expert faculty members are joining the ranks here, in addition to myself and Dr. Laskin, who has been helping out here for several months. The whole idea was not to have me monopolize the conversation or pretend I alone had all of the answers. Instead, I wanted to get the conversation started, see that there is a value in this kind of information, and then bring in other experts to discuss the various ways to manage cancer issues. On some issues we all agree. For other issues, we may describe our own different philosophies and management approaches, which will illustrate that there is often no single right way, even among people who have access to the same information.

Here are several invited expert colleagues who have either joined in recently or are planning to jump in very soon. In alphabetical order…

 Dr. Patrick Bufi is a naturopathic physician at Northwest Natural Health Specialty Care Clinic in Seattle. He has a particular focus on oncology and pulmonary disease and has been participating on the discussion forums. We expect to see some posts by Dr. Bufi in the section on Complementary/Alternative Medicine in the near future, and many of you have already read some of his responses on in this area on the discussion forum.

 Dr. Shirish Gadgeel is a medical oncologist who is currently an Associate Professor in the Medical Oncology Division at Wayne State University Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit, MI. His particular expertise is in lung cancer, where he leads several regional and national trials and speaks on a wide range of topics. He will be writing posts and answering questions in the lung cancer and cancer 101 sections here.

 Dr. Zelanna Goldberg is a radiation oncologist and biologist with expertise in translational medicine, the intersection of the lab and the clinic. She has been involved with important clinical research at the University of California at Davis and other work with the Southwest Oncology Group. She’s just jumped in to help answer questions in the radiation oncology section and other places, and she’s working on topics for some full posts on topics in radiation therapy.

 Dr. Cheryl Ho is a medical oncologist at the British Columbia Cancer Agency in Vancouver, BC, where she has a particular interest in lung cancer as well as changing patterns of clinical practice. She will be contributing to discussions in lung cancer, cancer 101, and cancer treatments/supportive care sections of the site.

   I will really look forward to having something more like panel discussions than single expert Q&A when we can get a real conversation going. Practicing physicians enjoy panel discussions because they provide a sense of how people think, where ideas converge and where they diverge. So if you see new names and faces up answering questions and providing information in the posts, know that they’re invited additions — part of a growing process for GRACE into a greater diversity of opinions (even if the ones that differ from mine are wrong).

   Be gentle with them.

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