Podcast: Joining Forces in Brooklyn to Fight Breast Cancer
These three leading breast cancer experts are working together with one mission in mind: to end disparities in care.
Drs. Vivian Bea, Onyinye Balogun, and Evelyn Taiwo share a hope for the future: for every patient to have equal access to the highest-quality care. The three physicians are passionate about their work at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where they have built a multidisciplinary program to provide personalized, high-quality care to all patients with breast cancer. Together, they’re working to expand access to the latest clinical trials; they’re proud that 40% of their program’s clinical trial participants are Black women, compared to single digits nationwide. (Fewer than 5% of the patients in trials for 24 of the 31 cancer drugs approved since 2015 were Black, according to a 2018 ProPublica analysis of data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.)
“I’m excited to be a part of something that I think is quite distinct from what you would see in the rest of the country,” says Dr. Balogun, radiation oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.
Drs. Bea, Balogun, and Taiwo sat down with Health Matters to discuss their work to reduce health disparities in Brooklyn and improve outcomes for every patient.
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Highlights From Their Conversation
“I want every woman, regardless of race or ethnicity, to be able to walk into a clinic and know that she is getting high-quality, evidence-based care.”
Dr. Onyinye Balogun
Radiation Oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and Assistant Professor of Clinical Radiation Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine
“If you look at our numbers, I think it speaks to the fact that we try to remove the biases. We try to educate patients. We try to be their voice.”
Dr. Vivian Bea
Section Chief of Breast Surgical Oncology and Director of the Breast Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and Assistant Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine
“We’re really committed to the community. And seeing patients who are also able to see themselves in the doctors that care for them, I think that’s also very important. And it’s something special about this group.”
Dr. Evelyn Taiwo
Medical Oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Interim, at Weill Cornell Medicine
Listen to the full episode.
Additional Resources
Learn more about breast health at NewYork-Presbyterian.