David S. Rosenthal, M.D., is the Past President of the American Cancer Society, Director of Harvard University Health
Services and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Rosenthal also serves as a senior physician at Brigham &
Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. Dr. Rosenthal is extensively involved as a volunteer
with the American Cancer Society, and is presently the Chairperson of the Massachusetts Coalition for a Healthy Future.
Dr. Rosenthal opens his lecture by acknowledging that this panel of speakers "expresses and demonstrates how long it can
take to bring a basic research project to the bedside." One of the most important questions to address is "how do you advance technology
to the bedside" faster? Dr. Rosenthal states that his role will be to address the questions of whether or not there is hope in living
with or curing cancer.
Dr. Rosenthal presents a series of slides concerning the incidence rates of cancer, both generally and for specific
cancers. He highlights that the incidence rates are increasing while the mortality rates are declining. Two cancers whose rates are
certainly continuing to increase are melanomas (due to sun exposure) and lymphomas (due to exposure to toxins in the environment).
Dr. Rosenthal proceeds to address the issue of why there has been a general decline in mortality rates, and thus an
increase in the number of individuals living with cancer. He explains, "There are three ways that we evaluate and treat cancer." These
are prevention, early detection, and treatment. New technologies have been very helpful in terms of bringing the disease into remission,
but Dr. Rosenthal emphasizes, "What has led to most of the decline so far in the incidence of mortality is not due to new drugs," but to
prevention and early detection. Nutrition, physical activity, and understanding the risks of tobacco and food products are all very
important in reducing our risk of developing cancer. Methods of early detection can help to "take out something that will later become cancer."
One of the big issues, according to Dr. Rosenthal, is how to make sure that "we continue progress and research." Many
people claim that too much money is being put into research. Dr. Rosenthal disagrees, arguing, "We need more progress to understand why
people develop cancer, why a normal cell becomes an abnormal cell. We still don't have all the answers, as far as that's concerned."
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