Foreword

I am honored to write the Foreword for this first volume of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Care series, because I believe the book represents a milestone not only for M. D. Anderson but also for cancer specialists everywhere. All of us, whether we work in academic medical institutions, medical school hospitals, community hospitals, oncology clinics, or solo practice, have seen remarkable changes in our practice over the recent decades. We know that breast cancer patients live longer, feel better, and look better than ever before, and they face this dreaded disease with more optimism than ever before. Each of us deserves to be proud of this progress. Though I am now primarily a laboratory scientist and administrator, I am proud of my own work on factors that control the growth of tumor cells, most prominently through regulation of EGF receptors and Her2/neu, and the promise that work holds for women who have breast cancer.

The authors represented in this volume have made important contributions to breast cancer care. Likewise, every reader of this book has and will continue to make critical contributions to the health of women with breast cancer. I would like to express the hope here that each of us takes the opportunity to step outside our subspecialties—surgeon, internist, radiation oncologist, pathologist, radiologist, laboratory scientist—and learn how we can better integrate our work with that of other specialists. As evidence of my commitment to that goal, I plan to recommend this book to my colleagues and to every fellow in training at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, regardless of the specialty boards he or she seeks.

Why do I recommend the book? Because the editors and authors have worked hard to create a complete picture of breast cancer care in a multidisciplinary environment. Their collaborative interactions are apparent in every chapter. So is the willingness of each specialist to approach breast cancer and its sequelae with the perspective of the patient’s own primary care physician. I believe the time spent in reading this book will be rewarded many times in the pleasure we can take from working with our colleagues more effectively and in the added hope we can give our patients.

John Mendelsohn, M.D.