Interdisciplinary Approach Attacks Breast Cancer

JD Alumni Magazine, Dec 1995

By Judie Schwartz, Published on 10/01/95

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Interdisciplinary Approach Attacks Breast Cancer

Law and Health Care Program 0 0 Director and Marjorie Cook, Professor Karen Rothenberg, will spend this academic year, at the National Institutes of , Health. GOLDSTEIN HONORED AT - During the 1995-96 academi c yea r, Ka ren Ro th enberg, Marjorie Cook Professo r of Law and Director of th e School of Law's Law and Health Care Program, is serving as special assistant to th e directo r of th e Office of Research on Women 's H ealth at th e National In stitutes of H ealth under an Interage ncy Profess ional Agreem ent. While at N IH, she w ill fo cus on legal and ethical iss ues such as wo m en 's inclusion in clinical tri­ als and geneti c testin g issues. Address in g the public poli­ cy, legal and ethical iss ues sur­ rounding breas t cancer is an impo rtant part of Professo r Roth enberg's ass ignm ent. Not o ne of health care's success sto­ ri es, breast cancer is the leading ca use of cancer death in women aged 35 to 54. D espi te greater use of ea rly detectio n proce­ dures, in cid ence rates are climb­ ing, as are numbers of diagnosis and negligence suits. So, too, are th e co mpl ex legal a nd ethical iss ues raised by breas t ca nce r di s­ ease. O utrage at th e lack of progress in co mbattin g th e dis­ ease led to a 2.6 million strong petiti o n dri ve in 19 93, ca llin g on Presi dent C linton for a "plan to end the breast ca ncer epid em­ ic." In response, th e National Action Plan on Breas t Cancer (NAPBC) evo lved w ith input from a vari ety of lay and pro­ fessional peo pl e, and addresses health care delivery, resea rch , and po licy iss ues. T he pl an proposed actions in the areas of health care deliv­ ery, research a nd poli cy, including improvin g access to heal th services, expanding the scope a nd breadth of biom ed­ ical a nd behav ioral resea rch activities, and increas ing th e pa rti cipati o n of advocacy groups in policy decision mak­ in g. The pl a n also es rablished a nati o nal tas k force to eva luate progress and identi fY new opportunities. Professo r Rothenberg stated , "An inter­ disciplinary viewp o int is esse n­ ti al when considering changes in public po li cy." To help focu s th at debate, Roth enberg orga nized a day­ long sy mposium , "Breast Cancer: Co ntroversies a nd Challenges, " held M ay 24, 199 5, and a ttended by about 100 health care, legal and social service profess ionals. Fea tured speakers were Frances M. Visco , JD , President of th e National Breast Ca ncer Coalition, a nd Dr. Vivian W. Pinn , who directs the Office of Resea rch on Wom en 's Health at N IH . In additi o n to Professor Rothenb erg, facu lry spea kers from the U nivers iry of Maryland a t Baltimore we re Drs. Trudy Bush, Kay Di ckerson , Lauren Schnaper, and Ellen Si lb ergeld from the School of Medicine, Dr. Ja nice Phillips from the School of N ursin g, and Dr. Juliann e Okray from the School of Social Work. Professo r Roth enberg has just co mpl eted an anal ys is of sta te legisl ati ve approaches to genetic info rm ati o n a nd heal th in surance fo r the N APB C and National Cenrer o f Ge nom e Resea rch at N IH. Both the success of th e breas t ca nce r con­ ference and Rothenberg's wo rk at N IH emph asize the impor­ tan ce of an interdisc iplin a ry app roach to chan gin g public po li cy. Rothenberg says, " It wo uld be imposs ibl e to address lega l a nd ethi cal co ncern s w ithout co ntinu ed input from ph ys icians , nurses, epidemiologists, advocates and o th ers. The co mpl ex ity of these iss ues dema nds a n interdi sc iplinary solution. " j udie Schwartz contributed to this article. '38 received an honorary degree at University of mencement ceremonies in presented Goldstein for the honor, citing his long years of service to Maryland and to the (...truncated)


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Judie Schwartz. Interdisciplinary Approach Attacks Breast Cancer, JD Alumni Magazine, 1995, Volume 1995, Issue 2,