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Dr. Maureen Miller talks about what happened when she seemed too busy screening patients for cancer to get screened herself.

Cervical cancer screening is a success story. This cancer is now rare in the United States. The field has moved from Pap tests only, to Pap tests plus HPV testing, to the point where HPV testing is primary. Drs. Maureen Miller and Elizabeth Unger share the story of cervical cancer screening from 1979 to today.

“Our nation still falls short when it comes to promoting cancer prevention strategies in later life,” says Dr. Robyn Stone. A recent journal supplement “is an insightful resource for any health care clinician or public health professional who wants to learn more about this evolving and important area of research and practice.”

The New Hampshire Colorectal Cancer Screening Program hired trained nurses called patient navigators to call patients on the phone as often as needed to get through the whole screening process. Navigated patients were 11 times more likely than patients who weren’t navigated to go through all of the steps of the screening test.

“As I talked to a patient of mine about how breast cancer took her sister’s life at the age of 42, I was reminded of how challenging it is to explain how breast cancer is a different disease in every woman. The key is getting the right treatment for the right woman at the right time.”

While ovarian cancer is diagnosed at far greater numbers in White women compared with women of other races, research has shown that Black women have worse survival than white women. Working together, we can close the gaps in ovarian cancer.

“As a personal champion for screening colonoscopies, I used my own story, along with stories of people under the age of 50 in our community who had gone through colonoscopies, in order to encourage our patients to get screened.”

“I began using indoor tanning beds in my early teens. I did not realize that the healthy glow I was so desperately seeking was actually caused by DNA damage from the UV radiation. As a surgical oncologist and a board-certified surgeon specializing in the surgical care of melanoma patients, I never imagined that I would become a patient. But there I was at age 36 with two small children and a potentially deadly cancer.”

“I became a very strong champion for colorectal cancer screening several years ago after one of my patients died from this terrible disease in his early 50s. Despite my advice at every annual visit to complete some form of colorectal cancer screening, he did not comply.”