Greenwich's Joan Lunden Shares Diagnostic Approach That Led to Early Detection

Joan Lunden, award-winning American journalist, beloved television host, health advocate and keynote speaker at the upcoming 32nd Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference planned and developed by ACCME-accredited Physicians’ Education Resource®, LLC (PER®), shares that “a fast-growing, virulent” cancer in her right breast would have gone undetected if she had not followed up her clean mammogram with an ultrasound. She shares her close call in an interview conducted in connection with the cancer conference that begins Feb. 26. PER Lunden Video Link

In a highly personal interview with acclaimed broadcaster Roy Firestone, Lunden shares that she has dense breast tissue, making detection of breast cancer difficult in a mammogram. Fortunately for Joan, she had learned years earlier that an ultrasound is an important second check for women with dense breast tissue.

“Had I walked out of that radiology lab that day only having a mammogram, I would have gone about my merry way – ‘I’m fine’ – and I would have had a fast-growing, virulent, rare form of breast cancer growing in my right breast,” Lunden bravely shares in the interview with Firestone.

Lunden is committed to sharing her personal battle with breast cancer with others. She has been documenting her treatment on her website, JoanLunden.com, and will be speaking about the cancer patient’s perspective from the insight of her own personal journey as well as through the voices of hundreds of women who write to her each day at the 32nd Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference. Lunden’s address on Saturday, Feb. 28, is part of the four-day conference on breast cancer that will attract 1,000 of the world’s top minds in medical, surgical and radiation oncology. The conference is hosted by Physicians’ Education Resource® (PER), the go-to source for excellence in continuing medical education, and will take place Feb. 26 through March 1 at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel in Miami Beach, FL.

In a second interview conducted by Firestone, http://www.gotoper.com/conferences/mbcc/meetings/32nd-Annual-Miami-Breast-Cancer-Conference/multimedia#borgen-joan, Miami Breast Conference Chairman Patrick I. Borgen, MD, of Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, and Lunden discuss the rapidly evolving field of breast cancer treatment. They focus on the importance of medical teams staying on top of the latest developments so they can implement them quickly in their practices and help their patients. Both agree that staying current in the field demands a “Learn it on Friday, implement it on Monday” approach.

The videos were created as part of the conference’s mission to foster awareness of state of the art treatments and promote a multidisciplinary approach that improves the care of patients with breast cancer. Speaking to Lunden in the interview, Borgen praises her for stepping out at the conference. He highlights her willingness to address the options available in the sequence of treatments based on her personal journey:

“It is so hard to stay current in breast cancer. It’s a field that changes week to week, month to month. We’ll have more than a thousand doctors in Miami who want to get it right, who want to do it better. And while the studies are very clear for triple negative breast cancer to give chemo first, many surgeons still resist. So, you and I, Joan, at this Miami Breast Cancer Conference, have to change that,” concluded Borgen, who is chair of the Department of Surgery and head of the Brooklyn Breast Cancer Center at Maimonides in Brooklyn, NY.

While significant advances have been made in research and treatment, 40,000 women die every year due to breast cancer. As conference program chairman Borgen sees it as his role to advocate for continued education about breast cancer and identify more effective therapies to help more women prevent breast cancer, detect it early, and survive it once it has been detected.

About the Miami Breast Cancer Conference

The conference brings together leading oncologists in multiple disciplines with the aim of fostering awareness of state-of-the-art treatments in each therapeutic area, and encouraging cross-team clinical cooperation. Attendees will benefit from opportunities to interact with pioneers of innovative approaches in each of these subspecialties, and gain insight into the optimal multidisciplinary management of patients with breast cancer.

This educational program is directed at medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists interested in the treatment of patients with breast cancer. Fellows, nurse practitioners, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, researchers, and other health care professionals interested in the treatment of breast cancer are also invited to attend.

PER is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide learning opportunities for physicians. Incorporating instructional design with principles of adult learning, PER plans, develops, implements, and evaluates educational opportunities, including multi-day congresses, one-day update conferences, regional meetings, online case discussions, and faculty dialogues. These educational activities enable health care professionals to remain current and responsive to advances in medical care for cancer patients—from diagnosis through treatment—with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes.

To register or view the program agenda, please visit http://www.gotoper.com.

About Physicians’ Education Resource, LLC

Accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), Physicians’ Education Resource (PER) is the certified medical education resource of choice for live and online activities focusing on oncology and hematology. Based on identified needs and practice gaps, PER provides high-quality, evidence-based activities featuring leading national and international faculty, with a focus on practice-changing advances and standards of care in treatment and disease management. PER serves the oncology health care community, including physicians, fellows, physician assistants, advanced practice nurses, nurses, pharmacists, and researchers. PER is part of the Plainsboro, NJ-based Michael J. Hennessy Associates, Inc. (MJH) family of businesses. Learn more at http://www.gotoper.com and http:// http://www.mjhassoc.com/.

About Joan Lunden

Joan Lunden was the co-host of Good Morning America for nearly two decades, reporting from twenty-six countries on a diverse range of stories, from presidential elections to the Olympics. Her bestselling books include Joan Lunden’s Healthy Cooking, Joan Lunden’s Healthy Living, Wake-Up Calls and A Bend in the Road Is Not the End of the Road. Joan speaks all over the country about health & wellness, inspiration, and success. Her website, JoanLunden.com, has quickly become a go-to source of information for women, bringing together experts on a myriad of relevant topics for today’s woman such as health, boomers, caregiving, and family. In October, Joan joined NBC’s TODAY show as a Special Correspondent for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the show continues to follow her breast cancer journey on the air.

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Media Contacts for Physicians’ Education Resource:

Becky Taylor, 609-240-6886, becky@btaylorpa.com

Robert Walker, 609-378-3730, rwalker@gotoper.com