MEDIA CONTACT: Elizabeth Crown at 312-503-8928 or e-crown@northwestern.edu

August 25, 2004

Breast Cancer Forum Is Open to Public

CHICAGO --- The 2004 Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Town Hall meeting, “Expert Perspectives on the Latest Breast Cancer Treatments and Research,” which is free and open to the public, will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12, at Northwestern University, Thorne Auditorium, 375 E. Chicago Ave. (Chicago Avenue and Lake Shore Drive).

The 2004 Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Town Hall is an early kickoff of events for Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October sponsored by The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

The three-hour event will feature leading experts who will discuss the latest tests, treatment and research for breast cancer as well as give advice on how to ensure a woman has access and payment for these approaches. Much of the time will be devoted to questions from the audience to the experts. There also will be exhibits and educational materials from prominent breast cancer organizations. Free parking will be available at the Huron/Superior/St. Clair Parking Garage, two blocks west of Lake Shore Drive.

William Gradishar, M.D., associate professor of medicine in the division of hematology/oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School and researcher at The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, will moderate the Town Hall meeting. Gradishar is also a breast cancer specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

The event is an educational service of the Lynn Sage Comprehensive Breast Center and produced by HealthTalk, a producer of educational programs for those living with cancer and serious chronic conditions. Andrew Schorr, founder and vice president of HealthTalk, is co-moderator of the event.

Highlights of the breast cancer Town Hall include discussions on the following topics:

•Breast conservation and reconstruction strategies; limiting side effects, such as lymphedema.

•New approaches to more convenient, quicker delivery of radiation to targeted sites, such as implanting a catheter and doing radiation over four days rather than every day for several weeks.

•New genetic testing and increased understanding how breast cancer types vary from patient to patient and lend themselves to targeted therapies; the latest on improved hormonal therapies to avoid a recurrence; new approved therapies for advanced breast cancer.

•New methods to provide higher quality of life while going through aggressive therapy and ways to limit nausea, fatigue and risk of infection.

•Strategies to influence Medicare, private insurance or even drug company assistance programs to pay for the latest tests and therapies.

Besides Gradishar, expert panelists will include Seema Khan, M.D., professor of surgery at the Feinberg School, researcher at the Cancer Center and a surgical oncologist at the Lynn Sage Comprehensive Breast Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital; and Krystyna Kiel, M.D., professor of radiology, Cancer Center researcher and radiation oncologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital; and Cancer Center breast cancer nurse educator Jennifer Peterson.

Also scheduled to appear are medical oncologist Joyce O’Shaughnessy, M.D., Baylor-Sammons Cancer Center, Dallas; and Michelle Weiss, an expert on cancer care reimbursement and independent consultant.

An audio replay of the Town Hall will be available on Sept. 13 on www.healthtalk.com and made available to cancer clinics nationwide during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. The program will reach more than 25,000 people with breast cancer.

For more information on the Town Hall, see www.cancer.northwestern.edu.