We are excited to be hosting the 2nd official Free to Breathe Ask Us Anything on HealthUnlocked. On May 4, Dr. Howard Jack West, Medical Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program at the Swedish Cancer Institute, and Janet Freeman-Daily, lung cancer patient (currently NED) and co-moderator of the Lung Cancer Social Media Chat will answer your questions about the importance of precision medicine.
Dr. West has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed literature and has authored several book chapters. He also now serves as the Web Editor of JAMA Oncology and is on the editorial boards of Journal of Clinical Oncology, Journal of Medicine, Clinical Lung Cancer, and Journal of Thoracic Disease, in addition to serving as an author of multiple lung cancer-related sections of UpToDate and as a reviewer for more than a dozen professional journals. Dr. West leads a wide range of clinical trials and has been actively involved with the SWOG Lung Cancer Committee as a Study Coordinator/Principal Investigator. Dr. West founded and continues to serve as President of the nonprofit organization Global Resource for Advancing Cancer Education (GRACE), a source of timely, free information for patients and caregivers dealing with cancer that currently receives over 50 thousand visits per month from over 100 countries around the world. Dr. West is also working to develop telemedicine-based practice patterns to broaden the range of treatment options for cancer patients through the Swedish/Providence network.
Janet Freeman-Daily, MS, ENG, was diagnosed with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in May 2011. After two chemotherapy regimens and two radiation protocols, her cancer became metastatic. She used information obtained in online forums to get her tumor tissue tested for newer molecular markers and find a clinical trial, and has had No Evidence of Disease since January 2013 thanks to precision medicine and social media.
After applying her MIT and Caltech engineering degrees to a career in aerospace systems engineering and new business for two decades, Janet now is a patient activist who uses her communications and science background to translate the experience of lung cancer treatment and research for others. Her advocacy work includes writing an award-winning blog at grayconnections.net, co-moderating Lung Cancer Social Media (#LCSM) Chat on Twitter, serving on local and national cancer research and working groups (among them National Cancer Institute, President’s Cancer Panel, and University of Colorado NCI SPORE), leading the Global ROS1 Initiative (ros1cancer.com) with other patients, and speaking at oncology and medical conferences.
Here is how you can participate:
1. Click on this link: bit.ly/FTBAMA
2. Click “Sign Up” on the top right corner of the page
3. Choose to sign up with Facebook or Google, or if you prefer to create your own login, click "Sign up with email” after entering a username, email address, and password.
4. Check your email Inbox for a verification email from HealthUnlocked and click on the “Confirm email address” button
Mark your calendars and get your questions ready!
