Advocacy 101 – What I Learned from Training

I learned so many new things today at Patient Advocacy Orientation! My best days are when I’m learning new things. It’s one of the things I love best about being a scientist, and it’s a great foundation upon which to build for my new work as a Patient Advocate. What exactly are advocates and what […]

Show off Your Bikini Clad Girls for the Cure!

Like a lot of women, I’ve struggled with body issues. Throw in conservative parents who wouldn’t let me buy a bikini as a teen, a patriarchal society that would LIKE me to wear a bikini so it can ogle or slut shame or fat shame me and then sell me products to literally diminish my […]

Scanxiety: My Left Boob Just Won’t *&^#ing Behave!

Warning: This post is full of swears. It’s been a total shit day. Getting “normal” annual mammograms after breast cancer is nerve wracking. I get that. Literally. Today was my second routine mammogram after completing surgical and radiation treatments. What (I’d hoped) would be an hour long visit followed by an, “All clear! Go, and […]

Screw The Woo Woo: Essential Oils Won’t Cure Your Cancer

Essential oils. They’re EVERYWHERE! Articles and posts touting their alleged benefits are all over social media, some news media, and the Internet. A Google search I performed today yielded 1.7 billion results. 1.7 BILLION! Yup, there’s a LOT of buzz about the wonders and medicinal benefits of essential oils. And almost all of it 100% […]

Fixing Mistakes – Putting Action Behind My Big, Fat Mouth

Yesterday, I wrote a post about scientific fact checkers and how scientists interact with them, using Dr. David Sabatini as an example. I did NOT expect the attention it garnered, but I do hope that Dr. Sabatini (if he read it) took it in the spirit in which it was intended. Like I noted in […]

Being a Great Scientist – How to (and NOT to) Handle Mistakes

In the age of the Internet, trolls and trollish behaviors have multiplied exponentially. Science is not immune. Many of us were late coming to social media, but more and more laboratories, institutions, programs, scientific organizations, conferences, professional organizations, and journals are engaging in Twitter and other outlets. Overall, this is a great thing! It is […]

Do clams get cancer? Questions from High School Freshmen

One of my favorite outreach activities is volunteering at public schools. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to speak to and work with elementary, middle, and high school students – doing everything from dry ice demonstrations, mini anatomy labs with fixed mouse organs, microscopy labs with tissue sections, and career talks. Most recently, I […]

Beyond the (Sensational) Headlines – How to Interpret Science News

If I had a quarter for every time someone told me they read that some discovery was the cure for cancer over the past twenty years, I could afford to take that trip to Tahiti I’ve been dreaming about. Science and the news media have an interesting relationship. On one hand, it’s always great to […]

Science Break! Outreach – Getting High School Students Excited About Cancer Research!

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak with students in Freshman Biology classes at Overton High School here in Nashville. I’d given science demonstrations before—including fun with dry ice and a mouse organ scavenger hunt/anatomy lesson that was fun for everyone except one squeamish student. But I’d never spoken in detail about cancer biology […]

Screw the Woo Woo: WTF is up with Gwyneth Paltrow and Vaginas/Butt Stuff??

Like many actual scientists and rational human beings, I have issues with Gwyneth Paltrow’s activities as a “wellness guru” by way of her company, GOOP. Don’t get me wrong, she’s an incredible actress and supports some great philanthropic work, including the work of The American Cancer Society and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. And I […]