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 […]

Don’t Be A Hero – See A Therapist!

Living with cancer (even post diagnosis, treatment, and in remission, once you’ve had cancer, you’re always living with it) is weird. One minute I’m going about my day and not thinking about my body, my janky scars, and what’s left of my boobs (which I’m soooooooooo grateful to still have). Then, at strange, random moments, […]

Sex After Breast Cancer – What You Can Do to Get Your Groove Back

This is the first in a series of posts about sex, sexual dysfunction, and available treatment options for breast cancer survivors. Before we get started, disclaimer: I am NOT a medical doctor. I’m speaking as a scientist and a survivor. I encourage all breast cancer survivors to have frank discussions with their oncologists and other […]

BIG NEWS! I Have A Literary Agent!

I’m thrilled and delighted to announce that I’ve signed with Barbara Collins Rosenberg of The Rosenberg Group to represent a nonfiction project based on my experience as a breast cancer researchers who was diagnosed with breast cancer! My goal is to expand on what I do here, providing accessible science with a healthy dose of […]

The Power and Rewards of Mentoring

This year I have the great fortune of mentoring a talented and dedicated medical student in my lab, Kalin Wilson. Her interest is in oncology, so it’s a great fit for my ongoing and new research directions. She’s working on two projects with similar goals: to identify and characterize new drug combinations and new experimental […]

Team Lab Rats at Nashville Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Event

Days like today fill me with so much energy, enthusiasm, and hope. Nissan Stadium and the surrounding area were JAM PACKED with people – women, men, kiddos, cute doggos, survivors and those who love and honor them – gathered together in a unified purpose: to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research, patient assistance, […]

Science Break! Breast Anatomy, Structure, and Function

This is the first in a series of posts dedicated to the science of breast cancer, so let’s start from the beginning with normal breast. In order to understand how cancer forms and grows, you first have to understand how non-cancerous cells behave and function. Why? Because fundamentally, cancer is an aberration of normal function. […]

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

UPDATE – Team Lab Rats raised $1,500 for Making Strides! Thank you to everyone who donated, bought my books in October, and for everyone who supported and shared fundraiser deets! I’ll be posting pictures from the event this weekend! I’m thrilled to be a part of the 2019 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Initiative, sponsored […]

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Introduction

i love you with all my boobs. I would say my heart, but my boobs are bigger I’ve spent twenty years working as a biomedical breast cancer researcher. Then, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I thought I knew breast cancer before it whacked me upside my left boob and left me bleeding on the […]