"The Language of Cancer" - WEBINAR, Monday, July 29 @ 8 pm Eastern

To listen to this AnCan webinar, click here.

The presentation slides (pdf format) can be downloaded here: Language of Cancer 072919

Many reading this post live with cancer … as ‘patients’ or ‘caregivers’. Well, maybe not as ‘patients’ …. perhaps you were a patient but now you’re in durable, or perhaps not so durable, ‘remission’?? So what do we call you … ?

In this day and age of politically correct language, we best be careful about the words used. Some people are pretty sanguine being described as ‘survivors’ – doesn’t bother me personally albeit others object strongly. And they feel even stronger about other aggressive nomenclature …. ‘warrior’ and ‘fighter’ can rise to the level of abhorrence.

Then there’s ‘cure’ ….. that’s a full discussion in itself. What exactly does it mean? Is cure even feasible for many touched by cancer? How does it differ from ‘remission’; and, ‘lesion’ – should we say ‘tumor’. Have I piqued your interest yet …. our presenter and co-moderator, Dr. Richard Wassersug Ph.D, has written papers on this topic and counts a good 15 or more cancer-specific words to be used ‘with caution’!

On Monday, July 29th at 8 pm Eastern, Prof. Wassersug will be joined by journalist, Howard Wolinsky, trauma interventionalist and Stage 4 Cancer patient, Dr. Jamie Aten Ph.D, and cancer researcher diagnosed with cancer, Dr. Corrie Painter, Ph.D. . Professor Wassersug makes a short presentation followed by a stimulating panel discussion and audience questions moderated by yours truly and Dr. Wassersug … you may not agree but it will certainly give you pause for thought!

Meet The Panelists

Richard Wassersug, PhD is an Honorary Professor of Cellular & Physiological Sciences at the University of British Columbia, an adjunct professor at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, and a psychosocial researcher. He has been treated for prostate cancer and is the lead author on the book Androgen Deprivation Therapy: An essential guide for prostate cancer patients and the loved ones. He proudly holds the Ig Nobel Prize for his important work, “On the Comparative Palatability of Some Dry-Season Tadpoles from Costa Rica”

Corrie Painter Ph.D is a cancer researcher at The Broad Institute ( MIT & Harvard), diagnosed with cancer. She is also the Associate Director of Count-Me-In, a Broad Institute initiative to create large scale genomic data bases for six different cancers (to date!), including her own angiosarcoma. It relies on samples voluntarily contributed from those living with the respective diseases. Corrie is also a mom, a runner, a patient advocate, and has never met a zebrafish she didn’t like!

Jamie D. Aten, PhD, is founder and executive director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute (HDI) and Blanchard Chair of Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership at Wheaton College (IL). His books include the Disaster Ministry Handbook (InterVarsity Press) and A Walking Disaster: What Katrina and Cancer Taught Me About Faith and Resilience (Templeton Press). Follow him on Twitter @drjamieaten. Jamie’s article on the Language of Cancer was published earlier this year in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Howard Wolinsky was the medical writer for the Chicago Sun-Times for 27 years. He was nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize for his exposes of the American Medical Association. Howard taught medical writing in the graduate school at the Medill School at Northwestern University. He despises being called a survivor–an overkill term although better than “victim.” – read his MedPage Today piece from this past year here.