Understanding SEER: Counting the Uncounted in Metastatic Breast Cancer
Join us for a vital discussion with Dr. Ruth Etzioni and Dr. Stephen Schwartz on the limitations of the SEER system, which tracks cancer diagnoses but often fails to accurately represent the realities of metastatic breast cancer (MBC). In this Huddle, we will connect experts working to address these flaws with patients who embody the data—those living with MBC. We’ll explore why patients diagnosed with early-stage cancer who later recur as metastatic are often miscounted, and discuss the implications of these gaps in data on patient care and advocacy. This is an opportunity to share insights, and experiences, and collectively seek solutions to ensure every voice is heard in the conversation about cancer statistics.
Speakers
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Ruth EtzioniDr. Ruth Etzioni is a biostatistician who primarily focuses on cancer screening and early detection. Much of her work is in the area of prostate and breast cancer, where she develops methods for evaluating diagnostic tests; creates mathematical models to reflect the impact of screening tests on the incidence and mortality rates of these cancers; calculates costs and benefits of preventive screening; tracks population trends with regard to screening and related behaviors and works with investigators on trial design and analysis. Dr. Etzioni also researches overdiagnoses associated with certain screening tests — when screening finds cancers that would not cause symptoms or death within a patient’s natural lifetime. She also evaluates novel cancer biomarkers and tracks patterns and outcomes of cancer care. Dr. Etzioni leads the biostatistics core for the National Cancer Institute-funded multicenter Northwest Prostate Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence, or SPORE, and she has a longstanding interest in researching, tracking and working to eliminate health disparities.
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Stephen M. SchwartzDr. Stephen M. Schwartz is an epidemiologist whose research covers a broad range of molecular, biochemical, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can affect the development of cancer. A major objective of his research is to determine the influence of genetics on disease risk, either alone or in combination with lifestyle and environmental risk factors. His projects include studies of risk factors for human papillomavirus-related cancers and testicular germ-cell tumors, and of molecular markers for outcomes among patients with oral cancer. He also studies the health and well-being of adolescent and young-adult cancer survivors, particularly issues involving fertility preservation.
