Valerie Stone, MD, MPH, was considering becoming an oncologist in the mid-1980s when something happened to shift her focus. People, including some very close to her, began developing a mysterious new disease. What they had was eventually identified as acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. And as a member of two groups disproportionately impacted — … Read more
A long-sought contractual agreement with the Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan (BMCHP) is providing thousands of Medicaid (MassHealth) patients in Massachusetts with easier access to Dana-Farber’s specialty cancer care, while also expanding its mission to serve historically neglected, excluded, and disinvested communities and populations. Under the agreement, which was finalized in December 2020, Dana-Farber and … Read more
Although multiple myeloma is relatively rare — accounting for about 2% of all cancers — it is twice as common among African Americans as white Americans. Every year, nearly 35,000 new cases of the disease are diagnosed in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. About 24% of those cases are in African … Read more
Melanoma, a type of skin cancer, gets its name from the pigment-producing cells called melanocytes from which tumors can develop. Melanocytes manufacture melanin, a substance in your body that produces hair, eye, and skin pigmentation. Melanin absorbs sunlight and helps to protect skin from DNA damaging ultraviolet light which can contribute to the development of … Read more