Breast Cancer: Society Shapes an Epidemic

Dr. Susan M. Love, is an author, teacher, surgeon, researcher and activist. She was born on February 9, 1948, and graduated from SUNY Downstate Medical School cum laude in 1974. She did her surgical residency at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital and was Chief Resident in 1979. She went into private practice in general surgery, in 1980, and was the first woman surgeon on the staff of Boston's Beth Israel Hospital. Dr. Love joined the staff of the Dana Farber Breast Evaluation Clinic in 1982 and in 1988, she founded the Faulkner Breast Center in Boston, which was the first facility in the country to include a multidisciplinary all female staff. In 1992, she was recruited by UCLA to create a program that addresses all aspects of breast care and, in 1994; Revlon gave a gift that led to the establishment of the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center. Dr. Love left clinical practice, in 1996, to devote more time to basic research and her position as Adjunct Professor of Surgery at UCLA. Love has authored many journal articles and co-authored an Atlas of Surgical Techniques in Breast Surgery (1995). She has also written "Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book," which has been called one of the most important books in women's health in the past decade, and "Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book" (1997), which was on The New York Times bestseller list. Dr. Love founded the National Breast Cancer Coalition, which is a coalition of breast cancer advocacy groups created to involve breast cancer patients and their supporters as advocates for action, advances and change. In 1993, she help deliver 2 million signatures to President Clinton demanding a National Action Plan for Breast Cancer and now she is one of the co-chairs of the plan that brings together women, scientists, politicians and business people to stop the disease.