Navigating Cancer Treatment in the New Era of Personalized Medicine

Date & Time

Tue, 07/19/2011

5:30pm-7:00pm

Overview

Reuben H. Fleet Science Center
Community Forum
1875 El Prado
San Diego, CA 92101

Biomedical researchers who are diagnosed with the illnesses they study enter a Twilight Zone of fractured identity. In the surreal shift from “disease expert” to “disease patient,” scientists often learn life-altering lessons about therapeutic dilemmas and personal powerlessness.

Laura Shawver has taken that journey, and she is using the lessons learned to help other patients navigate treatment options. A cancer researcher and biotech executive who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Shawver discovered that her professional standing gave her unusual access to sophisticated diagnostic tools that boosted chances of survival. She believes that all cancer patients deserve similar access, and that moral principle has led her to establish The Clearity Foundation.

Resources:

Can She Change the Way We Treat Cancer? - O, The Oprah Magazine

Video: Dr. Laura Shawver: A Unique Perspective

The Clearity Foundation started by Dr. Laura Shawver

ETHICS CENTER NEWSLETTER – SUMMER 2011

Speaker

Dr. Laura Shawver

Clearity Foundation

Laura K. Shawver, Ph.D., Founder of the Clearity Foundation, is a biotech entrepreneur with 25 years of scientific experience. Currently an Executive-in-Residence at 5AM Ventures, she previously served as CEO of Phenomix Corporation and President of SUGEN, Inc. Her research career has focused on oncogenes, growth factors and signal transduction pathways. She is Deputy Editor of “Molecular Cancer Therapeutics,” and she is a member of the Science Policy and Legislative Affairs Committee of the American Association for Cancer Research.

A profile of Shawver ran in the April 2011 edition of O, The Oprah Magazine. Titled "Can She Change the Way We Treat Cancer?" the article reported, “Shawver is winning the battle for her own health … She has been cancer-free for four years.”