What You Need to Know about Breast Cancer — Forms, Treatment, and Disparities Correction between white and black women with Dr. Sarah Shubeck and Dr. Kyra Nicholson

Today, Dr. Sarah Shubeck and Dr. Kyra Nicholson, two surgeons on breast cancer and how we might begin to correct the disparities that exist between black and white patients when it comes to breast cancer. They’ll get into the different kinds of breast cancer and treatments that exist, and why it’s so challenging to decrease one’s risk for the disease. You’ll also hear what inspired them to pursue careers in breast cancer surgery, and their own personal wisdom on patient care.

Dr. Sarah Shubeck is an Assistant Professor in the Department of General Surgery. She is a Breast Surgical Onocologist specializing in breast surgery, cancer, and benign disease treatment. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Shubeck is also a passionate researcher. She’s examined how to improve the value and quality of surgical care as well as exploring treatment effectiveness of patients with breast cancer. Her research has been published in many journals including Cancer, JAMA Surgery, and Annals of Surgical Oncology.

Dr. Kyra Nicholson is a general surgery resident at UChicago Medicine. She is currently conducting research on clinical outcomes of breast surgery. Dr. Nicholson attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Southern Illinois University for medical school prior to her residency.

“Deep Cuts: Exploring Equity in Surgery” comes to you from the Department of Surgery at UChicago Medicine. Our host is Dr. Jen Vigneswaran. Our senior producer is Tony Liu. Our producer and editors include Alia Abiad, Caroline Montag, Nihar Raama, and Nitin Vidyasagar. Our podcast cover art comes to you from Pombie Silverman, episode art from Sam Higgins, and music from Sen Morimoto off of Sooper Records. 

A special thanks this week to Julian Owens. Find more about our work at surgery.uchicago.edu.