Breastcancer.org Podcast

At the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting poster session, we asked four scientists to discuss their research.

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Felicia Marie Knaul, PhD, is a global health researcher whose work focuses on strengthening health systems, advancing gender equity, and improving access to care for those who need it most. She’s also lived through a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, and that experience informs her efforts to transform health systems around the world.

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Eleonora Teplinsky, MD, is the head of breast and gynecologic medical oncology and Valley-Mount Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Center in Paramus, New Jersey, as well as an ASCO breast cancer expert. She explained the most compelling research results on breast cancer presented at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

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At the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, Dr. Jennifer Ligibel, director of the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, presented early results from the Breast Cancer Weight Loss (BWEL) study. The findings showed that among women with early-stage breast cancer, losing weight led to better physical and mental health, and also helped ease fatigue.

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Results from the OPTIMA trial suggest that people with early-stage hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer that seems to have a high risk of recurrence based on clinical features — like a high number of positive lymph nodes — may be able to safely skip chemotherapy if they have a low Prosigna risk of recurrence score. The findings were presented at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

Iain MacPherson, professor of breast oncology at the University of Glasgow, was chief investigator of the study.

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At the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, Megan-Claire Chase, known as Warrior Megsie on social media, was one of the speakers at the ASCO Voices session. In her talk, she explained how her views on clinical trials shifted after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

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Dr. Michael Stubblefield is a cancer rehabilitation expert and Dr. Joseph Dayan is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who has pioneered techniques to ease lymphedema with surgery. They’re both very interested in how the GLP-1 medicines, like Ozempic, Wegovey, Zepbound, Mounjaro, Victoza, and Trulicity — just to name a few — could be used to manage lymphedema.

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Dr. Dipali Sharma and her team published two papers that found links between bacteria, including F. nucleatum, the bacterium that causes periodontal disease, and the development of breast cancer.

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Dr. Brock Hewitt is a surgeon who specializes in treating cancerous and non-cancerous tumors in the liver and other internal organs. One of the techniques he uses is histotripsy. He’s published a number of papers on the procedure and its effectiveness.Listen to the episode to hear Dr. Hewitt explain:

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In Caitlin Shetterly’s latest novel, the main character has been diagnosed with breast cancer in her left breast. Six months after sending in her draft, Shetterly was diagnosed with breast cancer in her left breast. Breast cancer had broken the fourth wall between Shetterly, her characters, and her readers.

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