In this week’s episode, we’re joined by Dr. Margaret Bertrand, a recently retired diagnostic radiologist in Greensboro, NC and a member of earlier.org's Medical Advisory Board. She received her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and was in practice for more than 20 years. 

Margaret's journey took an unexpected turn when she diagnosed her own breast cancer.

Dr. Jessica Da Gama Duarte obtained a PhD in Medical Biochemistry at the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 2015, where she developed a novel protein microarray-based tumor antigen array. She was recruited as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow by the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, Australia in the Cancer Immunobiology Program to investigate the translational capacity of the array.

In early 2025, she was recruited by Monash University, School of Translational Medicine, Australia as a new Laboratory Head and Senior Research Fellow.

She is currently working on research projects that are aiming towards early detection of cancer onset and recurrence, prediction of immunotherapy benefit and/or toxicity, and understanding the role of B cells, antibody production, and Tertiary Lymphoid Structures in anti-tumor immunity.

Dr. Duarte was awarded a Medical Research Grant from earlier.org - Friends for an Earlier Breast Cancer Test in 2021.