Christiana Shaw, M.D., M.S., a clinical assistant professor of surgery in UF’s College of Medicine, visited the Eastside Striders, a group of students from Eastside High School, in February to discuss developments in treatments for breast cancer and changes in rates of diagnosis and survival. Shaw said the group, which focuses on raising funds for the American Cancer Society, included about 50 students, half male and half female.
Shaw connected with the group after a member, whose mother works at the Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s biorepository, contacted her and asked her to speak.
“The students were very well educated and very mature,” Shaw wrote in an email after the event. “They asked about ethnic disparities, triple negative disease, age of patients, male breast cancer. I was impressed by how well educated they were and by their dedication to the cause. Most of the women I see are older, with a few in their 20s, 30s and 40s. It gave me a little perspective to see how much breast cancer touches people of all ages — men and women.”