Global Perspectives on Cancer: Incidence, Care, and Experience

Baltimore, MD - Cancer is very personal. The disease has touched many people, whether it is a family member, a friend, a colleague or even some people reading this. In fact, cancer is the number one killer around the world.

While more than two out of three people in the United States are still living five years after they are diagnosed, the same cannot be said for people in some developing countries where the survival rates are much lower.

Sinai Hospital oncologist Kenneth Miller, M.D., decided to look into what factors may contribute to these discrepancies in treatment around the world. He recently published his findings in a book, "Global Perspectives on Cancer: Incidence, Care, and Experience," which explores the how's and why's that make care so different depending on where people live.

"In some countries, there is a silent stigma with cancer, and many people assume that a cancer diagnosis is a death sentence, while in the United States, there are millions of people who are cancer survivors," says Dr. Miller.

"The reasons for these treatment disparities are complex and surprising because, in spite of astonishing advances in medicine and globalization, there can be insurmountable obstacles to getting the necessary attention for people in those areas," he adds.

The book is unique because it looks at the epidemic of cancer around the world from historical, medical, cultural and personal perspectives. It delves into how the disease is managed, how politics and funding affect it, and why certain countries lack adequate ways to diagnose and treatment it. All of this is presented through the eyes of the medical community and the personal stories of people who have battled cancer and their caregivers.

"Global Perspectives on Cancer: Incidence, Care, and Experience" also explains the leading behavioral and dietary factors that can trigger cancers and includes insight from medical experts in radiation, surgery, oncology, pharmacy and public health.

Dr. Miller, a medical oncologist at the Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute at LifeBridge Health in Baltimore, M.D., wrote the book with Miklos Simon, M.D., a medical oncologist at Compass Oncology, Portland, OR. They consulted medical experts from different areas of expertise to analyze the causes and possible next steps.

Dr. Miller also used the book as a teaching opportunity, working with Sinai Hospital medical residents to develop and write chapters on different types of cancers. The group recently gathered to celebrate the book's publication.

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Dr. Miller was founding director of the Connecticut Challenge Cancer Survivorship Program at the Yale Cancer Center and former director of the Adult Survivorship Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Miller taught oncology in Uganda and Ethiopia, and is the coordinator of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's International Cancer Corps program in Ethiopia.

Dr. Simon completed his fellowship at Yale University and then took on the role of an educator in India, Ethiopia, and Bhutan. He is a steering committee member of the oncology section at Health Volunteers Overseas, and program director of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's International Cancer Cor