Oct. 27, 2021
Annual Summit Focuses on Breast Cancer Research, Treatment
WRNMMC, Bethesda, MD —
Other than skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States, accounting for approximately 280,000 cases and more than 40,000 deaths each year, according to Dr. Stan Lipkowitz, chief and senior investigator of the National Cancer Institute’s Women’s Malignancies Branch. One of a numbers of speakers during the 2021 Murtha Cancer Center Breast Cancer Summit held Oct. 13, Lipkowitz said better screening, surgery, radiation treatment and systemic therapy have resulted in a steady decline of female deaths from breast cancer since the 1990s. “But this still leaves about 40,000 deaths a year,” he added. This is why the John P. Murtha Cancer Center, located at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), annually hosts the breast cancer summit during October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.