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Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, FASCO
Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, FASCO, is a professor of medicine and professor of surgery at Brown University, director of the Pelvic Malignancies Program and Hematology-Oncology Outpatient Clinics at Lifespan Cancer Institute, and director of Medical Oncology and the Sexual Health First Responders Clinic at Rhode Island Hospital. He also serves as the head of community outreach and engagement of the Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University. Dr. Dizon has served as past chair of ASCO's Social Media Working Group and the Cancer Communications Committee. In addition to his regular column on ASCOconnection.org, which has been honored with APEX awards in 2013 and 2014, he is a blogger for The Oncologist and a section editor of Gynecologic Oncology at UpToDate. Dr. Dizon is a member of the JCO Oncology Practice Editorial Board, and editor in chief of the ASCO Educational Book. Follow Dr. Dizon across social media channels @drdonsdizon.
Apr 09, 2015
That question is perhaps the most common one raised by patients facing a diagnosis of cancer for the first time. There are so many campaigns about how to “avoid” cancer: no white sugar, no chemicals, all-plant diets, regular exercise, don’t smoke, don’t drink. I can see how one can get the...
Mar 25, 2015
She was so young—only 32 when diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She had given birth to a son only four months earlier and by all rights should have been celebrating being a new mother. But, instead, she had developed acute pelvic pain, undergone emergent removal of her uterus and ovaries, and was now...
Mar 13, 2015
I happened to be standing in her office when Tina, our research nurse, received an email from one of our patients. This patient had recurrent ovarian cancer and was on her third-line of treatment. She was seen at our center for clinical trials, and Tina and I had spent some time discussing one...
Feb 26, 2015
Every so often I see a patient who views cancer as a constant threat to be handled. The cancer becomes so significant that she feels she can never let her guard down. I always worry about this—partly because that singular focus on fighting cancer can sometimes detract one from other aspects of life...
Feb 12, 2015
She had come to see me in consultation. A professor at a local university, she was well until four years earlier, when she developed abdominal bloating and pain—tell-tale signs of ovarian cancer. Surgery followed, then adjuvant chemotherapy with intraperitoneal treatments (“Terrible regimen,” she...
Jan 29, 2015
Mom. Dad. Happy. Sad. Friend. Trust. I remember playing this game. A friend would say one thing, and then I would say the first thing that came to my mind. For some reason, it would pass the time. I remember how some words would spark an emotion or a memory. Sometimes happy, sometimes not so happy...
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