Bernard fisher md personal biography
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Who Is Bernie Fisher?
Our story begins exactly fifty years ago. On a fall weekend in late September 1974, a former dancer from Michigan and a young surgeon from Pittsburgh met just outside Washington, DC. The treatment of breast cancer would never be the same.
Less Radical is the story of Dr. Bernie Fisher, the surgeon-scientist who not only revolutionized breast cancer treatment, but also fundamentally changed the way we understand all cancers. He was an unlikely hero—a Jewish kid from Pittsburgh who had to make it past antisemitic quotas to get into med school. And the thanks he received for his discoveries? A performative, misguided Congressional hearing that destroyed his reputation and haunted him until his death.
Over six episodes, radiation oncologist Dr. Stacy Wentworth will take you into operating rooms, through the halls of Congress, and into the labs where breakthrough cancer treatments were not only developed, but discovered.
If you or someone you know has had breast cancer, Bernie is a part of your story—and you’re a part of his.
For photos, recommended readings, and show notes, visit Dr. Wentworth’s Substack, Cancer Culture.
Transcript
[MUSIC]
STACY WENTWORTH: August 1974. Richard Nixon is facing impeachment, and very likely removal from off
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A Short Life of Physiologist Fisher’s Donations to Irregular Clinical Trials
Abstract
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Bernard Fisher (scientist)
American biologist
Bernard Fisher | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1918-08-23)August 23, 1918 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | October 16, 2019(2019-10-16) (aged 101) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Education | University of Pittsburgh |
| Medical career | |
| Profession | Physician |
| Institutions | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine |
Bernard Fisher (August 23, 1918 – October 16, 2019) was an American surgeon and a pioneer in the biology and treatment of breast cancer. He was a native of Pittsburgh.[1] He was Chairman of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast Project at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.[2] His work established definitively that early-stage breast cancer could be more effectively treated by lumpectomy, in combination with radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and/or hormonal therapy, than by radical mastectomy.[3]
The oncology journal and website OncLive described Fisher's research as "launching the breast cancer community into the modern era" and honored him with a Giants of Cancer Care award for his work that ultimately ended the standard practice of performing the Halsted radical mastectomy, a treatment that had been in place for more than 75 years.[4] Thanks t