Patricia A. Ganz, M.D.

Medical oncologist Patricia A. Ganz is a Professor in the schools of Medicine and Public Health at UCLA, and is Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center there.

Her research over the past 25 years has contributed to our understanding of how women adjust to the diagnosis of breast cancer, including its effects on their physical, emotional, social, and sexual well-being. She developed a way to predict which women are likely to develop significant psychological distress in the year following their diagnosis, and has completed several studies examining the quality of life in breast cancer survivors.

"I am delighted to work with an organization that has already done so much for breast cancer survivors and that I know will do more in the future," Patricia says of her role on the breastcancer.org Professional Advisory Board.

With funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Dr. Ganz recently completed a study, “Moving Beyond Cancer,” that developed and tested a video that prooved successful in helping women more rapidly recover from the effects of breast cancer treatment. This video is available now from the NCI by calling 1-800-4-CANCER. In other studies, funded by the Komen Foundation and the Department of Defense, she examined the impact of breast cancer treatments on reproductive health, cardiovascular function, and osteoporosis in women who were 50 years old or younger when they were treated. Her current research is focused on understanding the biological causes of fatigue, cognitive problems, and sleep disorders in breast cancer survivors.

In July 1999, Dr. Ganz was awarded an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship and honored with the Komen Foundation Professor of Survivorship Award. In October 2007, she was elected to the Institute of Medicine. She currently leads the UCLA-LIVESTRONG Cancer Survivorship Center of Excellence, funded in part by the Lance Armstrong Foundation.