LAHORE:‘No one is winning the war on cancer.’ These sobering words from Dr Azra Raza, a globally renowned oncologist, author, and professor at Columbia University, echoed across a captivated audience at LUMS, where she recently held a series of thought-provoking talks.
According to a press release, Dr Raza challenged conventional thinking, urging a shift from reactive care to proactive prevention. Despite billions of dollars spent on cancer research, she noted that treatment today still follows the approach of ‘slash, poison, and burn’.
In a joint session with Dr Stavroula Kousteni, Professor of Biophysics at Columbia University, Dr Raza called for a revolutionary, patient-centric approach that begins with detecting the disease at the first cell, the point where wellness begins to transition into illness. Her acclaimed book, The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last, delves deeply into these themes.