Meet Dr. Michael DiGiovanna
June 14, 2021Information
Learn more about Dr. Michael DiGiovanna and his care of patients with breast cancer and how he prepares patients for their treatment plan.
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- 00:00I'm doctor Michael di Giovanna
- 00:02and I'm a professor of internal
- 00:04medicine and medical oncology,
- 00:06as well as pharmacology and I
- 00:08treat people with breast cancer.
- 00:10When I was in training,
- 00:12I wanted to be a physician scientist
- 00:14and initially I thought I would
- 00:16be a pure scientist and to be
- 00:18a better medical on scientist,
- 00:21I decided to pursue both the MD
- 00:23and the PhD degrees during my MD
- 00:25training as a surprise to me,
- 00:28I realized how much I enjoyed
- 00:30taking care of patients.
- 00:32And so I decided to choose a field where
- 00:34the science was really close to the bedside,
- 00:38and I was particularly fascinated
- 00:39and intrigued by cancer biology,
- 00:41and I thought that there was no
- 00:43field where the basic science was
- 00:45more closely applied to the bedside
- 00:48than in cancer,
- 00:49and hence I decided that I would
- 00:51become a cancer physician scientist.
- 00:53The best way for patients to
- 00:55prepare is just to be relaxed,
- 00:57because I'll be the host,
- 00:59and I'll teach patients about their disease.
- 01:01Ask them questions about their history.
- 01:04And together we'll make a plan.
- 01:06It's always a good idea to bring
- 01:08somebody with you on the 1st appointment.
- 01:11Especially,
- 01:11there's so much to hear about and
- 01:14so much to learn that it's good
- 01:16to have a second set of years
- 01:18to help take it all in and then
- 01:21even talk about it later on.
- 01:23With most types of cancer and
- 01:25breast cancer in particular,
- 01:26it requires a multidisciplinary
- 01:28team of specialists to take care.
- 01:30Essential specialists are the
- 01:31medical oncologists like myself,
- 01:32a surgeon and a radiation oncologist.
- 01:35And we have many ancillary people
- 01:37on the team to help to get guide the
- 01:40patient through all of these treatments.
- 01:42My research has focused on all
- 01:44areas of breast cancer,
- 01:46spanning basic science to
- 01:47translational research,
- 01:48and even to clinical trials with patients.
- 01:50The focus of my research has been
- 01:53on the interactions of hormones that
- 01:55are important in breast cancer with
- 01:57a particular protein receptor called her two.