Dr. Julie Gralow
Dr. Gralow walks (and runs) the talk
Dr. Julie Gralow, a UW Medicine medical oncologist, has dedicated her life to fighting breast cancer. The fight includes research, caring for patients like Kelly and Diane, co-authoring a book on breast cancer and exercise, and launching several cancer support organizations.
Dr. Gralow is heading up a new research study to find out why older people do not enroll in clinical trials in significant numbers. Five institutions around the country-including SCCA-are participating in the study, "Barriers to Accrual to Clinical Trials in Older Cancer Patients," through the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG).
Dr. Gralow is one of three study coordinators for the overall research project as well as the lead investigator at SCCA.
In addition, the new Women's Wellness Clinic at SCCA was Dr. Gralow's brainchild, and many of her long-term follow-up patients are taking advantage of the services offered by this new clinic, which is just for women who are cancer survivors.
Exercise has long been a focus of Dr. Gralow's mission, as medical director of Team Survivor Northwest, an exercise and fitness program for woman cancer survivors, and in her research and writing. She believes that exercise helps women withstand the rigors of cancer treatment, and that it improves their quality of life during and after treatment.
Dr. Gralow sets a good example, joining the members of Team Survivor as they climb mountains, snowshoe, run the Race for the Cure and ride the Seattle to Portland bike ride. "When I tell women that they should be trying to exercise and they see me doing it, they know I believe in it," she says. "That's important."
Dr. Gralow recently co-authored "Breast Fitness: An Optimal Exercise and Health Plan for Reducing Your Risk of Breast Cancer." The book points to evidence that being overweight could double a woman's chances of getting breast cancer, and lays out a plan for surviving--and thriving--after a breast cancer diagnosis.
She goes an additional mile for her patients in promoting efforts to enhance the quality of life of women in cancer treatment. In addition to Team Survivor, Dr. Gralow has helped launch the Living Well With Cancer Series and Innervisions, a traveling exhibit of art by women with breast cancer.
Joan Bowman, a Sequim artist and seven-year breast cancer survivor, was introduced to Innervisions by Dr. Gralow, her oncologist. She says, "It kept me painting. I don't know what I would have done without Innervisions. It was like a support group."
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