News

DeLynn Lecture to feature national expert on improving cancer care delivery

Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH, a nationally renowned medical oncologist and population health researcher, will deliver the 2017 Laurence and Jean DeLynn Lecture at 4 p.m., September 21, in the Fukushima Auditorium of the West Virginia University Health Sciences Center. The lecture is open to the public. A reception will follow in the Learning Center Commons.

The title of Dr. Schrag’s lecture is “Precision Public Health: High Value Strategies to Decrease the Burden of Cancer on the Health of Communities.”

Dr. Schrag is chief of the Division of Population Sciences and senior physician of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. She is also a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-leader of the Dana-Farber Harvard Program in Cancer Care Delivery Research.

As a physician Dr. Schrag cares for patients with tumors of the lower gastrointestinal tract, particularly colorectal cancer. She devotes her research efforts to evaluating and improving the quality of life and effectiveness of cancer care delivery. Her current work focuses on building capacity for “phenomics” to complement and integrate with the surge of information in “genomics” in order to decrease the population burden of malignant disease.

Additionally, Dr. Schrag consults for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and state health departments, and has testified before congressional panels on improving cancer care quality and efficiency. She serves as a member of the National Cancer Institute Health Services Organization and Delivery standing study section and is a member of the National Cancer Policy Forum. She also is an associate editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“I’m excited to have Dr. Schrag visit our campus to share her vitally important work aimed at finding and validating innovative ways to reduce the burden of cancer,” WVU Cancer Institute Director Richard Goldberg, MD, said.  “In West Virginia cancer is burdensome for behavioral, geographic, and financial reasons. We rank number one in the country in tobacco use and obesity. We have 77 people per square mile and a very high number of people insured by medicare and medicaid or who are uninsured. Dr. Schrag’s clinical and research expertise focus on both improving care and improving care delivery, strategies that will help us to provide better cancer care for patients and their families in the Mountain State. Please come join us as we learn from her.”

Dr. Schrag’s lecture at WVU is made possible by the generosity of the DeLynn family. Jean and Laurence DeLynn established the DeLynn Lecture Series in 1992 with an endowed gift to the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center. The series provides educational and informational presentations in the area of cancer research, treatment, education, and prevention.

For information about the DeLynn Lecture series, see wvucancer.org/education/seminars-and-lectures/laurence-and-jean-delynn-lecture-series/.