The Role of Advocacy in Cancer Research: Not a Monster

The 1990s, the decade of advocacy, have produced many changes in the dynamic of the cancer patient and his or her surroundings. I write from the perspective of the female patient, specifically the woman with breast cancer, since it is this patient and survivor group that has had the most dramatic impact. Among the relationships that now have new dimensions are that of the patient and her physician, the patient and her insurer, the patient and her government, and the patient and the media. Evolving along with these, for both common and unrelated reasons, are the relationships of the physician and the insurer, the medical profession and the advocate, the oncology researcher and his or her traditional sources of funding, and the physician and the media.