5 Questions with Sandra Swain, MD, FACP, FASCO
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Healio spoke with oncologist, past ASCO president and philanthropist, Sandra Swain, MD, FACP, FASCO, who helped establish Women Who Conquer Cancer.
The Women Who Conquer Cancer (WWCC) initiative, now in its 11th year, has raised more than $9.4 million and awarded more than 100 grants to women investigators in oncology.
Swain is the associate dean for research development at Georgetown University Medical Center; vice president of MedStar Genetic Medicine for MedStar Health in Washington, D.C.; and professor of medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine.
She is also a former member of the ASCO board of directors and served as president of ASCO from 2012 to 2013. Swain is a current member of the Conquer Cancer Foundation board of directors and chair of WWCC.
Healio: What prompted the creation of WWCC?
Swain: During the time I served as ASCO president, one of the things that I really wanted to do was highlight mentorship for the next generation.
As a woman who has been in this career for a long time, I had no women mentors — almost no women in academia who were similar to me. In my fellowship year, I was the only woman, and during my residency in medicine, I was one of few women. I grew up during a time when women were a huge minority in the field, so I felt strongly about doing something to highlight women’s careers and the needs of early-career women researchers.
Research has been very important to me, so I started Women Who Conquer Cancer with the idea that we would raise funds for research grants for early-career women. There was also a pent-up need to recognize women and their mentorship over the years.
We are seeing how difficult it is now to have a career in academia, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought to the forefront issues surrounding early-career women who want to have a family. It is very difficult, but just knowing that we support them is important. Receiving these grants has given young women a lot of confidence. I see it repeatedly. I keep in touch with many of the awardees and see firsthand how much these grants really do for them — not only for their confidence, but for their career. It gives them a start.
For me, the positive is that I’m leaving a legacy along with the women who conquer cancer, and the other people who support it, for this next generation. That is incredibly important.
Healio: What has WWCC accomplished in the past 11 years?
Swain: To date, we’ve given out 18 mentorship awards. We split it into international and U.S.-based because there were so many awardees, which is very exciting to see.
We have raised over $9.4 million and given more than 100 grants since we started, which is pretty amazing. This included eight career development grants, which are 3-year awards for young or early career faculty who have already finished their fellowship and have an academic career or a community practice.
We have also given out 82 young investigator awards, which are given to fellows who are training in medical oncology and really gives them a start to their career. We have also given merit awards for posters at the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago, and we have started Mentorship Awards, for which we have received so many nominations.
Healio: What does it mean to you to witness the success of WWCC?
Swain: It means a lot to me and is probably the most important thing I do right now in my career — give back.
I had a very different career trajectory than most of the early-career faculty or fellows of today. The opportunities were not as great as they are now. Today, more than half of the medical students are women. More and more women are coming in and it’s exciting that we’ve been able to stimulate interest — not only from women who support this, but also men. In fact, men will often say to me, “I have a sister or I have a daughter, and I really want to see them have the same opportunities as me.”
I find it incredibly rewarding working with Conquer Cancer and have been on the board since 2008. Conquer Cancer is a foundational part of ASCO. We raise money for the various awards, and as a member of that board, I see how much this has grown and has been one of our most successful programs. The energy is always very high and positive — I see it continuing to grow.
We also have a big presence in diversity, in general, and we’re working more and more in that area to make sure not only women are represented, but women who come from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in medicine. For example, we have a Latina segment where two very prominent oncologists are working with us, Narjust Florez, MD, associate director of the Cancer Equity Program, thoracic medical oncologist at Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and a Healio Women in Oncology Peer Perspective board member, and Gladys Rodriguez, MD, medical oncologist at START Center for Cancer Care.
Women Who Conquer Cancer has been fantastic in supporting Latina women at all career stages as they experience a lot of barriers in their research compared with white women.
Healio: What can our readers do to support the foundation?
Swain: We encourage anyone and everyone who is passionate about this to donate. We want to close the funding gap for women receiving less funding for their research. For me, it’s incredibly important and is my number one philanthropic area. I love it for so many reasons.
Plus, I know that the money actually goes to the people we serve and goes straight to the grants we give. If you look at our 10-year anniversary yearbook, you can see so many snapshots and bios of all the women who have received awards during the past decade. It is exciting to see their faces, to see what they’ve done, and to see how brilliant they are. I’m in awe of these women.
If people are passionate about this and really want to support WWCC, any amount is appreciated. We are excited to keep the initiative going.
Healio: Is there anything else that you would like to mention?
Swain: My main goal right now is to raise funds for more career development awards and to see more support for the 3-year awards, because it is very hard to get funding, especially now. Any support is welcomed. For anyone interested in donating, please visit Women Who Conquer Cancer | Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation. To apply for funding or to nominate someone, please visit https://society.asco.org/career-development/grants-awards.
Reference:
- 2023 WWCC Yearbook Timeline. Available at: 2023 WWCC Yearbook Timeline Final web_032724_Compressed_V1.pdf (conquer.org).
For more information:
Sandra Swain, MD, FACP, can be reached at sandra.swain@georgetown.edu.
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