Why Patient Perspective Matters in Cancer Care

Dr. Deb Schrag knows all about the importance of elevating the patient voice in cancer care.

“A physician doesn’t live in an individual patient's skin and can't presume to know what an individual patients’ priorities are,” Schrag told CURE in a recent interview. “What makes the world an interesting place, and what makes practicing medicine so rewarding, is that people have different values and goals, and we build relationships and partner with our patients to help them navigate their journeys coping with cancer. It’s fortunate that cancer has become, for so many, a chronic disease, and that means that we often have the privilege of getting to know our patients and their families very well.”

Schrag has been elected by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) as its 2027 to 2028 President, with Schrag set to take office as President-Elect following the conclusion of the ASCO Annual Business Meeting in Chicago on June 1 of this year.

A gastrointestinal medical oncologist, Schrag is the George J. Bosl Chair of the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.

In her interview with CURE, Schrag discussed the importance of the patient perspective and more.

CURE: You have said that the patient is a key member of the care team. As you prepare to lead 50,000 oncology professionals, how will you ensure the patient's perspective remains at the heart of ASCO's global mission?

Schrag: Continuing to have patients as participants in our events, annual meetings, committees and activities is critically important to make sure that we keep patient perspectives front and center. That's critical, and that includes study design, programming and education. We need patient feedback at the heart of that, and when we say patients, that's a broad community; that's people who are living with cancer, people who are going through cancer treatment, people who survived cancer treatment and the family members of patients who are no longer with us, who can share their experience. Cancer is so ubiquitous and touches so many that most oncologists have personal experience from their own families and friends.

For many patients, success isn't just a clinical number, it's being able to attend a wedding or walk their dog. How do you plan to bridge the gap between traditional medical metrics and the personal goals of patients?

From the perspective of ASCO, we really [plan] on focusing on the importance of humanism in medicine. ASCO has many opportunities through its publications, ASCO already features essays about experiences that can range from medical students to residents, fellows, early career stage, senior stage attendings, describing their experiences caring for patients and what they've learned and how it's really enriched their lives. Additionally, there are also pieces from patients. These submissions (and its written material, podcasts and video clips) are highly read, listened to and watched.

Sometimes it's physicians as patients, and sometimes patients or doctors and patients together, describing how powerful these connections can be, but really fostering the humanistic aspect, the stuff that's hard to count, but that really matters. These powerful connections make patients feel known and reduce anxiety and they also are associated with physician well being. Strong patient-physician partnerships are a source of joy and sustains oncologists’ resiliency and ability to persevere to tackle hard problems.

Patients are the only true experts on how they feel. Can you explain to our readers why answering symptom surveys is a vital part of their medical treatment?

Yes, because it helps us partner together to help navigate cancer treatment safely. When doctors and patients partner together, we get the best outcomes. By sharing information about how you are feeling and functioning, before visits and in-between visits, we have the opportunity to proactively prevent problems from escalating. We do need to work on eliminating redundancy and repetitive questions. Some are there for safety purposes (like making sure you have no metal on your body before you undergo an MRI) but they can still feel very repetitive. We are learning how to use AI to make some of the tedious tasks easier for everyone. We won’t be able to integrate these powerful new tools into clinical care without patient partnerships. I fervently hope that AI technologies will enable us to spend less time on some of the less rewarding aspects of cancer care and redirect our energy to caring for our patients and discovering better approaches to treatment.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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