What to Do After a Cancer Diagnosis

If you or someone you love just received a cancer diagnosis, what are the first three things you need to know?

In this clip from our episode “Can AI Help Us Finally Beat Cancer”, host John Driscoll and guest Dr. Sanjay Juneja, TheOncDoc, walk through the essential steps every cancer patient should take immediately after diagnosis.

Listen to the full episode here

🎙️⚕️ABOUT SANJAY JUNEJA, MD
Dr. Sanjay Juneja, a hematologist and medical oncologist widely recognized as “TheOncDoc,” is a trailblazer in healthcare innovation and a rising authority on the transformative role of AI in medicine. Garnering over 750k followers and 50 million views on social media, Dr. Juneja’s unique ability to simplify complex topics has earned him global acclaim. His debut podcast, Target Cancer: Podcast, amassed 4+ million downloads in over 120 countries within just two years, setting the stage for his current AI-focused series featuring world-renowned guests.

Dr. Juneja’s accolades include being named Targeted Oncology’s inaugural 2024 Oncology Icon, an invitation to the White House’s 2023 Healthcare Leaders in Social Media Roundtable, and recognition as a 40 Under 40 honoree and one of the Capital Region’s Top 500 Most Influential Leaders for three consecutive years. His insights have been featured in The Washington Post, WIRED, Bloomberg, and PBS.

In addition to founding TensorBlack, an educational platform specializing in AI applications in oncology, Dr. Juneja serves as Vice President of Clinical AI Operations at Tempus AI and a contributing writer + Technology council for Forbes.  He is credentialed by Harvard Medical School’s inaugural AI in Healthcare: From Strategies to Implementation Executive Education, and an Editorial Board Member for the peer-reviewed journal AI in Precision Oncology.

🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALK
CareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (President U.S. Healthcare and EVP, Walgreens Boots Alliance) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy. 

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Transcript

John: 0:06

For the average person who doesn't necessarily, doesn't no background in healthcare, why is, what's the responsibility of the patient, the patient family, once you get a cancer diagnosis, and how do you, how do you execute on that?

Dr. Sanjay: 0:20

Yeah, I mean it's, it's an unfortunate reality, but a real one, and that's that there is. A disparity, or at least it is not congruent, the kind of care or quote unquote elite or guideline, you know, top, top level care, uh, is not distributed equally from, you know, throughout the United States. And I don't, I do not believe in my heart, you know, heart that it's with intention. It's just more of a resource issue and a labor issue. We know there's a severe deficiency of oncologists, of, of healthcare staff. You hear about it all the time and. There's an overextension of taking care of patients because of how common cancer is becoming, as you had mentioned at the beginning of this podcast. So what that means is. All of this, this, you know, amazing scientific discovery we're, we're learning. And the guideline updates, and the therapy updates. And the diagnostic updates and all of this, all this stuff that's coming out quickly and multiple tumor types. I wanted to reach the same places that I grew up, which is, and still live today, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Right? And I'm a person of color, but we know that, that certain demographics, depending on where they live, the color of their skin, don't get the same. Uh, care either to the time of diagnosis

John: 1:37

reliably, don't get that access to care.

Dr. Sanjay: 1:41

Correct? Correct. And I think, I think the only solution until someone, you know, proposes one is like, well, then let's make it collaborative and co informed so that we can, I, again, I don't think it's, it's malice on anyone's part to not deliver that. I just, there are gaps that exist. That's a fact. So I am kind of obsessed with this concept of. Why not participate? Like if you have the time and it's your family member, uh, or yourself, you know, there, the accessibility to information is, is easier and more seamless than ever, especially with these frontier large language models like, you know, chat, pt, et cetera, which. Take their own caution, don't get me wrong. But information is accessible. So I think it's a bandaid of a solution until hopefully technology, uh, and the system can find a way to distribute the most elite kind of care that you would otherwise have to travel for or be fortunate to live in the area, uh, to anyone that has a cancer diagnosis.'cause it's just not going anywhere.