Carol A Westbrook

Carol Westbrook MD, PhD is a Medical Oncologist with over 20 years of faculty experience and research at the University of Chicago, University of Illinois, and Boston University. She is a licensed medical oncologist, formerly at Geisinger Health Systems in Wilkes-Barre, PA. She has served on numerous federal advisory panels for cancer and genomics, and has authored over 100 scholarly articles, and three books , including Ask an Oncologist: Honest Answers to Difficult Questions about Cancer; To Your Health! The Beer Doctor on Good Beer, Good Times, and the Finer Things in Life; and Miss Victory, 1942. Now retired from clinical practice, she consults on medical-legal affairs, and is an author of the blog, Ask-an-Oncologist.com. Her email: carolwestbrook [at] me.com; twitter @Carolwestbrook1.

Does Beer Cause Cancer?

Posted on by Carol A Westbrook

Is moderate beer drinking good for your health, as I have always maintained, or does it cause cancer? .. assuming that my readers are not alcoholics, the question that they are really asking is whether or not they are going to get cancer from low to moderate beer drinking. So what, then, are the facts? …Is beer drinking good for you? Or bad? Are you healthier if you drink, say, a beer or two per day, or are you worse off? We review some of the facts and myths about alcohol and your health.

My New Year’s Resolution: Getting to Know my Genome Sequence

Posted on by Carol A Westbrook

In November I placed a package containing a small sample of my blood into a UPS drop box. It is a fait accompli. I’m going to get my Genome Sequenced! No doubt you are wondering why I wanted to do this. The short answer — because I can. Why did I do this and what do I hope to learn? Read on.

Homo Erectus, or I Married a Ham

Posted on by Carol A Westbrook

by Carol A. Westbrook My husband loves big erections. Don't get me wrong, I'm not speaking here about Viagra, I'm talking about tall towers made of metal, long wires strung high in the sky, and tall antennas protruding from car roofs. He loves anything that broadcasts or receives those elusive radio waves, the bigger the…

Third World Medicine in a First World Town

Posted on by Carol A Westbrook

by Carol A. Westbrook On Wednesday evenings, I volunteer at a free clinic. For a few hours I become a primary care doc in an urban setting, instead of a high-priced oncologist in a modern medical center. Our clinic, The Care and Concern Clinic, in Pittston, PA, opens weekly at 5:30 pm, and closes when…

The Bystander Effect in Medical Care. Why Do I Have So Many Doctors Not Taking Care of Me?

Posted on by Carol A Westbrook

by Carol A Westbrook In a recent editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine1, Drs. Stavert and Lott used the tem, “The Bystander Effect,” to describe a new health care phenomenon, in which multiple physicians participate in the care of a patient, while none acknowledges primary responsibility for managing it. In their example, a…