Catching cancer early remains the single best way to combat a disease that is the second-leading killer in both the US and worldwide. But the vast majority of resources in the fight against cancer are devoted to relatively ineffective late stage treatments. Early Detection examines this important anomaly in an accessible and expertly researched survey.
In a co-authorship that brings together the passion and urgency of someone touched deeply by the experience of cancer with the knowledge of a skilled science writer, Ratner and Bonislawski narrate compelling case studies across a range of screening programs and different forms of cancer. They look at the science underpinning early detection and discuss the organizational and social challenges of widespread screening, a dimension that has been shown to be especially important in the COVID-19 pandemic. And they call for the government and the medical establishment to provide resources for expanding screening, especially in economically disadvantaged communities that have traditionally been underserved.
About the Authors
Bruce Ratner
Bruce Ratner was New York’s Commissioner of Consumer Affairs under Mayor Ed Koch and subsequently founded and ran Forest City Ratner, a major real estate developer in New York City. He is the founder of the Ratner Early Detection of Cancer and is on the boards of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Adam Bonislawski
Adam Bonislawski is a science writer for GenomeWeb and 360Dx, publications read widely by cancer researchers and doctors. He also writes about business and real estate for The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and Commercial Observer.
Praise for the book
“A lucid, persuasive case for overhauling diagnosis regimes to catch cancer early rather than late.”
Kirkus Reviews
“I’ve spent the last twenty-five years trying to convey exactly what this deeply personal, insightful and well reported book shouts, that detecting cancers early, when they are the most treatable, is the key to saving countless lives. It is what policymakers need to hear.”
Katie Couric
Journalist & Author
Stand Up to Cancer
“This powerful book makes a decisive argument that our current strategy against cancer would be vastly enhanced if tumors were detected at earlier stages. I wish that every patient, and policy maker, would read and understand the broad implications of this invaluable, highly readable book.”
Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD
Cancer researcher
“My mother died from breast cancer when I was 11 and there is not a day that I don’t wish we had detected it sooner. This book is an engaging, informative and hugely important work that will save lives, especially if policy makers take up the authors’ plea to fund more early detection testing.”
Ken Burns
Documentary Filmmaker
“Early Detection provides an important look into testing and treatment disparities that exist in cancer care, and thoughtful guidance about how to mitigate these inequities. Expanding access is in everyone’s best interest as it has the potential to increase the chance of survival while lowering the cost of care.”
Selwyn M. Vickers, MD
President and CEO, Memorial Sloan-kettering Cancer Center
“This book provides a practical, pragmatic and principled case for changing the way we diagnosis and treat cancer. Earlier diagnosis, better and more targeted treatments, and broader access can all dramatically impact patients’ lives.”
Alex Gorsky
Former Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson
“Bruce Ratner and Adam Bonislawski identify early diagnosis as a critical requirement for better cancer control and their book elegantly explains the need for both existing and new early detection technologies to make it affordable for all. The personal stories in the book that the authors bravely recount make this mission all the more poignant and urgent.”
William A. Haseltine, PHD
Chair, Access Health International,
Professor, The Feinstein Institute of Medical Research
“Ratner and Bonislawski’s clear and thoughtful book is a critical step in the fight against cancer. They understand our medical system and have proposed comprehensive policies that will save countless lives and help eliminate the detection and treatment disparities we need to end.”
Richard I. Beattie, Esq
Former Chairman of the Board, Memorial Sloan-kettering Cancer Center
“In Early Detection: Catching Cancer When It’s Curable, Bruce Ratner and Adam Bonislawksi send an important message on how screening and detection is the best path to surviving cancer. With a careful examination of the history of cancer care from all angles, the book paints a compelling picture for how we can achieve a “necessary revolution” in preventing this terrible disease.”
Robert A. Harrington, MD
Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean, Weill Cornell Medicine and Provost for Medical Affairs, Cornell University
“The passion and enlightening prose in this book illuminate this complex topic in an understandable, gripping fashion, especially the need to eliminate the disparities in who gets the best screening and treatment. It’s time to change the paradigm of cancer treatment to prioritize early detection, when the battle can be won.”
Philip Stieg, MD
Chairman Of The Department Of Neurological Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine and Neurosurgeon-in-chief, New York-Presbyterian / Weill Cornell Medical Center
“This book is hopefully the catalyst for more rapid adoption of essential early detection tests, especially for lung cancer, where I have seen too many die needlessly. This will bring awareness of the need for moving quickly to embrace life saving screening innovations.”
Claudia I. Henschke, PHD, MD
Professor Of Diagnostic, Interventional, and Molecular Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
“This scientifically rich book powerfully articulates what we have long known, that early detection is the best chance at curing cancer. And by addressing disparities in access to screening, even more lives will be saved in underserved and disadvantaged communities. We must heed this call to action.”
Robert J. Min, MD, MBA
President and CEO, Weill Cornell Medicine Physicians Organization and Chair, Department of Radiology
“This is a masterful book, which covers the political, financial, and societal issues surrounding cancer screening so astutely. It is a must-read for all investigators working on early cancer detection and prevention.”
Steven H. Itzkowitz, MD
Professor Of Medicine, Oncological Sciences & Medical Education at Icahn School Of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Chair, American Cancer Society National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable
“Early Detection moves briskly from cancer screening to a blueprint for improving and expanding testing. Though grounded in decades worth of useful cancer statistics, the book is readable, succinct and, most importantly, focused on the patient.”
Kent Sepkowitz, MD
Deputy Physician-in-chief, Quality & Safety, Memorial Sloan-kettering Cancer Center
“This book lays out both the challenges and opportunities around early detection for cancer. Readable yet rigorous, it tells a compelling story of how we have failed and where we can do better in future for all the patients we serve.”
Geraldine McGinty, MD, MBA, FACR
E. Darracott Vaughan, Jr., M.D. Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, Professor of Clinical Radiology and Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine
“Drawing on success stories with cervical, lung, prostate, and colon cancer, [Ratner and Bonislawski] provide clear examples of effective screening programs that have reduced not only overall cancer mortality but also healthcare disparities. A wonderful voice of optimism, balanced caution, and a path forward.”
José Gaston Guillem, MD
Chief, Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Roscoe Bennett Gray Cowper, MD, Distinguished Professor, UNC School Of Medicine
"A highly insightful and engaging book that uncovers a relatively ignored strategy in our fight against cancer – early detection. The suggestions on policy change and the barriers to overcome should be a must read for patients, providers, and policy makers.”
Bradley B. Pua, MD
Director of the Lung Cancer Screening Program,
Chief, Division of Interventional Radiology,
Director, Radiology Consultation Services
Weill Cornell Medicine
Ratner Early Detection Initiative