Patricia Ganz, MD

Professor of Health Services and Medicine UCLA School of Public Health Department of Health Services Box 951772 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772 (310) 206-1404 Fax: (310) 206-3566 E-mail: pganz@ucla.edu

Biographical Information

Patricia Ganz is Professor of Health Services in the School of Public Health, Professor of Medicine in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention & Control Research at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. She teaches Health Care Practices and Variations and Ethical Issues in Public Health. Dr. Ganz received her M.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine in 1973, and completed post-doctoral training in internal medicine and medical oncology at the UCLA Medical Center. She has been on the faculty of the School of Medicine since 1977, and joined the faculty of the School of Public Health in 1992. Dr. Ganz has devoted the past 25 years to the study of quality-of-life outcomes in cancer and other chronic diseases. She is a leader in the integration of quality-of-life assessment in clinical trials. She has conducted federally funded research for over two decades, and has led several large clinical intervention trials in breast cancer. Her current research focuses on the late effects of cancer treatment, and improving the quality of care for cancer survivors. In 2006, she received funding from the Lance Armstrong Foundation to establish the UCLA-LIVESTRONG Survivorship Center of Excellence, whose mission is to facilitate improvements in the quality of life and quality of care of cancer survivors in the Los Angeles region and wherever they may reside.

In the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA,  Dr. Ganz leads a large research group that applies the scientific disciplines of public health (epidemiology, health services, behavioral sciences, biostatistics) to research on the prevention, detection, treatment and supportive care of cancer. Dr. Ganz is Associate Editor of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and is a member of the editorial board of the Cochrane Breast Cancer Group. In 1999 she was named an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor and in 2007 she became a member of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.

Selected Publications

Yanez, B., Edmondson, D., Stanton,  A.L., Park, C.L., Kwan, L., Ganz, P.A., Blank, T.O.: Facets of Spirituality as Predictors of Adjustment to Cancer:Relative Contributions of Having Faith and Finding Meaning.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 77(4):730-41, 2009.

Bower, J.E., Ganz, P.A., Tao, M.L., Hu, W., Belin, T.R., Sepah, S., Cole, S., Aziz, N.: Inflammatory biomarkers and fatigue during radiation therapy for breast and prostate cancer.  Clin Cancer Res 15(17):5534-40. Epub 2009 Aug 25.

Rose, D., Tisnado, D., Malin, J., Gibbons, M.M., Tao, M.L., Adams, J., Ganz, P.A., Kahn, K.:  Use of Interpreters by Physicians Treating Limited English Proficient (LEP) Women with Breast Cancer:  Results from the Provider Survey of the Los Angeles Women’s Health Study.  Health Services Research. October 29, 2009, e-Pub

Ganz, P.A.: Survivorship: Adult Cancer Survivors. Prim Care 36:721-41, 2009.

Crespi, C.M., Smith, S.K., Petersen, L., Zimmerman, S., Ganz, P.A.: Measuring the Impact of Cancer: a Comparison of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Breast Cancer Survivors. Journal of Cancer Survivorship,4: 45-58, 2010,  e-pub December 6, 2009  PMCID: PMC2813525

Smith, S.K., Crespi, C.M., Petersen, L., Zimmerman, S., Ganz, P.A.: The impact of cancer and quality of life for post-treatment non-Hodgkin lymphoma survivors.  Psycho-Oncology e-Pub January 22, 2010

Kahn, K.L., Adams, J.L., Weeks, J.C., Chrischilles, E.A., Schrag, D., Ayanian, J.Z., Kiefe, C.I., Ganz, P.A., Bhoopalam, N., Potosky, A.L., Harrington, D.P., Fletcher, R.H.:  Adjuvant Chemotherapy Use And Adverse Events Among Older Patients With Stage III Colon Cancer. JAMA 303: 1037-1045, 2010.

Earle, C.C., Chretien, Y., Morris, C., Ayanian, J.Z.,  Keating, N.L., Polgreen, L.A., Wallace, R., Ganz, P.A., Weeks, J.C.: Employment among survivors of lung cancer and colorectal cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 28(10):1700-5, 2010. E-pub March 1, 2010

Swain, S.M., Jeong, J-H,  Geyer,Jr., C.E., Costantino, J.P., Pajon, E.R., Fehrenbacher, L., Atkins, J.N., Polikoff, J., Vogel, V.G., Erban, J.K., Rastogi, P., Livingston, R.B., Perez, E.A., Mamounas, E.P., Land, S.R., Ganz, P.A., Wolmark, N.  Longer therapy, iatrogenic amenorrhea, and survival in early breast cancer.  New Engl J Med 362(22):2053-65, 2010.

Abernethy, A.P., Etheredge, L.M., Ganz, P.A., Wallace, P., German, R.R., Neti, C., Bach, P.B., Murphy, S.B.: A rapid learning system for cancer care.  J Clin Oncol  2010 Jun 28. [Epub ahead of print]