Susan W. Pitman Lowenthal

Biography

 In 2002, 4.2 million new cancer cases—39% of new cases worldwide—were diagnosed among 3.2 billion persons (48% of the world population) living in the fifteen most highly developed countries in South, East, and Southeast Asia: Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mongolia, India, Laos, and Cambodia. China and India, together accounting for 37% of the worldwide population, reported 3 million of these newly diagnosed cancer cases. Demographic characteristics vary widely in these fifteen countries—median ages in India, China, and Japan are 25, 34, and 44 years, respectively—yet collectively, they carry a disproportionate burden of worldwide liver, stomach, and esophageal cancer. Three fourths of new worldwide liver cancer cases in males and two thirds in females occur in these fifteen Asian countries. Greater than 50% of the world’s new cases of stomach cancer, and greater than 70% of newly diagnosed esophageal cancer worldwide occur in these Asian countries. China alone contributes more than half of the world’s newly diagnosed liver and esophageal cancer cases, and 42% of newly diagnosed stomach cancer cases. By comparison, fewer than 4% of the world’s new cases of each of these cancers occur in the United States. In 7 of these Asian countries, lung cancer has the highest incidence rate (age-standardized) of all cancers in males, and breast cancer is the highest incident cancer for females. Lung cancer has the highest death rate (age-standardized) for males in the majority of these Asian countries, and breast cancer ranks among the top-five mortality rate cancers for females in all but 2 of the Asian countries

Research Interest

 Leukemia, Carcinogenesis & Mutagenesis, Surgical Oncology,  Integrative Oncology