Read what others are saying about the book …
"When the history of cancer is eventually written, Azra Raza’s book will be one of the touchstones that illuminated the path to victory."
“Dr. Raza is famed as a titan in the field of oncology. Perhaps less well-known is that she is a sensitive and passionate writer as well. In The First Cell she gives us a unique view into something that touches all of our lives — offering us reasons for hope, and reasons also for sorrow.”
"This book is a passion project, a personal story, a scientific proposal, and quite simply one of the most compelling books you’ll read. It breaks out of the standard narrative. It invents a whole new one. It works. By the end you’ll want to sign on to her revolution."
"Azra Raza’s The First Cell is both a chronicle of her journey as a doctor and a scientist, and a “call to action” to change the fundamental paradigm in our effort to prevent, treat and cure cancer. Raza provides deep and moving insights into the shifting lives of her patients as they traverse their own journeys through illness, while never losing sight of the larger landscape — the vast scientific, medical and strategic arena — of cancer science and therapy. Raza writes with searing honesty about our failures, with exhilarating verve about our successes, and with boundless empathy about the sanctity of the patients who endure the brunt of therapy. Her own experience with her husband’s illness and death runs through the book like a red line, marking her courage and dignity as cancer enters her own family and devastates her life. The result is an elegantly conceived, powerfully written, and far-reaching tome that will change the conversation around cancer for decades to come. "
“With wisdom distilled from more than three decades of clinical practice, the sensibilities of a poet, and a deep compassion for her fellow humans, Azra Raza provides a compelling argument that a key way forward in improving patient outcomes is early diagnosis and treatment, before cancer has become much too complex for any therapy to overcome.”
“With command and clarity, Dr. Raza indicts the cancer industry with such force that it begs the question: Are we really winning the cancer war? The First Cell is an intricately woven, often lyrical, tapestry of anecdote and authority that returns the suffering patient to the foreground of medical innovation. Raza expertly illustrates the complex choreography of cancer’s nefarious dance, and her fascinating proposal will surely thrust cancer therapy from the 20th to the 21st century.”
“A beautifully written book from a leading cancer expert who is also a caring, committed clinician.”
“Unraveling myth and metaphor surrounding the disease with unrelenting acuity and sharing the pathos of lives have been slashed of years and months and shorn of hope and promise by cancer, Dr. Raza reveals a world that has of yet been inaccessible to those who mourn humanity’s lack of progress against the disease while being simultaneously baffled by it. Here is a masterful rendition of how an emphasis on curing cancer, instead of working to detect its first venomous breath, has exacted a terrible price in human lives, including that of her very own husband, Harvey. The First Cell is an intertwining of literature and life, science and cutting edge cancer research, that demands a radical transformation in the way we humans understand the most tragic killer of our time. Through her poignant story-telling and the strength of a scientific vision built on decades of hard-wrought lessons gleaned from her work as a clinician and research scholar, Dr. Raza presents an arresting account that challenges our core understanding of cancer and cure.”
“As a cancer survivor, I can testify that Dr. Raza’s call to action for more research on early detection is vitally important. In a world driven by profit, this book is by a doctor who thinks about the patient first.”
“The First Cell is an intertwining of literature and life, science and cutting-edge cancer research, that demands a radical transformation in the way we humans understand the most tragic killer of our time.”
“The First Cell is the rare book that brings both a personal and scientific experience of cancer together. It questions the profiteering that floods our environment with carcinogens in the first place, and also those that profit from treating it. Dr. Raza puts our focus where it should be: on prevention and early detection.”
Credits:
Photo of Amanda Foreman by David Shankbone (CC BY 3.0)
Photo of Sherry Turkle by jeanbaptisteparis (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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Photo of Tina Brown by Financial Times (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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Photo of Gloria Steinem by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Photo of Ruchira Gupta by David Goldman
Photo of David Steensma from twitter
Photo of Peter Kramer from Brown University