Featured Articles
Read our latest stories on the people and scientific innovations making a difference in patients’ lives.
Purpose & Ideals
Improving Metastatic Breast Cancer Care for Underserved Populations
Globally, breast cancer continues to be the most common invasive cancer in women, and one of the most common forms of cancer overall.1 While significant advances have been achieved, especially in metastatic disease, challenges beyond treatments remain, especially disparities created by structural, socioeconomic, socio-environmental, and biological factors. A recent 2021 publication reveals both the challenges facing underserved patient populations with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) in Europe...
Real People
Meet Dacia Young, a Senior Scientist within the Vaccine Research and Development Group at Pfizer
Meet Dacia Young, a Senior Scientist within the Vaccine Research and Development Group at Pfizer. Dacia has worked as a Scientist at Pfizer for more than 14 years, leading the assay development for our meningococcal disease vaccines since 2013. As a scientist working on vaccines in the middle of a pandemic, Dacia understands firsthand the tangible impact vaccines can have on public health. Now she’s discussing why she finds developing vaccines so rewarding, and explaining why she believes...
Living & Wellbeing
In His Shoes (or Hiking Boots): William’s epic solo adventure to help fellow hemophilia patients in need
When it comes to making the world a better place for people living with hemophilia—a rare disease characterized by inadequate blood clotting—William Addison doesn’t just talk the talk.1,2 And he doesn’t just walk the walk, either. William hiked the Appalachian Trail—all 2,200 miles of it—to raise funds for a charity dedicated to improving care for people with hemophilia and other bleeding disorders in developing countries. He completed the solo trek in about half the average time, all...
Living & Wellbeing
Understanding Healthcare Disparities in Colorectal Cancer
In the United States, an estimated 147,950 people were diagnosed with cancer of the colon or rectum in 2020. It is one of the most highly diagnosed cancers in the US, with 12 percent of cases diagnosed in people under the age of 50.[i] Additionally, more than 20 percent of Americans with colorectal cancer have metastatic disease at diagnosis. Metastatic disease means the cancer has already begun to spread to other parts of the body.[ii] The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed flaws within...
Living & Wellbeing
Know the Mutational Status of Your Cancer: Biomarker Testing in Metastatic Melanoma and Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
If you’ve recently been diagnosed with metastatic melanoma or metastatic colorectal cancer, chances are you’ve had to familiarize yourself with a lot of new terms and complicated concepts. One term you may not have heard before is “biomarker.” As researchers learn more about how cancer cells develop, grow, and spread, more attention is being paid to the role biomarkers play in these processes. For patients, undergoing biomarker testing helps their doctor/healthcare team determine whether or not...
An Immune System “GPS” Uncovers Pathways to Treat Diseases
When it comes to understanding the immune system, we’re in the age of a data “traffic jam.” Thanks to advances in gene sequencing technology and decades of research, we’ve amassed a huge trove of information, but utilizing it to drive new insights can be challenging. A collaboration with Israel-based startup CytoReason is allowing Pfizer scientists to harness computational technology that functions as a “GPS” for the immune system. The tools help to unpack these complex data sets so they can...
Living & Wellbeing
Pfizer's New C. difficile Awareness Initiative Explained
Pfizer recently convened experts representing a cross-section of healthcare professionals and patient organizations for a panel titled, “Clostridioides difficile: A public health threat in plain sight.” They first met during a panel discussion that coincided with Infectious Disease (ID) Week in late-2019 and served as a launchpad for the C. difficile Awareness Initiative, which will help educate the public about Clostridioides difficile (pronounced: klos-TRID-e-OY-dees dif-uh-SEEL)and C...
Adolescence – A Time for Vaccinations
Adolescent Health Concerns For many people in the U.S., adolescence is one of the healthiest times of life. Most parents hope to keep it that way for their young children and teenagers as they progress to young adulthood. The World Health Organization widely defines adolescence as a period of time that begins at the start of puberty and ends when an adult identity and behavior are accepted. Though the timing and extent of these changes may vary among young people, they usually happen from the...
Getting the Facts About Some Common Pregnancy Complications
Many mothers envision having an uneventful pregnancy with little to no symptoms and the delivery of a healthy, full-term baby. Thankfully, most pregnancies and deliveries go on without a hitch. However, for some expectant mothers, health problems do occur. The good news is that only 8% of pregnancies involve complications. These complications can involve the mother, baby or both. Even women who were healthy prior to getting pregnant can have complications. Though not all complications can...
Genes as Medicine: Understanding Gene Therapy
Our genes are like a set of blueprints, telling our cells how to function and make essential proteins that drive life. In turn, these proteins influence everything from the color of our eyes to how well our blood clots. We have a lot of genes — between 20,000 and 25,000 in total. Every person has two copies of each gene, one from each parent. Sometimes genes can have a small mutation, or change to its protein-making instructions, which can cause certain diseases. Some of these mutations are...
Living with Alopecia: A Young Woman’s Path to Self-Acceptance
Six years old is a young age to become a patient advocate for a health condition. But Laura Pellicano had no choice. In the summer between kindergarten and the first grade, she lost all of the hair on her head, and then soon after, her eyebrows, eyelashes, and all body hair. Laura has alopecia universalis, the most advanced form of alopecia areata, a condition that causes hair to fall out on the scalp and/or the body. She dreaded returning to school. “The kids had questions and it's...
Managing Your Mental Health During a Pandemic
The World Health Organization recently declared a pandemic in the wake of a global outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). And while the majority of people affected by the disease will recover without any long-lasting consequences, there are many others who will suffer the short-term and long-term health effects of stress, anxiety and other mental health complications. We all respond differently to stress and anxiety. Our response is often based on our family upbringing...
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