A world-class oncologist examines the current state of cancer and its devastating impact on the individuals it affects—including herself—in this deeply personal book."An elegantly conceived, powerfully written, and far-reaching book that will change the conversation around cancer for decades to come." —Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All MaladiesIn The First Cell, Azra Raza offers a searing account of how bo...

Myelodysplastic syndromes are to the bone marrow what pneumonia is to the lungs; the response of an organ to a variety of etiologic insults like aging, toxic exposure, infections and auto-immunity. Among infectious causes alone, pneumonia could be the result of a variety of possible pathogens including bacterial, viral, tuberculous or fungal agents. Similarly, MDS cannot be treated as a single disease. Attempts to harness the inherent complexity of MDS by devising `classifications' which g...

A world-class oncologist's devastating and deeply personal examination of cancer We have lost the war on cancer. We spend $150 billion each year treating it, yet -- a few innovations notwithstanding -- a patient with cancer is as likely to die of it as one was fifty years ago. Most new drugs add mere months to one's life at agonizing physical and financial cost. In The First Cell, Azra Raza offers a searing account of how both medicine and our society (mis)treats cancer, how we can do bett...