When I was about 4-years-old, I knew I wanted to be a nurse. My grandmother was a licensed practical nurse, and she had a significant influence on my career. I often flipped through her nursing textbooks and marveled over all the fascinating photos and medical images.
Every day I am inspired by my courageous patients and the exciting progress we make in breast cancer research. I know the work we do will push the field forward. But to do this work, I had to give up a lot of my hobbies and previous pastimes. Believe it or not, I used to play Rock & Roll.
From the time I was a little girl I always wanted to be a nurse, but sometimes things don’t always work out the way you imagine. I worked as a medical secretary at a different hospital doing insurance billing for some time before realizing that, if I was truly going to be happy, I needed to follow my passion.
In November I began my journey as a Community Patient Navigator here at Roswell Park. This position was created through a New York State (NYS) grant with the goal of increasing the number of women in NYS getting screened for breast cancer. For most women over 40, the recommended breast cancer screening is a yearly mammogram.
For more than a decade, I was a secretary at Roswell Park. I loved my job but knew I wanted more. I especially felt a passion for interacting with patients. When I witnessed everything they were going through, I felt a desire to be by their side during their journey.
This is a time of unprecedented opportunity in cancer treatment. And as the Clinical Chief of Genitourinary Medicine at Roswell Park, I believe there is so much to look forward to.
Igor Puzanov, MD, has dedicated his life to finding a cure for cancer. In 1992, he left the Czech Republic and moved to Dallas, Texas to train in immunology at the University of Southwestern and in internal medicine at Parkland Memorial Hospital – best known for treating President John F. Kennedy.