Dr. Janet Ruzich accepts her 2022 LLS Woman of the Year award.
At a special gala held in May, Providence medical oncologist and hematology expert Janet C. Ruzich, D.O., was honored as the 2022 Woman of the Year by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) for Portland, Oregon. Dr. Ruzich was also received a Community Impact Award for her volunteerism.
The Oregon campaign is part of a philanthropic competition among a group of dedicated community leaders across the United States to support blood cancer research in their communities. The campaign has helped LLS fund more than $8.9 million in grants to support and encourage blood cancer research in Oregon.
A commitment to funding cancer research
Dr. Janet Ruzich is a medical oncologist at the Providence Cancer Institute Clackamas Clinic. Her special interests include breast cancer, lymphomas, and other hematologic cancers. As part of the team at the Providence Hematologic Malignancies Program, she has dedicated her career to providing comprehensive care for patients with cancers of the blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes.
Dr. Ruzich was moved to participate in the fundraising campaign to cheer on her patients who have been cured or survived cancer thanks to advances in cancer research, including immunotherapy. She also joined this campaign in honor of the patients who lost their fight to cancer before effective treatments were found. This includes her own father who battled advanced thyroid cancer.
“My dad lost his fight against cancer in 2005. In the years since, new treatments have become available that may have extended his life," says Dr. Ruzich. "Many LLS supported therapies not only help blood cancer patients, but are now used to treat patients with rare forms of stomach and skin cancers and are in clinical trials for patients with lung, brain, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers."
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