By Dr. Kathleen T. Ruddy
Science is like a building under construction whose height is unknown. We discover fire and we invent the wheel, but that is only the beginning. At first it looks like the stars and planets revolve around the earth. And then we discover that they don’t. For centuries Newton reads like a genius, and he was; but then Einstein comes along and changes much of that. And Schrodenger changes it once again. Now we have the Higgs, but it is still not the end of the book on physics.
In medicine it is much the same as with the rest of science: we learn only to relearn. We discover only to rediscover. Breast cancer is no exception. We think the cause of breast cancer is in the genes, and certainly at some level it is. But it may be the genes of a virus interacting with the genes we inherit from both our parents that lie at the root of this pandemic. And genes are not the entire problem solved, for all manner of things in the environment – even in our heads – can alter how all these genes are expressed, and in what order, and to what end.
We know that there are risk factors for the development of breast cancer. We know there are many things that can be done to reduce these risks. Our treatments have improved, as you well know. No longer must we remove the breast, its skin, every lymph node in sight and part of the neck to cure it. Now it seems as if at least a third of it does not require any treatment whatsoever. Unfortunately, we still cannot distinguish the life-threatening breast cancer from that which can be left alone, so we must treat them all the same, in much the same way every single one of us must take off our shoes as we go through airport security.
And now it seems that someday soon we shall have a vaccine to prevent breast cancer entirely! And then the great pink building that has been under construction lo these many years will be demolished and built again in the name of another disease, another scourge of mankind. I look forward to the day when that wrecking ball takes down the building and spares the women who’ve been smashed by this disease.
But to my point, whereas science builds upon itself and is constantly under renovation, art stands alone. It is always and forever unmarred by time or something new. Da Vinci’s “The Annunciation” is as astonishing today as ever. The sublime beauty of Michaelangelo’s “The Pieta” is not in the least altered by another thing. Alexander McQueen’s red satin coat – do you know the one? It stands forever apart from the wedding dress made by the House of Dior for Carrie Bradshaw in the movie, “Sex and the City”. Shalimar is unphased by Chanel No. 5. Art stands alone: immutable, impenetrable and undisturbed.
The art of relationship stands alone, as does the art of leadership. The real leader is not in search of followers, per se. A leader worth her salt is not the one with the most followers on Twitter, the most friends of Facebook, the most hits on a Google search. A real leader is one who works for truth and beauty, knowing that truth evolves but art is always firmly fixed – just the way Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” , Melville’s “Moby Dick” and every piece of music, especially those of Beethoven, Jackson Browne, and John Lennon, are more solid than the rocks upon which we spin and hurl through space.
My New Year’s wish is this: that the art of leadership, defined as the honest pursuit of truth and beauty, be ever evident this year as we work together to answer the questions, does a virus cause breast cancer in women, and is there a preventive breast cancer vaccine, such as the one developed at the Cleveland Clinic in 2010, that is safe and effective for use in women?
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