2025 UHF Gala Journal - Flipbook - Page 11
He cites a troubling statistic: Black women and white women experience a similar
incidence of breast cancer, but the mortality rate for Black women is more than 40
percent higher than it is for white women. “We can’t allow this,” Bruce says. “Early
detection is a very important part of addressing it.”
As important as early detection, he says, is follow-through. “Once someone gets a
diagnosis, you need to make sure they get a patient navigator, and you need to do all
the things to make sure that they are well taken care of in a timely fashion, so we can
save their life.”
In June 2024, collaborating with medical journalist Adam Bonislawski, Bruce published
a book, Early Detection: Catching Cancer When It’s Curable. The book relays the tragic
story of his brother, Michael Ratner.
A world-renowned human rights lawyer, Michael died from metastatic brain cancer in
2016. Bruce sought the help of highly respected doctors and scientists to search for a
cure for his brother. But it became terrifyingly clear that—despite receiving top-notch
care at the country’s best hospitals—the only thing that could have saved Michael was
an earlier diagnosis.
“For me, the loss was profoundly painful and humbling,” he writes in Early Detection.
“My position gave us access to the most thoughtful and thorough care possible, but
all that had done was win a few more months with Michael, time that was enormously
precious but also frustrating.”
In the book, he recounts his family’s other encounters with cancer, including his
mother’s death from colon cancer and his sister-in-law’s death from breast cancer.
He writes: “When I look back and recall the anguish of my many experiences with
cancer… it is clear to me that at least two of my family members, and perhaps more,
might have been spared those tormented experiences if they had access to what are
today widely available but tragically underappreciated and underutilized areas of
cancer care: screening tests for early detection.”
Last year, REDI collaborated with Memorial Sloan Kettering Center to remedy this very
problem in underserved communities throughout Brooklyn and Queens. The initiative
includes a partnership with MediSys Health Network to improve awareness of, and
access to, lung cancer screening, as well as to provide support for those undergoing
screening and care. The effort has already screened more than 600 patients and
resulted in the detection and treatment of tumors in several of them.
For his pioneering work on early cancer detection and his deep commitment to
improving the health and well-being of New Yorkers, United Hospital Fund is proud
to present Bruce Ratner with its 2025 Health Care Leadership Award.
