Katherine Crew: Why I Ride

For Dr. Katherine Crew, a breast oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and member of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, the annual Velocity ride, this year to be held on October 6th, 2019, is an opportunity to join with colleagues, patients and the community to fight against cancer. 

“You feel like you’re part of a greater good, part of our cancer community,” she says. “You really feel a sense of camaraderie with everyone riding together.”

At last year’s event, Dr. Crew found herself riding next to one of her patients who had recently completed chemotherapy. Seeing her, says Dr. Crew, motivated her to keep pedaling, knowing that her patient and others like her could directly benefit from the research that Dr. Crew and her team are conducting.

The Velocity ride is more than just a source of inspiration for Dr. Crew. She is one of six inaugural Velocity fellows, whose innovative research projects looking at new ways to solve cancer will be funded from the money raised in last year’s ride.

Dr. Crew’s project, with co-investigator Richard Ha, will use a novel breast imaging technology to assess response to hormonal therapy among women with early-stage breast cancer in a new clinical trial. Breast cancer treatment trials such as this need to enroll a large number of patients who are followed for several years. The goal of this project is to develop a breast imaging marker that can assess patient’s short-term treatment response, allowing researchers to speed up development of new breast cancer therapies.

Like the Velocity ride, Dr. Crew says it takes a team to advance cancer care. “Team science is critical,” she says. “Our project relies on strong collaboration between breast radiology and medical oncology that allows us to bring novel technologies to our patients.”

For more information about Velocity and to register to ride or volunteer, please visit the Velocity website.