Can a blood test detect cancer?

Early detection of cancer is critical to the success of most treatments. There are many laboratory tests intended to detect cancer, but how reliable are the results? In this talk, we will explore the world of “tumor markers,” or blood tests that are used to detect cancer before it causes physical symptoms.

Roger L. Bertholf, Ph.D. is currently the Professor of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine; the Professor of Pathology and Genomic Medicine at Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute and the Medical Director of Clinical Chemistry at Houston Methodist Hospital.  He earned his B.S. (Chemistry) from James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA in 1977; his M.S. (Chemistry) from University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA in August, 1981 and his Ph.D. (Biochemistry) from University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA in January, 1985.  He completed post-doctoral fellowships in Clinical Chemistry and Neuropathology Research before accepting an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at University of Florida College of Medicine in 1988.

After nearly 30 years on the faculty at University of Florida, Roger moved to Houston in 2017 to become the Medical Director of Clinical Chemistry at Houston Methodist Hospital. He holds professorships in the Houston Methodist Research Institute, Weill Cornell College of Medicine, and Texas A&M College of Medicine. He is author or co-author of over 60 peer-reviewed papers in the scientific literature and over 40 book chapters, and he has edited two books. Since 2012, he has served as Editor in Chief of Laboratory Medicine, a biomedical journal published by the American Society for Clinical Pathology and Oxford University Press.