Ann Partridge, M.D., MPH., is founder and director of the Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer and the Adult Survivorship Program, as well as senior physician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is a medical oncologist focusing on the care of women with breast cancer and has a particular interest in the psychosocial, behavioral and communication issues in breast cancer care and treatment.
Dr. Partridge is also the lead investigator of the U.S. arm of the POSITIVE trial. This study is looking at whether premenopausal women diagnosed with hormone-receptor-positive disease who stop taking hormonal therapy after about 1.5 to 2.5 years of treatment to get pregnant have a higher risk of the breast cancer coming back, which doctors call recurrence. Most women diagnosed with hormone receptor positive disease take hormonal therapy for 5 to 10 years after surgery. In the POSITIVE trial, the women who want to get pregnant are stopping hormonal therapy for up to 2 years to become pregnant, deliver the baby and breastfeed. The women then start hormonal therapy again.
Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Partridge talk about:

why the researchers decided to do this study

the safeguards the study has in place so a developing baby won’t be harmed by the hormonal therapy medicine

other safety concerns associated with stopping hormonal therapy to get pregnant besides recurrence risk


Visit the Fertility and Pregnancy Issues During and After Breast Cancer section for more information on pregnancy after treatment.