Susan M. Love, Breast Cancer Advocacy Pioneer, Has Passed Away

Susan M. Love, MD, MBA, who led Dr. Susan Love Foundation for Breast Cancer Research since 1995, steering the Foundation through its innovative and life-changing research and advocacy programs, has died. She was 75.

Dr. Love passed away with recurrent leukemia on July 2, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.

A breast surgeon, Dr. Love is best known for pioneering work fueled by her criticism of the medical establishment’s paternalistic treatment of women. She was an early advocate of cancer surgery that conserves as much breast tissue as possible. She also was among the first to sound the alarm on the risks of routine hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopausal women. In her personal life, she fought to expand the rights of same-sex couples as parents. In 1993, Dr. Love and Dr. Helen Cooksey made history by getting approval for the first joint adoption by a gay couple from the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, a state that did not rcognize same-sex marriage at the time. This monumental case paved the way for Massachusetts to become the first state to legalize same-sex marriage a decade later.

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