Spring Break
Dr. Rachel Raab returns to ECU to help fight breast cancer
Natalie Jurgen
Issue date: 10/16/08 Section: News
|
Raab's parents, Drs. Spencer and Mary Raab, started the division at ECU's new medical school in 1977.
Raab and her husband, Dr. Francois Archambault, an anesthesiologist, and their 16-month-old son, Julien, returned to eastern North Carolina after she completed a cancer fellowship in New York.
"It's going well so far," said Raab. "It's been a good transition and I've gotten a lot of support from the people in my department."
Like her mother, Raab specializes in breast cancer, which is the second leading cause of cancer death in women after lung cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The rate of breast cancer among women in North Carolina is approximately 110 to 119 cases for every 100,000 women, with Black women more likely to die from the disease than any other woman.
"Even though we've come a long way since my parents moved here in the 1970s, there's still a lot to be done for patients in this area," Raab said.
Raab was drawn to ECU by the opportunity to sub-specialize in breast cancer and because of the opportunity to be a leader in cancer care for a large portion of the state.
Dr. Adam Asch, associate director of ECU's Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center, is delighted about Raab's return.
"For the region, this is a homecoming to a community that raised her and is proud to have her return," said Asch. "She brings to this job not only her experience as an oncologist, but she knows the region and cared enough to return with her husband."
Dr. Mary Raab is revered by many of her patients and Rachel Raab has already seen patients her mother treated and who remember the care they received. Her mother, who is since retired from the ECU faculty, still sees patients at a Tarboro clinic.
A portrait of her husband, who died of cancer in 1993, hangs in the cancer center.
"I really can't even imagine what it was like in 1977," Rachel Raab said. "I think they realized what the need was here for cancer services. They had a vision."
Raab's mother says she is very proud of her daughter's dedication to the cause treating and preventing breast cancer.
"I think there is a need for both their services here and also I think Rachel can contribute significantly to the care of patients in this region, especially breast cancer patients," Mary Raab said of her daughter and son-in-law.
Dr. Rachel Raab has an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and a medical degree from ECU. She completed residency and fellowship training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY.
This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com.
Be the first to comment on this story