Susan Love, MD, breast cancer surgeon, researcher and activist, died July 2 at age 75, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Dr. Love was the founding director of the Los Angeles-based UCLA/Revlon Breast Clinic. She was known for her advocacy work in both federal funding for women's health research and for patients to take an active role in their care. She created a comprehensive guide to breast cancer before the internet would have such information readily available, according to the report.
"She ought to be seen as a trailblazer, a pioneer that moved the field forward in several significant ways: the treatment of breast cancer, the bringing of women to an equal playing field in terms of funding," Catherine Carpenter, PhD, a UCLA cancer epidemiologist, told the Times.
In 1980, Dr. Love became the first female general surgeon at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital. In 1991, she co-founded the National Breast Cancer Coalition, an advocacy group that lobbies for breast cancer funding and access to care. She also served as medical director of the Santa Barbara (Calif.) Breast Cancer Institute, which was renamed the Susan Love MD Breast Cancer Research Foundation in 2000.
Dr. Love died of a recurrence of leukemia; she was first diagnosed in 2012. She is survived by her wife, daughter and daughter-in-law.