Oncocyte Celebrates Women Thoracic Surgeons in #ShesMySurgeon Campaign

Oncocyte Corporation (Nasdaq: OCX), a precision diagnostics and monitoring company with the mission to improve patient outcomes by providing clear insights that inform critical decisions in the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of cancer, announced today that it is proud to present the #ShesMySurgeon campaign in honor of outstanding women thoracic surgeons. #ShesMySurgeon was designed to highlight women in the thoracic surgery field and their accomplishments as an ongoing social media campaign, showcasing the progress these women have made in a competitive field and ensuring more work is done to achieve equal representation for women in thoracic surgery.

“While the number of women residents and fellows in thoracic surgery has increased in recent years, the US still ranks 13th in percent of doctors who are women. We know this isn’t for lack of talented and brilliant minds, and we think it’s important to uncover and address potential barriers to entry into the field,” said Sara Riordan, Head of Medical Education for Oncocyte and President of the National Society of Genetic Counselors. “We are honored to highlight these outstanding surgeons and hope to make even a small difference in encouraging more and more women to join this crucial specialty in cancer care.”

Women remain underrepresented across several surgical specialties, with thoracic surgery a particularly obvious gap. In the US, thoracic surgery has one of the lowest percentages of women compared to other surgical and oncology specialties. The American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS) saw its first three women members certified in 1961, and as of 2020, 353 women have become ABTS diplomats – still only accounting for 3% of all thoracic surgeons certified by the ABTS.

“As one of relatively few women in my field, the acknowledgment of our expertise and achievements makes a difference – we must take every chance we have to build the community of female surgeons so we can work together to advance cancer treatment,” said Emily Cassidy, thoracic surgeon at Our Lady of the Lake Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center. “What we care about the most is what all surgeons care about: saving lives in the operating room and helping patients lead better lives. The more female surgeons are encouraged to join the field, knowing they can break barriers as others have done before them, the better off we will be as a surgical oncology community.”

The collection of stories and illustrations can be found on an ongoing basis on Oncocyte’s LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter feeds. Oncocyte invites all who are, who know, or whose lives have been impacted by a woman thoracic surgeon to interact and follow along on social media at the hashtag #ShesMySurgeon, with the hope that women surgeons will be able to connect with and continue learning from each other through this campaign as well.

Oncocyte is committed to fostering equal representation for women and women of color throughout the cancer care community, and aims to empower surgeons, physicians, and their patients by providing confidence at every decision they will make in their journey.

About OncocyteOncocyte is a precision diagnostics and monitoring company with the mission to improve patient outcomes by providing clear insights that inform critical decisions in the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of cancer. The Company, through its proprietary tests and pharmaceutical services business, aims to help save lives by accelerating the diagnosis of cancer and advancing cancer care. The Company’s tests provide clarity and confidence at every stage. DetermaRx™ identifies early-stage lung cancer patients who are at high risk for cancer recurrence and predicts benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. DetermaIO™, a gene expression test currently used as a research tool in drug development, assesses the tumor microenvironment to predict response to immunotherapies. The Company’s robust pipeline of future tests also includes DetermaTx™, which will assess mutational status of a tumor, blood-based monitoring test DetermaCNI, and long-term recurrence monitoring test DetermaMx™. In addition, Oncocyte’s pharmaceutical services provide companies that are developing new cancer treatments a full suite of molecular testing services to support the drug development process.

DetermaRx, DetermaIO, DetermaTx, DetermaCNI and DetermaMx are trademarks of Oncocyte Corporation.

Media Contacts

Terri ClevengerWestwicke/ICR Healthcare PRTel: [e-mail]