Prevent Cancer Foundation remembers Dr. Susan Love

Dr. Love (right) receiving the Excellence in Cancer Awareness Award at the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Congressional Families Program Annual Action for Cancer Awareness Awards luncheon in 2002 from Barbara Johnson (left).

The Prevent Cancer Foundation mourns the loss of Susan Love, M.D., MBA, renowned breast cancer surgeon, researcher, author and advocate. Dr. Love passed away due to a recurrence of leukemia on July 2, 2023.

Dr. Love was recognized with the Excellence in Cancer Awareness Award at the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Congressional Families Program Annual Action for Cancer Awareness Awards luncheon in 2002. She was nominated by Barbara Johnson, spouse of then-Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota, who is a breast cancer survivor and was a member of the Program’s Executive Council at the time.

Dr. Love was highly critical of the medical field’s paternalistic treatment of women, which drove her work as a breast cancer surgeon. She advocated for conserving as much of the breast tissue as possible through lumpectomy rather than mastectomy.

Dr. Love was perhaps most widely known as the author of “Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book,” often called a “must-read” for breast cancer patients. It was first published in 1990 and has since been translated into several different languages, with a seventh edition expected to be published this fall. In 1991, Dr. Love founded the National Breast Cancer Coalition, an advocacy organization united around the goal of ending breast cancer. Since 1995, she had led the Dr. Susan Love Foundation, a nonprofit organization in which she oversaw a research program centered on the cause and prevention of breast cancer.

“Dr. Love was a visionary in her approach to breast cancer research and treatment,” said Congressional Families Program Executive Director Lisa McGovern. “She was a fierce advocate for women, consistently challenging herself and her profession. Through her work and example, she inspired countless women to bring that same fierce advocacy to their own health care.”

Early detection of breast cancer is often possible with routine cancer screening. Learn more about breast cancer prevention and early detection.