Rick Bangs

Hi, I'm Rick Bangs and it's really a pleasure to be here. I'm a survivor of bladder and prostate cancer. I do a fair amount of research advocacy in my retirement years, post-corporate, and mostly around clinical trials. I've worked with the National Cancer Institute and the Swag Cancer Research Network. And I also work with my peers.

Hi, I'm Rick Bangs and it's really a pleasure to be here. I'm a survivor of bladder and prostate cancer. I do a fair amount of research advocacy in my retirement years, post-corporate, and mostly around clinical trials. I've worked with the National Cancer Institute and the Swag Cancer Research Network. And I also work with my peers.

Hi, I'm Rick Bangs and it's really a pleasure to be here. I'm a survivor of bladder and prostate cancer. I do a fair amount of research advocacy in my retirement years, post-corporate, and mostly around clinical trials. I've worked with the National Cancer Institute and the Swag Cancer Research Network. And I also work with my peers.

So most of that work was in the bladder space, but I work with my peers in other cancers. Probably for our listeners, two items of note. I am on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Bladder and Penile Guidelines. That's a U.S. guideline entity. And I also host a podcast called Bladder Cancer Matters for the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, or BEACON, as many would know it.

So most of that work was in the bladder space, but I work with my peers in other cancers. Probably for our listeners, two items of note. I am on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Bladder and Penile Guidelines. That's a U.S. guideline entity. And I also host a podcast called Bladder Cancer Matters for the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, or BEACON, as many would know it.

So most of that work was in the bladder space, but I work with my peers in other cancers. Probably for our listeners, two items of note. I am on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Bladder and Penile Guidelines. That's a U.S. guideline entity. And I also host a podcast called Bladder Cancer Matters for the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, or BEACON, as many would know it.

Well, I think awareness is clearly the first step. And as a former brand manager, we talk about awareness leading to interest, then desire, then action. So pretty much any action is going to require a level of awareness. Nice for some cancers for patients to come in with some understanding of the disease to know people who've had that disease.

Well, I think awareness is clearly the first step. And as a former brand manager, we talk about awareness leading to interest, then desire, then action. So pretty much any action is going to require a level of awareness. Nice for some cancers for patients to come in with some understanding of the disease to know people who've had that disease.

Well, I think awareness is clearly the first step. And as a former brand manager, we talk about awareness leading to interest, then desire, then action. So pretty much any action is going to require a level of awareness. Nice for some cancers for patients to come in with some understanding of the disease to know people who've had that disease.

But for those of us, and bladder still falls into this area despite a lot of efficacy work, most of us would come into genitourinary cancers with not a lot of information about the disease, would not know what to expect during treatment, would not know what kind of support there is.

But for those of us, and bladder still falls into this area despite a lot of efficacy work, most of us would come into genitourinary cancers with not a lot of information about the disease, would not know what to expect during treatment, would not know what kind of support there is.

But for those of us, and bladder still falls into this area despite a lot of efficacy work, most of us would come into genitourinary cancers with not a lot of information about the disease, would not know what to expect during treatment, would not know what kind of support there is.

And so I think individual advocates can play an important role about raising that awareness, helping support researchers in terms of clinical trials, help the clinicians, the doctors create great materials and even helping connect. patients to other patients. At Beacon, they talk a lot about looking for people like us.

And so I think individual advocates can play an important role about raising that awareness, helping support researchers in terms of clinical trials, help the clinicians, the doctors create great materials and even helping connect. patients to other patients. At Beacon, they talk a lot about looking for people like us.

And so I think individual advocates can play an important role about raising that awareness, helping support researchers in terms of clinical trials, help the clinicians, the doctors create great materials and even helping connect. patients to other patients. At Beacon, they talk a lot about looking for people like us.

And so it's really helpful if you can find somebody who's kind of been through the experience. They have a unique experience from a lived experience perspective that sometimes is hard for the clinicians to communicate or to effectively communicate given the limited time that people spend in clinic. Thank you for that insight.

And so it's really helpful if you can find somebody who's kind of been through the experience. They have a unique experience from a lived experience perspective that sometimes is hard for the clinicians to communicate or to effectively communicate given the limited time that people spend in clinic. Thank you for that insight.

And so it's really helpful if you can find somebody who's kind of been through the experience. They have a unique experience from a lived experience perspective that sometimes is hard for the clinicians to communicate or to effectively communicate given the limited time that people spend in clinic. Thank you for that insight.

Talk to me, Ben, about, so we know this low awareness here, so how does that add to the psychological stress that somebody who's been recently diagnosed, one of your patients, how would that look on the patient side?

Talk to me, Ben, about, so we know this low awareness here, so how does that add to the psychological stress that somebody who's been recently diagnosed, one of your patients, how would that look on the patient side?