Two of Canada’s leading breast cancer experts deliver the book every newly diagnosed patient needs
Ten Questions to Ask My Doctor About My Breast Cancer
By Dr. Steven Narod and Dr. Katarzyna Jerzak
On sale August 11, 2026 | University of Toronto Press
TORONTO, CA — July 14, 2026 — University of Toronto Press announces the forthcoming publication of Ten Questions to Ask My Doctor About My Breast Cancer (University of Toronto Press, Aevo imprint, 978-1-0498-0809-3), by two of Canada’s foremost breast cancer experts, Dr. Steven Narod and Dr. Katarzyna Jerzak. An accessible, evidence-based guide for women who have just received a diagnosis and need to understand what comes next, the timely book helps women prepare for the decisions they’ll face, the questions worth asking, and the options available to them.
One in eight Canadian women will develop breast cancer. Most will be diagnosed at an early stage and face an immediate cascade of decisions about surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, genetic testing, fertility, and more. Ten Questions to Ask My Doctor About My Breast Cancer organizes that complexity into ten of the most critical questions a newly diagnosed patient will encounter:
- Should I have genetic testing?
- Should I have a bilateral mastectomy?
- Should I have chemotherapy?
- Should I take tamoxifen or another endocrine therapy?
- Can I have a baby?
- Should I change my lifestyle?
- Can I take hormone replacement therapy?
- How should I treat my DCIS?
Drawing on decades of original research – including Dr. Narod’s own landmark studies on contralateral breast cancer risk, the survival impact of bilateral mastectomy, and the role of BRCA mutations in treatment decisions – the authors offer guidance that is current, nuanced, and free of jargon. They challenge conventional wisdom where the evidence calls for it, and they are honest about what medicine still doesn’t know.
Dr. Steven Narod is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Breast Cancer, a full professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and a senior scientist at Women’s College Research Institute, where he leads the Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit. One of the most highly cited researchers in the world in the field of breast cancer, his decades of original research have directly shaped how physicians worldwide assess hereditary breast cancer risk, counsel patients about BRCA gene mutations, and make treatment decisions that save lives. With more than 550 peer-reviewed publications and an h-index* of 145, he is the most-cited researcher in the world in the field of breast cancer. In 2012, Dr. Narod was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Dr. Katarzyna Jerzak is a medical oncologist and clinician investigator at Sunnybrook Hospital’s Odette Cancer Centre, and associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is an associate scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute, where she leads breast oncology clinical trials, and a core member of the Research Excellence, Active Leadership (REAL) Canadian Breast Cancer Alliance. With over 100 peer-reviewed research publications, she is among the leading clinical voices advancing breast cancer treatment in Canada.
Together, they bring the full picture: the genetics, the surgery, the drugs, the data, and the lived reality of the women they treat.
Ten Questions to Ask My Doctor About My Breast Cancer is available August 11, 2026 wherever books are sold.
*h-index is a key validation for every scientist’s contribution to their field of research, and h-index of 85 is exceptionally high. In most disciplines, this represents a world-class researcher with a massive, sustained global impact on their field.