Susan Love

{{short description|American surgeon (1948–2023)}} {{Infobox person | name = Susan M. Love | image = Dr. Susan Love.jpg | image_size = | birth_name = Susan Margaret Love | birth_date = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1948|02|09}} | birth_place = Little Silver, New Jersey, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|2023|7|2|1948|02|09}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | alma_mater = Fordham University (BS) <br> SUNY Downstate Medical Center (MD) <br> UCLA Anderson School of Management (MBA) | occupation = {{flatlist|*Surgeon *activist *author}} | spouse = {{marriage|Helen Cooksey|2004}} | children = 1 | website = {{URL|https://drsusanloveresearch.org/}} }}

'''Susan Margaret Love''' (February 9, 1948 – July 2, 2023) was an American surgeon, a prominent advocate of preventive breast cancer research, and author.<ref>{{cite web|last=Smiley|first=Tavis|title=Breast cancer expert Dr. Susan Love|url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/breast-cancer-expert-dr-susan-love/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306113130/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/breast-cancer-expert-dr-susan-love/|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 6, 2014|publisher=PBS|accessdate=6 March 2014}}</ref> She was regarded as one of the most respected women's health specialists in the United States.<ref name="nyt1">{{cite news|title=New Health Rule: Quit Worrying About Your Health|url=http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/new-health-rule-quit-worrying-about-your-health/|date=January 2010 |work=The New York Times | first=Tara | last=Parker-Pope | accessdate=2010-05-24}}</ref>

==Background== ===Early life and education=== Susan Margaret Love was born in Little Silver, New Jersey, on February 9, 1948.<ref>{{cite book |last=Oakes |first=Elizabeth H. |title=A to Z of STS Scientists |publisher=Facts On File |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-4381-0925-1 |location=New York |pages=183–184 |chapter=Love, Susan |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1YDrMFug17cC&q=%22Susan+Love%22+1948&pg=PA183}}</ref> She lived in Mexico and Puerto Rico as a child, as a result of her father's work as an industrial salesman.<ref name = Fox>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/03/science/dr-susan-love-dead.html|title = Dr. Susan Love, Surgeon and Breast Health Advocate, Dies at 75|last = Fox|first = Margalit|date = July 3, 2023|accessdate = July 3, 2023|authorlink = Margalit Fox|newspaper = The New York Times|url-access = limited}}</ref> Love enrolled at Fordham University after having spent five unsuccessful months at the School Sisters of Notre Dame.<ref>Gleick, Elizabeth. [http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20103529,00.html "Susan Love; A Surgeon Crusades Against Breast Cancer"], ''People'', July 25, 1994. Accessed September 3, 2015. "Born in Little Silver, N.J., the oldest of five children of Peggy and James Love, she moved to Puerto Rico when she was 13 after her father, a salesman for the Eaton machinery company, was transferred there."</ref>

Love received her medical degree from SUNY Downstate Medical School cum laude in 1974 and did her surgical residency at Boston's Beth Israel Medical Center.<ref name="apbspeakers.com">[https://www.apbspeakers.com/speaker/susan-love Susan Love {{!}} Speaker Profile and Speaking Topics]</ref> She also graduated from the Executive MBA program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.<ref name="apbspeakers.com"/>

===Personal life, health, and death=== Love came out as lesbian early in her career, at a time when such a revelation could carry "grave professional and personal risks".<ref name = Fox/> She later fought to expand the rights of same-sex couples as parents. In 1993, she and her partner Dr. Helen Cooksey made history by getting approval for the first joint adoption by a gay couple from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, a state that did not recognize same-sex marriage at the time.<ref name = Fox/><ref name="Epstein1993">{{cite news |last1=EPSTEIN |first1=Eve |title=Massachusetts High Court Allows Joint Adoption by Gay Couple |url=https://apnews.com/article/17c867c878c4e3ea1356c2b00a10544a |work=Associated Press News |date=September 10, 1993 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221122005/https://apnews.com/article/17c867c878c4e3ea1356c2b00a10544a |archive-date=December 21, 2022}}</ref> The couple married in San Francisco in 2004.<ref name = Fox/>

In 2012, Love announced that she was diagnosed with leukemia and would take a leave of absence to pursue chemotherapy treatment.<ref>{{cite news|last=Morrison|first=Patt|title=Susan Love, doctor/patient|url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2013-feb-13-la-oe-morrison-susan-love-cancer-20130213-story.html|access-date=6 March 2014|newspaper=LA Times|date=February 13, 2013}}</ref> After a successful treatment, Love returned to work the following year,<ref>{{cite news |last=Parker-Pope |first=Tara |date=February 18, 2013 |title=Susan Love's Illness Gives New Focus to Her Cause |url=http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/susan-loves-illness-gives-new-focus-to-her-cause/ |department=''Well'' (blog) |work=The New York Times |access-date=6 March 2014}}</ref> but died from a recurrence of the disease on July 2, 2023, at the age of 75, at her home in Los Angeles.<ref name = Fox/><ref>[https://drsusanloveresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/DSLF_SLove_Release.pdf Susan M. Love, MD, MBA, Chief Visionary Officer and "Founding Mother" of Breast Cancer Advocacy and Research Dies]</ref>

==Career== Love completed her surgical training at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital, and in 1988 was recruited to found the Faulkner Breast Center at Faulkner Hospital, with comprehensive care that allowed patients to see teams composed of radiation therapists, oncologists and surgeons. After leaving the Faulkner Hospital in Boston, Love was recruited to set up what later became the Revlon Breast Center at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1992. A founder of the breast cancer advocacy movement in the early 1990s, she helped organize the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC). She later served on the boards of the NBCC and the Young Survival Coalition. In 1996, she retired from the active practice of surgery to dedicate her time to finding the cause for breast cancer. According to ''The New York Times'', Love sought "not so much to cure the disease as to vanquish it altogether by isolating its causes and pre-empting them at a cellular level".<ref name = Fox/>

In 1998, Love earned a business degree from the Executive MBA program at UCLA's Anderson School. She was appointed by President Clinton to the National Cancer Advisory Board, a position she held from 1998 to 2004. She maintained a board position at the National Cancer Institute, and served as an adjunct professor of surgery at UCLA.<ref name="SLRF">{{cite web|title=Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation|url=http://www.dslrf.org/endingbc/content.asp?L2=1&L3=1&SID=278|publisher=Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation|accessdate=6 March 2014}}</ref> Love was a clinical professor of surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Love also served as the Founder and Medical Director of the Dr. Susan Love Foundation for Breast Cancer Research, formerly titled The Santa Barbara Breast Cancer Institute. In 2020, Love became the Chief Visionary Officer.

==Bibliography (selective)== ===Books=== * ''Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book First Edition'' (1990) * ''Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book Second Edition'' (1995) * ''Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book Third Edition'' (2000) * ''Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book Fourth Edition'' (2005) * ''Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book Fifth Edition'' (2010) * ''Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book Sixth Edition'' (2015) * ''Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book Seventh Edition'' (2023) * ''Dr. Susan Love's Menopause and Hormone Book'' (2003) * ''Live a Little!: Breaking the Rules Won't Break Your Health'' (2009)

===Peer-reviewed articles=== * {{cite journal|first1=Irene |last1=Gage|first2=Stuart J. |last2=Schnitt|first3=Asa J. |last3=Nixon|first4=Barbara |last4=Silver|first5=Abram |last5=Recht|first6=Susan L. |last6=Troyan|first7=Timothy |last7=Eberlein|first8=Susan M. |last8=Love|first9=Rebecca |last9=Gelman|first10=Jay R. |last10=Harris|first11=James L. |last11=Connolly |title=Pathologic Margin Involvement and the Risk of Recurrence in Patients Treated with Breast-Conserving Therapy |journal=Cancer|date=November 1996|volume=78|issue=9|pages=1921–1928|doi=10.1002/(SICI)1097-0142(19961101)78:9<1921::AID-CNCR12>3.0.CO;2-#|pmid=8909312|s2cid=196388280 }} * {{cite journal|url=https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/405525|first1=Mary-Claire |last1=King|first2=Sarah |last2=Rowell|first3=Susan M. |last3=Love|title=Inherited Breast and Ovarian Cancer: What Are the Risks? What Are the Choices? |journal=JAMA|year=1993|volume= 269|issue=15|pages=1975–1980|doi=10.1001/jama.1993.03500150087033 |pmid=8464130 |url-access=subscription}}

==Further reading== * {{Cite book |last1=Tyrkus |first1=Michael J. |date=1997 |title=Gay and Lesbian Biography |publisher=St. James Press}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.dslrf.org/ Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation] * {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130414062442/http://www.armyofwomen.org/ The Love/Avon Army of Women]}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Love, Susan}} Category:1948 births Category:2023 deaths Category:People from Little Silver, New Jersey Category:Fordham University alumni Category:SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University alumni Category:UCLA Anderson School of Management alumni Category:American women surgeons Category:David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA faculty Category:20th-century American women medical doctors Category:21st-century American women medical doctors Category:20th-century American surgeons Category:21st-century American surgeons Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people Category:LGBTQ medical doctors Category:LGBTQ people from New Jersey Category:Deaths from leukemia in California