Breast Cancer Activist

Woman of Impact

by Carol Carter

May 2, 2008

Doris Shaheen and her husband, Shouky, turned a bad chapter in her life into promise and hope for thousands of Atlantans – mostly women, but men, too. Doris Shaheen – a breast cancer
survivor of nearly 18 years – is the namesake of the Doris Shaheen Breast Health Center at Piedmont Hospital.

"My bilateral mastectomies were done at Piedmont Hospital by a wonderful surgeon," Shaheen says. "At the time I had mine done, I felt that the facility they had for women here was really inadequate, and Ihad expressed my concern through the years to my husband. I felt thatthe breast center and women in Atlanta deserved more than what was
available at Piedmont."'

Shouky Shaheen, a real estate developer, listened to his wife, and– without her knowing it – arranged to donate the money for Piedmont to create the breast health center now named for her. "He talked to [a doctor] and some of the other personnel here in the hospital about doing it and decided he would do it as a surprise for me," she says. "I found out about it two days before it was to be announced to the public." Shouky Shaheen made the gesture as a gift to his wife for their 43rd wedding anniversary.

Last year, of the 30,000 patients who went through the center, 350 werediagnosed with breast cancer. "It's such a busy center and such an important issue in women's lives today that I think it is essential to have a center that is dedicated," Shaheen says. Breast centers, says Dr. Cheryl Perkins, senior clinical adviser at Susan G. Komen for the Cure, "afford the specialists who are taking care of these patients an easier opportunity, in some cases, to talk to each other and to come to consensus on what is the appropriate way to manage different
cases."

Likewise, Perkins says, breast health centers facilitate the process for patients and make it easier for them to go through it. Once the center at Piedmont was announced, Shaheen was involved throughout its development. She reviewed architectural plans and helped select the carpeting, wall coverings and paintings. She also was instrumental in establishing the center's saltwater aquarium, a feature that she says "really has a tranquil effect on a lot of the patients and their families, too." The center, she says, "has certainly met my expectations, and – in most cases – it has really surpassed my expectations. There is not a week that goes by that I don't have friends that come here call me and tell me what a wonderful place it is. Even when I am shopping in the grocery store or drugstore, people who are total strangers come up to me and ask if I am the lady whose portrait is in the center. And, they start talking about how wonderful it is."

Shaheen knows how important the atmosphere of the office can be to women. "It makes a terrific difference to the women who come here, because this is a very stressful time in their life – when they are being checked for breast cancer or find out that they have it. One thing that really impresses me is the center's patient navigator. She meets with all the individuals as they come into the center, and she follows them through all their diagnostic procedures and any treatments." Piedmont Hospital, she says, has always been close to her heart. Her father was a patient at the old Piedmont Hospital in downtown Atlanta. Both of her children were born there, and all of her doctors and her husband's doctors are affiliated with the hospital.

Not only that, but Shaheen has volunteered at Piedmont Hospital for decades. "There is not much that I haven't done here as a volunteer,"  she says. "I have been president of the Women's Auxiliary. I have chaired the Piedmont Hospital Ball three times. This year, my husband and I are honorary chairpersons for the ball. This is only the second time in the 51- year history of the Piedmont Ball that a gentleman has been asked to be an  honorary co-chair with his wife." She has been a member of the Piedmont  Hospital Foundation for nearly 10 years.  Before the Shaheens were married – it will be 47 years in May – Shaheen was a research associate at Emory University and a cancer researcher in New York. With a degree in chemistry and biology from
Shorter College in Rome, the Cartersville native moved to Atlanta to take the job at Emory, where she worked on research involving vitamin D, epilepsy drugs and other brain disorders.
In New York, she did research on mice, injecting them with tumors,then screening drugs to see what effect they had on the tumor. "I probably injected anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000 mice," she recalls, "and today I
wouldn't get near a white mouse."

On Shaheen's wish list for the Breast Health Center are two more digital mammography units. Digital equipment, she says, "is just so much more effective in early detection." And, Perkins notes, "Early detection of breast cancer is the best chance for survival. Establishments that offer screening – like breast health centers – are increasing the chances of survival by finding breast cancer early so that the appropriate next steps can be taken." The Doris Shaheen Breast Health Center was recognized late last year by the American College of Radiology as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence. It is only one of three facilities in Georgia to receive this designation. It is one of only a few centers in the state to be accredited in all its modalities – mammography units, ultrasound-guided core biopsy and stereotactic biopsy. When she is not at home relaxing in her white robe – with "Doris Shaheen Breast Health Center" embroidered in pink on the pocket area – something worn by all patients at the center, Shaheen sometimes sends
a catered lunch to the center.

"I try not to interfere too much," she says. "I try to send flowers or cookies, things like that. And stop by and visit. I'm always happy to see them." Undoubtedly, the feeling is mutual.