Five to Thrive Live features UC's Sengupta

The University of Cincinnati's Soma Sengupta, MD, PhD, was recently a guest on the Five to Thrive Live podcast to discuss "Humanizing Brain Tumors: Strategies for You and Your Physician," a new book she co-authored with UC's Jonathan Forbes, MD, and Abdelkader Mahammedi, MD, of Stanford University.

The book presents the stories of nine individuals diagnosed with brain tumors, detailing the lived experiences of the patients and their loved ones and providing insight and guidance to those living with, caring for or treating those with brain tumors.

Sengupta noted some of the patients featured in the book had initial symptoms that were nonspecific or overlapped with other conditions, a common occurrence with patients with brain tumors.

"When we think of somebody becoming weak on one side of the body, we think of strokes," said Sengupta, associate professor in neurology, director of neuro-oncology clinical trials, associate director of the Brain Tumor Center and a UC Health neuro-oncologist, funded by the Harold C. Schott Endowed Chair in Molecular Therapeutics (Neurosurgery) and the Pam and Tom Mischell Funds. "So it really is dependent on where the tumor is and sometimes there’s a delay to the diagnosis."

Sengupta said her desire is that the book offers a message of hope and support. 

Listen to the Five to Thrive Live podcast.

Featured photo at top: Patient Sankhya Jejurikar, left, speaks with Clinical Research Professional Abigail Koehler, center, and Dr. Soma Sengupta, right, about her continued recovery from vestibular schwannoma surgery. Photo/Ravenna Rutledge/University of Cincinnati.