Overcoming Obesity-Associated Breast Cancer Risk
Tuesday, December 5 • 3:25 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. • Hemisfair Ballroom 1-2

Presentation: Impact of Exercise on Breast Cancer Outcomes

Kerry S. Courneya, PhD
University of Alberta, Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada

What is your presentation about?
My presentation will summarize preclinical and epidemiological evidence on the role of exercise in affecting breast cancer outcomes. I will also propose a new framework for studying this topic that addresses exercise from a clinical oncology perspective rather than from a public health or cancer survivorship perspective.

What makes this topic important in 2023?
New preclinical and clinical evidence is suggesting that exercise may act as a cancer treatment, especially when combined with other cancer treatments. ASCO has now endorsed exercise for cancer patients during treatments but only to mitigate side effects, not to improve treatment outcomes.

How did you get involved in this particular area of breast cancer research, care, or advocacy?
My training is in kinesiology (exercise science) and I became interested in the role of exercise after a cancer diagnosis (exercise oncology) in the early 1990s. At that time, exercise was only being studied from a cancer prevention perspective as a potential risk factor for reducing the incidence of cancer.