Survivorship and Visual Storytelling with Anna Rathkopf

Oncology Overdrive

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with Anna Rathkopf about the mental and physical toll of cancer treatment and survivorship, using photography to connect with patients and caregivers and more. • Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive 0:14 • About Rathkopf 0:20 • The interview 1:23 • How did you get into storytelling through photography around your cancer diagnosis and your caregiver experience? 1:46 • How did you navigate questions and challenges surrounding fertility during the first five years of your diagnosis? 4:07 • On top of everything else going on in your life at the time, how did your decision to document your treatment become part of your plan? Why was it so important for you to do in that moment? 7:50 • Did photography help you feel like you had some control in your life? 10:45 • Overall, how did this impact your mental health along with your physical health? 11:17 • What were you doing from a photojournalistic standpoint prior to your diagnosis? How did that prepare you for this next step in what you have created? 14:46 • How did your partner’s caregiving responsibilities incorporate into your photography? 16:48 • Jain and Rathkopf on the sacrifices caregivers make. 19:53 • If you had to give advice to someone going through the initial time after cancer diagnosis, caregiver or patient, what would you say you would do the same or differently? 21:29 • What do you suggest loved ones do or say to help patients and caregivers? 24:49 • What was the transition into survivorship like for you after the first five years? How did that change your mentality? 27:24 • If someone could only listen to the last few minutes of this episode, what would you want listeners to take away? 33:34 • How to contact Rathkopf 34:20 • Thanks for listening 35:22 Anna Rathkopf is an award-winning photographer whose work focuses on empathy, health, and identity. She is the author of HER2: The Diagnosed, The Caregiver, and Their Son, a poignant exploration of the realities of cancer under 50.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at [email protected]. Follow Healio on X and LinkedIn: @HemOncToday and https://www.linkedin.com/company/hemonctoday/. Follow Dr. Jain on X: @ShikhaJainMD. Rathkopf can be found on Instagram @rathkopfphotography. Purchase HER2: The Diagnosed, The Caregiver, and Their Son on Amazon or on the website www.rathkopf.com.

For more from the Rathkopfs: Check out photos and video from their installation at A(I) Brighter Tomorrow: Cancer and Beyond) exhibition at Montefiore Einstein through April 18, 2025.

Disclosures: Jain and Rathkopf report no relevant financial disclosures.