Dosing Done Right: The PCDI Survey & Why It Matters
This episode of Our MBC Life features Stephanie Walker and Julia Maués of the Patient-Centered Dosing Initiative team who have been working on the 2025 reboot of its groundbreaking 2020 patient survey. Julia and Stephanie break down how treatment doses are typically determined during clinical trials and why individualized dosing, based on more than your diagnosis, is so important for people living with metastatic breast cancer. They also chat about the newly launched 2025 Patient Dosing Survey that you can take right now, where to find it and why your experience about metastatic breast cancer treatment matters.
Episode Notes:
PCDI Publications
Scientific Articles & Press re: PCDI & Individual Dosing
Spurred by Survivors, Researchers are Revisiting Cancer Drug Doses
How Much Chemo Do You Really Need?
Empowering Patients: ASCO’s Inclusive Approach to Clinical Trials
Moving Away From the Maximum Tolerated Dose
Cancer Drugs Can Be Effective At Lower Doses
Friends of Cancer Research Releases White Paper on Optimizing Dosing in Oncology Drug Development
Meet the Guests of the Episode
Julia Maues
Julia Maués’ life took an unexpected turn when she was diagnosed with breast cancer while pregnant in 2013. After delivering a healthy baby boy, she soon learned the cancer had spread to her bones, liver, and brain. Now living with metastatic breast cancer for nearly 12 years, she has personally benefited from treatment advances driven by research and clinical trials—fueling her commitment to bringing patients’ voices into research to ensure it is inclusive, patient-centered, and reflective of real-world experiences.
Julia co-founded GRASP (Guiding Researchers & Advocates to Scientific Partnerships), a nonprofit that bridges the gap between patients and researchers to make cancer research more impactful and accessible. She also leads the Patient-Centered Dosing Initiative (PCDI), advocating for treatment strategies that optimize both efficacy and tolerability to improve patient outcomes.
Her advocacy spans multiple organizations, including the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium Planning Committee, BIG Against Breast Cancer, ASCO, the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance, and the DoD CDMRP. She has spoken at conferences across the U.S. and internationally and has helped shape policy and research initiatives through strategic influence.
Stephanie Walker
Living with De Novo metastatic breast cancer since July 2015, Stephanie is a retired RN with close to 40 years experience in pediatric and adult critical care, as well as emergency department experience in critical access size hospitals to Level 1 trauma centers. Her last 14 years in nursing was spent in hospice/end of life care.
After being diagnosed with MBC in 2018, Stephanie began to volunteer with many different breast cancer organizations. She is the 2025 Vice Chair of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance and the project lead of the BECOME (Black Experience of Clinical Trials and Opportunities for Meaningful Engagement) initiative. She was also instrumental in the planning and participation in the Black Wo(men) Speak Symposium held in conjunction with SABCS 2022.
She is also a Living Beyond Breast Cancer Hear My Voice graduate, as well as a helpline volunteer. She is also a Project Lead grad of 2022. She is the Co-Chair of the working group that focuses on removing barriers to standard of care and quality of life.
Stephanie will answer any questions, even the hard ones regarding her own mental health. She isn’t defined by her cancer and wants others to be their own light to shine bright. She is married with adult children & grandchildren, and lives with husband John and rescue dog Rex in eastern North Carolina.
