July 27, 2025 • 12 mins
We spoke with Dr. Sameer Hanfi and Dr. Jean Weigert from Jefferson Radiology about the Strike Out Cancer Night Game.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Alison Demurz. My guests alongside me today are doctor Jene
Wigartchi is a breast imaging section chief at Jefferson Radiology
and also from Jefferson Radiology, Doctor Samir hanfe He is
an abdominal imaging radiologist. Good morning, Good morning morning. So
(00:20):
you have an amazing event that is coming up on
August twenty eighth. It's called Strikeout Cancer Night. Tell me
all about it?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yes, of course, So Strikeout Cancer Night is our way
of actually bringing the community together with Hartford yard Goats
to raise awareness about early detection of cancer, celebrate those
who have actually fought cancer, and then support cancer research.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So it's taking place at seven o'clock at the Hartford
yard Goats at Dunkin Donut Stadium.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
That's correct.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Tell me why is it so important to have an
event like this?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, so the idea is to support early detection and
raise awareness and then also rid those who have actually
fought cancer. So having if you do this annually, and
the ideas again to get down together with Heartford yard Godes,
have fun and at the same time res of aeness
have a table with the foam base balls and wristbands
(01:15):
a fun photo backdrop.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Fantastic. Why is early detection so important?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Early detection is absolutely the key to better treatment and
to saving lives. As a breast imager, we have known
over the last thirty years that our rates of mortality
have improved significantly with breast cancer as well as other
cancers by the fact that we have screening modalities. The
(01:42):
most important, of course, is getting your screening mammogram, other
modalities as needed, including a screening breast ultrasound or breast MRI.
We also have incredible tools to assist with knowing the
risk of getting a breast cancer and those patients who
are at higher risk would therefore also be able to
(02:03):
get more of this early detection and hopefully decrease the
mortality of breast cancer.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Do we have the highest incidents in the nation as
third with breast cancer.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
It is third in breast cancer in the state of Connecticut.
I have always wondered about that, but it is something
that we deal with every day, and again it makes
you want to really be aware of the fact that
we have the ability to detect early and therefore to
treat better.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
While we're at it. Can we talk about those risk
factors for people who don't know sure.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
The most important risk factor is being a woman with breasts.
You do not need family history, but if you do,
that certainly increases your risk. The concept of genetics in
the cancer diagnosis is very important, and we have shown
over the years that there are many many genetic factors
in the diagnosis and the discovery of breast cancer in patients.
(03:03):
Other risk factors include having dense breasts, which increases your
risk over four times. And again that is why we
have added other modalities into the treatment and diagnosis, including
breast ultrasound and breast MRI.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Great I was going to ask you about that actually,
and breast cancer does affect men as well. Is it
like a twenty percent chance for men?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
It's about a one percent chance unless they have the
genetic component. And we do find men who are BRCA
one and BRCA two. Those are the two most common
genetic abnormalities that we find, and those patients are at
greater risk of developing breast cancer. And there are now
screening guidelines for men as well.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
What does cancer awareness mean to you as a radiologist?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Means a lot to us as a radiologist because we
play a really pivot role in terms of early detection,
and once we detect it, we work with our other
colleagues clinicians in multidisciplinary tumor boards where we help them
detect early, monitor response to treatment, and help them guide
and manage our patients.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
How do you help your patients who are facing cancer?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
The first point would be too early detection. If you
have family history, we have like gene mentioned, we have
mammograms screening mammograms for other cancers. We have your lung
cancer screening tools if you have family history, have mantaratic
cancer or multiple other cancers. If you have MR modality
to screen you annually to make sure you're not you
(04:36):
don't have any cancer there. And then basically after that,
if you do detect cancer, then we play a role
in terms of like doing fall up imaging to make
sure whatever management we're doing with our patients it's responding
well in the right direction, help the clinicians, and once
we're diseased free, we want to do annual screening to
make sure it's not coming back.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And it's wonderful that they have you instead of doctor Google.
So many people don't get accurate information and knowledge is everything,
because when you're facing something, especially something like this, it
may be nothing, but you get yourself all worked up,
and then once you have the accurate information, you feel better.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
I agree completely with that. One of my jobs as
a breast imager, I talk to about ninety percent of
the patients that I see every day, and one of
the best things I find I can do is to
go in and talk to a patient and say, there
is nothing wrong. The symptom that you are having is
(05:35):
benign or the finding that we saw on your screening
mammogram that we asked you to come back for some
additional imaging has turned out to not be anything worrisome.
When I can do that for a patient, I feel
I've really done my job just as much as if
I do have to detect a cancer.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Right As a woman, I've had those scares, those little
scares here and there, and I've had to wait the
weekend or whatever, and everything turned out great, thank God.
But I can't imagine being a doctor having to deal
with that all the time. How do you stay positive
and working in an environment like that.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
That's a great question, because I've been doing this for
over thirty years and it is something that I am
very passionate about obviously, and I do have to tell
patients they have breast cancer. I have to tell patients
we need to do a biopsy or additional imaging, and
I always try and tell patients that we don't know
(06:35):
anything until the pathology results are back, and then depending
on what that pathology is, we have tools to treat it.
I think for me doing this, I feel very just
very blessed that I am part of this team and
that I've been able to use my skills over this
(06:56):
many years to help patients, and that for me is
really why I continue to work and continue to.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Do what I do. Doctor Hanfey, has it been gratifying
for you as well to work in this capacity?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Definitely for sure. And then sometimes like I remember, like
on Friday evenings, I'll be reading a cat scan for
like making sure the cancer not coming back on the patient.
You would look at the imaging and there would be cancer,
and then you would feel disheartened that, oh my god,
I have to break this bad news to this patient
and the clinician will have to go in and tell
this information. But at other instances, when there is disease
(07:32):
response on imaging and finally on imaging we can see
that patient's disease free. That's also really satisfying to know
that we were there to help out the patient and
how the patients finally diseased free and now we can
just do an annual surveillance to make sure it's not
coming back. So it's definitely gratifying for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
And even though as a patient I may get bad news,
so comforting is that you guys know exactly what I
need how to take care of this.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yes and then and it's not just one person, like
I said, it's always a multidisciplinary teamor board, like a
conference where you would have doing colleges. You will have
the radiational on colleges, the surge and the radiologies, the pathologists.
We will discuss every single case and we will have
the expertise in the same room discussing and what's best
for the patient and come up with a plan and
(08:22):
then act on it.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
So for people who don't know about Jefferson Radiology, where
you located, what are some of the other services and
programs that you offer.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
So Jefferson Radiology has many offices around the region, in Glastonbury,
in Avon, in West Hartford, in Farmington and in Hartford,
and then we are the radiologists for Hartford Hospital and
we provide many services, not just mimography and body imaging,
(08:55):
but neuroradiology, body multi muscular, skeletal imaging, eurologic imaging, and
invasive tools like lots of There are lots of tools
we now have that allow us to do procedures that
used to require a surgeon and now we can do
(09:16):
a minimally invasive procedure to take care of it, correct
whatever is the problem, do a biopsy and move people
along in a much more comfortable and less less scary way.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
We're talking about the Strikeout Cancer Night game that's happening
with the Hartford yard Goats at Duncan Donut Stadium on
August twenty eighth at seven o'clock. Why is this event
so important to Jefferson Radiology.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Well, we cure about showing up with the community, not
just in the exam room and basically in a meanical
way to support the families. So we think about this
as we're in this all together and we want to
make a difference to fight against cancer. So again coming
back to the point where it's important for us because
we want to support our patients and community for early detection,
(10:06):
and if we do end up detecting any cancer, we
work with them to make sure they're disease free.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Wonderful, It's going to be a fun night of baseball
while learning about the power of early detection. They're going
to honor cancer heroes, which is so touching. It's going
to be extremely meaningful, and they're going to be giving
away season passes to six Flags again. The event is
August twenty eighth, a Thursday night, at seven o'clock. What
do you hope people take away from that evening? What
(10:34):
do you hope for them?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Well, obviously, we want them to have fun. We want
them to have a good time at the baseball game
and to show you know that we are part of
the community and that we in Hartford. We're not a
big town. We're a medium sized town, and that the
community can get together to honor our many cancer survivors
(10:59):
and the people going through the tunnel of cancer I
call it. You get a diagnosis and then you have
to walk through the treatment, the procedures and then come
out the other end. And we do they do, and
that's so important.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I'm speaking with doctor Jean Weiger, she's a breast imaging
section chief at Jefferson Radiology, and doctor Samir Hanfe he
is an abdominal imaging radiologist. That is quite the mouthful.
Your parents must kiss your picture when they say that, like,
am my son, he's an abdominal imaging radiologist. Am I right.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Well, They're definitely proud at being the first doctor in
the family. They're definitely really proud of me, and I
try to do my best to you keep my family proud,
not just my parents, but also my wife and my
two small.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Kids beautiful again. The event is Thursday, August twenty eighth
at seven o'clock. Go to Jefferson Radiology dot com to
get more information. I want to thank you both for
being here and for serving the community.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Thank you for having us pleasure
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Alison Demurz. My guests alongside me today are doctor Jene
Wigartchi is a breast imaging section chief at Jefferson Radiology
and also from Jefferson Radiology, Doctor Samir hanfe He is
an abdominal imaging radiologist. Good morning, Good morning morning. So
(00:20):
you have an amazing event that is coming up on
August twenty eighth. It's called Strikeout Cancer Night. Tell me
all about it?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yes, of course, So Strikeout Cancer Night is our way
of actually bringing the community together with Hartford yard Goats
to raise awareness about early detection of cancer, celebrate those
who have actually fought cancer, and then support cancer research.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So it's taking place at seven o'clock at the Hartford
yard Goats at Dunkin Donut Stadium.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
That's correct.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Tell me why is it so important to have an
event like this?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, so the idea is to support early detection and
raise awareness and then also rid those who have actually
fought cancer. So having if you do this annually, and
the ideas again to get down together with Heartford yard Godes,
have fun and at the same time res of aeness
have a table with the foam base balls and wristbands
(01:15):
a fun photo backdrop.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Fantastic. Why is early detection so important?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Early detection is absolutely the key to better treatment and
to saving lives. As a breast imager, we have known
over the last thirty years that our rates of mortality
have improved significantly with breast cancer as well as other
cancers by the fact that we have screening modalities. The
(01:42):
most important, of course, is getting your screening mammogram, other
modalities as needed, including a screening breast ultrasound or breast MRI.
We also have incredible tools to assist with knowing the
risk of getting a breast cancer and those patients who
are at higher risk would therefore also be able to
(02:03):
get more of this early detection and hopefully decrease the
mortality of breast cancer.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Do we have the highest incidents in the nation as
third with breast cancer.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
It is third in breast cancer in the state of Connecticut.
I have always wondered about that, but it is something
that we deal with every day, and again it makes
you want to really be aware of the fact that
we have the ability to detect early and therefore to
treat better.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
While we're at it. Can we talk about those risk
factors for people who don't know sure.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
The most important risk factor is being a woman with breasts.
You do not need family history, but if you do,
that certainly increases your risk. The concept of genetics in
the cancer diagnosis is very important, and we have shown
over the years that there are many many genetic factors
in the diagnosis and the discovery of breast cancer in patients.
(03:03):
Other risk factors include having dense breasts, which increases your
risk over four times. And again that is why we
have added other modalities into the treatment and diagnosis, including
breast ultrasound and breast MRI.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Great I was going to ask you about that actually,
and breast cancer does affect men as well. Is it
like a twenty percent chance for men?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
It's about a one percent chance unless they have the
genetic component. And we do find men who are BRCA
one and BRCA two. Those are the two most common
genetic abnormalities that we find, and those patients are at
greater risk of developing breast cancer. And there are now
screening guidelines for men as well.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
What does cancer awareness mean to you as a radiologist?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Means a lot to us as a radiologist because we
play a really pivot role in terms of early detection,
and once we detect it, we work with our other
colleagues clinicians in multidisciplinary tumor boards where we help them
detect early, monitor response to treatment, and help them guide
and manage our patients.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
How do you help your patients who are facing cancer?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
The first point would be too early detection. If you
have family history, we have like gene mentioned, we have
mammograms screening mammograms for other cancers. We have your lung
cancer screening tools if you have family history, have mantaratic
cancer or multiple other cancers. If you have MR modality
to screen you annually to make sure you're not you
(04:36):
don't have any cancer there. And then basically after that,
if you do detect cancer, then we play a role
in terms of like doing fall up imaging to make
sure whatever management we're doing with our patients it's responding
well in the right direction, help the clinicians, and once
we're diseased free, we want to do annual screening to
make sure it's not coming back.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And it's wonderful that they have you instead of doctor Google.
So many people don't get accurate information and knowledge is everything,
because when you're facing something, especially something like this, it
may be nothing, but you get yourself all worked up,
and then once you have the accurate information, you feel better.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
I agree completely with that. One of my jobs as
a breast imager, I talk to about ninety percent of
the patients that I see every day, and one of
the best things I find I can do is to
go in and talk to a patient and say, there
is nothing wrong. The symptom that you are having is
(05:35):
benign or the finding that we saw on your screening
mammogram that we asked you to come back for some
additional imaging has turned out to not be anything worrisome.
When I can do that for a patient, I feel
I've really done my job just as much as if
I do have to detect a cancer.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Right As a woman, I've had those scares, those little
scares here and there, and I've had to wait the
weekend or whatever, and everything turned out great, thank God.
But I can't imagine being a doctor having to deal
with that all the time. How do you stay positive
and working in an environment like that.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
That's a great question, because I've been doing this for
over thirty years and it is something that I am
very passionate about obviously, and I do have to tell
patients they have breast cancer. I have to tell patients
we need to do a biopsy or additional imaging, and
I always try and tell patients that we don't know
(06:35):
anything until the pathology results are back, and then depending
on what that pathology is, we have tools to treat it.
I think for me doing this, I feel very just
very blessed that I am part of this team and
that I've been able to use my skills over this
(06:56):
many years to help patients, and that for me is
really why I continue to work and continue to.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Do what I do. Doctor Hanfey, has it been gratifying
for you as well to work in this capacity?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Definitely for sure. And then sometimes like I remember, like
on Friday evenings, I'll be reading a cat scan for
like making sure the cancer not coming back on the patient.
You would look at the imaging and there would be cancer,
and then you would feel disheartened that, oh my god,
I have to break this bad news to this patient
and the clinician will have to go in and tell
this information. But at other instances, when there is disease
(07:32):
response on imaging and finally on imaging we can see
that patient's disease free. That's also really satisfying to know
that we were there to help out the patient and
how the patients finally diseased free and now we can
just do an annual surveillance to make sure it's not
coming back. So it's definitely gratifying for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
And even though as a patient I may get bad news,
so comforting is that you guys know exactly what I
need how to take care of this.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yes and then and it's not just one person, like
I said, it's always a multidisciplinary teamor board, like a
conference where you would have doing colleges. You will have
the radiational on colleges, the surge and the radiologies, the pathologists.
We will discuss every single case and we will have
the expertise in the same room discussing and what's best
for the patient and come up with a plan and
(08:22):
then act on it.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
So for people who don't know about Jefferson Radiology, where
you located, what are some of the other services and
programs that you offer.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
So Jefferson Radiology has many offices around the region, in Glastonbury,
in Avon, in West Hartford, in Farmington and in Hartford,
and then we are the radiologists for Hartford Hospital and
we provide many services, not just mimography and body imaging,
(08:55):
but neuroradiology, body multi muscular, skeletal imaging, eurologic imaging, and
invasive tools like lots of There are lots of tools
we now have that allow us to do procedures that
used to require a surgeon and now we can do
(09:16):
a minimally invasive procedure to take care of it, correct
whatever is the problem, do a biopsy and move people
along in a much more comfortable and less less scary way.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
We're talking about the Strikeout Cancer Night game that's happening
with the Hartford yard Goats at Duncan Donut Stadium on
August twenty eighth at seven o'clock. Why is this event
so important to Jefferson Radiology.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Well, we cure about showing up with the community, not
just in the exam room and basically in a meanical
way to support the families. So we think about this
as we're in this all together and we want to
make a difference to fight against cancer. So again coming
back to the point where it's important for us because
we want to support our patients and community for early detection,
(10:06):
and if we do end up detecting any cancer, we
work with them to make sure they're disease free.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Wonderful, It's going to be a fun night of baseball
while learning about the power of early detection. They're going
to honor cancer heroes, which is so touching. It's going
to be extremely meaningful, and they're going to be giving
away season passes to six Flags again. The event is
August twenty eighth, a Thursday night, at seven o'clock. What
do you hope people take away from that evening? What
(10:34):
do you hope for them?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Well, obviously, we want them to have fun. We want
them to have a good time at the baseball game
and to show you know that we are part of
the community and that we in Hartford. We're not a
big town. We're a medium sized town, and that the
community can get together to honor our many cancer survivors
(10:59):
and the people going through the tunnel of cancer I
call it. You get a diagnosis and then you have
to walk through the treatment, the procedures and then come
out the other end. And we do they do, and
that's so important.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I'm speaking with doctor Jean Weiger, she's a breast imaging
section chief at Jefferson Radiology, and doctor Samir Hanfe he
is an abdominal imaging radiologist. That is quite the mouthful.
Your parents must kiss your picture when they say that, like,
am my son, he's an abdominal imaging radiologist. Am I right.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Well, They're definitely proud at being the first doctor in
the family. They're definitely really proud of me, and I
try to do my best to you keep my family proud,
not just my parents, but also my wife and my
two small.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Kids beautiful again. The event is Thursday, August twenty eighth
at seven o'clock. Go to Jefferson Radiology dot com to
get more information. I want to thank you both for
being here and for serving the community.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Thank you for having us pleasure
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