'All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my AS close-up.' Looking for a few patients to help develop an AS smartphone app
A new way to recruit AS patients--and you can help
By Howard Wolinsky
In the interest of full disclosure: I have been working as a consultant on a project to develop the first smartphone app to tackle active surveillance
You can help, too. And be paid handsomely for your time.
Like Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in the 1950 movie by Billy Wilder, “Sunset Boulveard.” Are you ready for your close-up?
Read on.
mPulse Mobile, the app developer for the unnamed healthcare sponsor of the project, is seeking patients like you with first-hand experience with AS.
Here are the basics:
“A major healthcare organization (Note: Undisclosed but a big one) is developing an online educational program to support their members through the prostate cancer journey from screening to diagnosis to treatment and beyond. The program specifically promotes active surveillance as the clinically recommended care path for those with low-risk prostate cancer. As part of this program, they are looking for people living on active surveillance to produce video content that will be used in the program. They will compensate $1,000 to chosen participants and provide detailed guidance on how to capture the footage they seek. If you are interested, please contact Anjali Logue at Anjali.logue@mpulsemobile.com to learn more.”
She’ll ask you some questions and decide if you’re ready for a close-up.
Chosen candidates will be notified of selection within two weeks of their initial interview.
Be sure to tell Anjali that TheActiveSurveillor.com sent you. You’ll be helping the next generation of AS candidates learn about AS in a new way.
Here’s the full casting document. They want to include a diverse population. But don’t count yourself out. Contact Anjali if you think you can help.
mPulse’s Prostate Cancer Active Surveillance Education: Casting Document
We seek 4-5 men who are currently living with low-risk prostate cancer who have opted to go on active surveillance instead of undergoing more aggressive treatments like prostate surgery or radiation.
The ideal candidates are comfortable talking on-camera about their experience getting screened, learning of their diagnosis, deciding on their care plan, and adhering to their active surveillance plan. Topics we’d like to explore include:
The decision to get screened for prostate cancer
The experience of prostate biopsy
Talking with their doctor about their diagnosis
The decision to go on active surveillance
Tension between friends, family, and self, related to choosing active surveillance
Anxiety or stress related to life with cancer
Having a meaningful and open relationship/dialogue with doctors to make informed care decisions
The unique challenges faced by gay and bisexual men related to prostate cancer decision-making
We would prefer male participants of color. Ideally, at least one of our candidates would be a gay or bisexual man who can talk to the unique challenges or concerns he faces as it relates to prostate cancer and treatment.
Production Approach:
The production may require a mix of in-studio and self-produced content. For all self-produced content, we will provide detailed instructions for the type of content we are looking for. It will be a mix of lifestyle footage that can serve as b-roll and to-camera footage responding to specific questions we will provide. There will be a preproduction training session to provide guidance to selected candidates on how to self-produce content optimally for this solution.
Payment: We will pay each selected participant $1,000 for their time and effort.
Summary:
4-5 people currently on active surveillance for their low-risk prostate cancer
1 LGBTQ person (if possible, his/their partner’s perspective)
Minimum of 2-3 Black, Asian, Latino, or bi-racial individuals
Pay: $1000
Buyout: Complete, unlimited use
Contact: Interested candidates should contact Anjali Logue at anjali.logue@mpulsemobile.com. Anjali may schedule a phone interview. Chosen candidates will be notified of their selection within two weeks of their casting interview.
Don’t miss what promises to be the best AS webinar of 2023: Dr. Scholz, repeller of the prostate cancer snatchers
By Howard Wolinsky
In 2010, Dr. Mark Scholz, a medical oncologist based in Southern California, and his patient Ralph Blum, released the book, “Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers,” an expose on the overdiagnosis and overtreatment of prostate cancer.
Scholz and Blum and their book gave me a cup of courage in 2010 to go on active surveillance. They impacted thousands of other lives and pressured the prostate snatchers to change their ways. They helped, but still too many of us are diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer and overtreated,.
(94% of prostates were snatched in 2010 in the US. Now it's 40%--better but not good enough, compared with 6% in Sweden and 9% in Michigan.)
AnCan is holding a free webinar entitled "Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers: 13 years later. An evening with Dr. Mark Scholz" from 8-9:30 PM Eastern Jan. 30. He will be taking a look at how things have progressed in 13 years with prostate cancer, where they need to change, and where things are headed.
To register, click here. If you can’t make the date, please register and you’ll be sent a link to the recording.
Bring your questions or send them in advance to Joe Gallo at joeg@ancan.org
Scholz is executive director of the Prostate Cancer Research Institute (PCRI) and medical director of Prostate Oncology Specialists Inc. in Marina del Rey, California, a medical practice exclusively focused on prostate cancer. PCRI runs the popular PCRI webinars and in-person seminars.
“Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers” came out in a new edition in 2021.
Click here for a recent review of the book: https://bit.ly/3j92w9s