Doctor devotes time to raising money for cancer cure

Biking with Lance is a side benefit

Riding with Lance Armstrong
helps make cancer history.
Source: Dr. Brett Katzen

Meeting Lance Armstrong at his hotel after the Tour de France in 2003 is something Brett Katzen, M.D., Katzen Eye Group, and clinical assistant professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, remembers fondly.
Although Armstrong was exhausted the day after the race, he stopped to sign autographs and talk about his charity work after the event with Dr. Katzen.
Dr. Katzen has supported the Lance Armstrong Foundation for the past four years. The Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports people in managing and surviving cancer, while seeking to raise money for cancer research.
“It’s my hobby to bike … I race locally and do trips with my wife all over the world,” he said.
Dr. Katzen said biking events are a great way for him to combine his love of cycling with raising public awareness and money for major medical causes. Besides the Lance Armstrong events, Dr. Katzen participates in fundraising events for lung cancer, asthma, and multiple sclerosis.
“I’ve done a lot of fundraising for both MS and cancer, and usually we attach that to a bike ride because that makes it a fun event and it’s kind of a reason to ask for money for charity,” said Dr. Katzen. “Over the last three years I’ve raised [more than] $70,000 for cancer research and patient survivorship for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.”
Biking is a “fun, healthy hobby,” said Dr. Katzen. “It keeps you active and gives you more energy so you can take good care of your patients.” Combining this hobby with cancer fundraising activities is a personal quest for Katzen because “I’ve had friends and patients that I’ve lost to cancer. ... It gets young people, old people. It’s certainly not a fair disease.”
Dr. Katzen added that he hoped his fundraising would play some role in helping to beat cancer.
“It would be nice if we could find a couple cures [for cancer] within our lifetimes,” he said. “We all, as doctors, take care of people all day. There’s more ways to help than just being a doctor. And this is one of them.”

Contact Information:
Katzen: (410) 821-9490, bkatzen@katzeneye.com