Once a month, the Simms/Mann–UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology presents Insights Into Cancer, a free public lecture series for cancer patients, their families and the community. Each lecture features a leading professional who provides up-to-date information, practical advice and answers to cancer-related questions. 

August 13, 2013
Maintaining a Healthy Immune System Through Cancer Treatment and Beyond

Maintaining a healthy immune system through the continuum of cancer treatment and afterwards is one of the topics of great interest to patients diagnosed with cancer as they seek to find ways to participate in optimizing their own health. Supporting the immune system is one of the most common reasons patients take dietary supplements with or without a cancer diagnosis. In this lecture the latest research on the effects of immune nutrition and supplements for immune health are discussed as well as how to review and interpret labels of dietary supplements.

Mary L. Hardy, M.D., is the Medical Director for the Simms/Mann – UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology and is a member of the UCLA hematology-oncology staff as an Associate Physician Diplomate. She trained as an internist and Integrative Medicine physician with over two decades of experience in guiding patients who are seeking to combine the best practices of conventional and complementary medicine.

She was the Associate Director of the UCLA Center for Dietary Supplement Research in Botanicals and the founding Medical Director of the Cedars-Sinai Integrative Medicine Program. Her clinical practice focuses on integrating the best of western conventional medicine with appropriate complementary therapies for a wide variety of patients, including people with cancer. She has a special interest in botanical medicine and has trained with scientists and herbalists all over the world including China, Peru, the Amazon, Kenya and South Africa.

Her current research interests at UCLA focus in using modern scientific methods to validate traditional herbal knowledge as well as developing methods to document the effectiveness of complementary therapies. Dr. Hardy has been a speaker at our Insights Into Cancer Lectures since 2005 before joining the Center. Her empathic and caring approach is a welcome balance to her extensive knowledge and experience.

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Insights Into Cancer lectures are held in the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Auditorium, B Level, Room B130, 757 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095.

UCLA parking is $11 and is wheelchair accessible. Attendees can park in the medical plaza, or take advantage of the valet parking at the front of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.