Back in the 1990s, Shirley Taylor learned firsthand how dangerous it is to put off annual screenings for breast cancer when the disease ravaged and ultimately defeated her aunt (and godmother), who was just 54 years old. Shirley never forgot the lesson, and today she’s something of an evangelist for mammograms, both personally and professionally, as GE HealthCare’s region modality leader for breast imaging in New York City.
“My aunt was a nurse, and she still didn’t go for a screening until it was too late,” Shirley says. “She made me want to help make sure women knew how important it is to get an annual mammogram. It can save their life.”
After graduating with a business degree from Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, Shirley joined the sales team at a company that manufactured business equipment. She loved everything about sales, from meeting people to learning new things to managing her own time. But after a couple of years she realized she needed a job that allowed her to help people, as well as earn a living.
“I wanted something more meaningful,” she says. “My mother was a nurse, and I grew up listening to her encourage everyone around her to take care of their health. And my father worked security for a large hospital system in the Bronx.” She had a feeling healthcare would be in her future, but she wasn’t sure in what capacity.
Then Shirley saw a Wall Street Journal article about how GE HealthCare was hiring for a new medical sales team. It sounded like the perfect job — she’d have the opportunity to utilize her sales strengths, continuously learn new things and be in an industry devoted to helping people get healthier. She sent in her résumé and was one of 30 — out of an initial 3,000 — hired onto the team. The job gives Shirley the opportunity to talk about the critical importance of mammograms, which can help provide early detection and reduce a person’s risk of dying from breast cancer. That’s especially true for Black women, who, despite advances in screening and therapies, face disparities in access to screening and timely treatment, which has been shown to improve patient outcomes for those facing a breast cancer diagnosis.
Shirley Taylor at a Breast Cancer Awareness Month event in New York. Top: Robin (center) with her daughters and granddaughters.
“I talk about mammograms anywhere I can, with people who have our technologies and anyone else I can find,” Shirley says. “I even go places just to educate people, even if they aren’t our customers. Addressing healthcare disparities is one of my passions.”
GE HealthCare not only allows but also encourages her to spread the word about mammograms and early screening throughout New York City and the surrounding region. She often volunteers on Saturdays, staffing a mobile mammogram van at churches, health fairs, and other events. She has also teamed up with Black women’s groups throughout the city to help as many women as possible learn the benefits of and have access to mammograms, and to connect women with advocacy groups to assist them on their cancer journeys. Just her presence can help make other women of color feel less anxious.
“I’ve had women who are scared to do it, but I’ll tell them, ‘Hey, we’re right here in your neighborhood. It’s easy. No need to worry — just go get it done,’” she says. “If people just have a little knowledge and maybe someone to push them a little bit, we can change their lives, change whole families’ lives.”
Last year, Shirley once again found herself on the wrong side of the disease when her cousin Robin was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Robin got her first mammogram in 1993, at age 33, after she lost her mother (Shirley’s aunt), who was only 54. After her first mammogram, she hung the waterproof card the tech shared with her explaining how to do a self-examination in her shower. Robin had a mammogram every year from 1995 until the pandemic, when she — like millions of women — went more than two years without one. During the pandemic, she continued her self-examinations, which is how she discovered something that felt like a small rock in her breast in January 2022. Soon after, she had a mammogram, an ultrasound, and a biopsy before receiving the official diagnosis.
Robin with her daughter after she completed her chemo.
Up until the doctor told her it was definitely cancer, she had been able to remain calm, but “after he said ‘breast cancer,’ I didn’t hear another word,” Robin said. “All I could think about was: Is this what my mother went through? How am I going to tell my family? My daughters and granddaughters?”
Since her diagnosis, Robin has had a mastectomy and received two rounds of chemotherapy. Today she is cancer-free, although she remains under observation and is taking immunotherapy. “The bottom line is I’m still here and I’m getting better,” Robin says.
Watching Robin’s struggle gave Shirley personal insight into the challenges patients face navigating treatment and advocating for themselves.
“I think Robin made me even more hyper about education and screening,” Shirley says. “It’s made me more open to having conversations. I talk about it with my girlfriends, my reading club, during family chats, to people in the parking lot — just anyone. ‘Have you been screened? You need to get a mammogram.’”
Robin’s illness also reinforced the importance of ensuring that women are as comfortable as possible when they go for a mammogram, so they’ll come back for the screening year after year — and tell friends and family about how good the experience was.
“I am really proud that we at GE HealthCare have a 3D mammography platform that was totally redesigned for women. We interviewed patients, radiologists, and technologists to get the best technology and experience,” Shirley says about GE HealthCare’s Senographe Pristina.
Shirley volunteering with the American Cancer Society to kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month on ‘Good Morning America’ in New York City.
The Senographe Pristina mammography system was designed to ease anxiety the moment the patient enters the exam room. It features an inviting gantry with elegant lighting and rounded shapes, as well as a soft-curved surface that helps to welcome patients into a space of comfort and support. In an IPSOS Patient Satisfaction Study sponsored by GE HealthCare, 83% of patients rated their experience with Senographe Pristina as better and more comfortable than previous exams. The system also features industry firsts for mammography, including the award-winning Pristina Dueta, the first patient-assisted compression device in mammography that allows women to play an active role in determining breast compression level. Among patients who used the patient-assisted compression device in that same study, 93% found they were less anxious or not anxious at all thanks to patient-assisted compression.
Mammography and breast cancer treatment have come a long way since Robin’s mother was diagnosed 30 years ago. For Robin and Shirley and their family, the best example of that has been Robin’s successful surgery and clean bill of health.
But some things from back then are still going strong — including that waterproof self-examination tutorial, which is no longer at Robin’s house but instead hanging in her granddaughter’s shower.
