- With Mayo Clinic oncologist
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
Edward Creagan, M.D.
"The magic of the electronic village is transforming health information. The mouse and keyboard have extended the stethoscope to the 500 million people now online." — Dr. Edward Creagan
The power of the medium inspires Dr. Edward Creagan as he searches for ways to share Mayo Clinic's vast resources with the general public.
Dr. Creagan, a Newark, N.J., native, is board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hospice medicine and palliative care. He has been with Mayo Clinic since 1973 and in 1999 was president of the staff of Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Creagan, a professor of medical oncology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, was honored in 1995 with the John and Roma Rouse Professor of Humanism in Medicine Award and in 1992 with the Distinguished Mayo Clinician Award, Mayo's highest recognition. He has been recognized with the American Cancer Society Professorship of Clinical Oncology.
He describes his areas of special interest as "wellness as a bio-psycho-social-spiritual-financial model" and fitness, mind-body connection, aging and burnout.
Dr. Creagan has been an associate medical editor with Mayo Clinic's health information websites and has edited publications and CD-ROMs and reviewed articles.
"We the team of (the website) provide reliable, easy-to-understand health and wellness information so that each of us can have productive, meaningful lives," he says.
Latest entries
- First, do not harm
May 22, 2013
- Coping with life's hard knocks
May 8, 2013
- Be open to solutions and silver linings
April 17, 2013
- Learned optimism
April 3, 2013
- Recognizing that life is unfair
March 20, 2013
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Stress blog
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June 27, 2012
Mind-body connection is mysterious but powerful
By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
I recently ran into a former patient in a grocery store. I'd first seen this patient many years ago for a serious problem of far advanced cancer that had affected two dozen lymph nodes in the arm pit. The cancer arose from the breast. Most patients in this situation have a survival of a few months. Thirty-two years later, this patient is vital, engaged and living a normal life. So what can we learn from this experience?
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While I don't have all the answers, I can't ignore the importance of commitment and faith and the power of relationships. Now I'm not naive. To simply sit in a room, stare at a candle and have happy thoughts won't correct all of life's miseries. But being proactive and participating in one's own care with an attitude of acceptance can sometimes produce surprising results.
Yes, there is a mind-body connection. The challenge is figuring out how to channel and harness that energy for health and well-being. Do you have examples of these sorts of remarkable experiences to share?
Follow me on Twitter at @EdwardCreagan. Join the discussion at #Stress.
4 comments posted
March 26, 2013 1:45 a.m.
I,like Suzie definitely believe in the mind body connection. I was diagnosed with lung cancer in 02 and it recurred in03. Went to md Anderson and they basically said nothing to be done on this type except a new pill (that has since been taken off the market cuz it didn't show any efficacy but I'm grandfathered on it). I attribute my healing to my daily prayer of healing affirmations. I listen to healing scriptures in my car. I saturate my mind with the promises of the bible that over and over say 'your faith has made you whole". I never let my onologst show me a ct scan or a blood result even when they are good because I ont want a visual if that. When I start to feel a symptom or anxious thought I just start thanking God for my healing even before its apparent and it always brings me peace (and healing!!).
- Beth
January 31, 2013 1:28 p.m.
Shadowed Soul Shadowed Soul is a fiction novel about bi-polar Thomas Mitchell, as he struggles to rebuild his life with the aid of his blind wife’s seeing-eye dog. The compelling drama follows Thomas and his wife, Beth, as they embrace and endure the birth of their firstborn through the holiday season in New York City. Fears and anxieties that plague Thomas are personified in the form of the Shadowed Soul a demonic spectre who stalks Thomas’s every move. As his manic-depression escalates, his expectation for more problems is answered in abundance. His life goes from great to bad to worse. With the unconditional love of his dog, Thomas grapples with challenges as he chooses to rebuild his shattered life. With the exception of the protagonist’s online pornography addiction and the demise of certain relatives, much of the journey through manic-depression is autobiographical. Set in the present, author John M. Spagnoli’s intention is to depict clinical depression in a way that provides a clear road map to leading a full life.
- john
October 14, 2012 7:56 a.m.
I definitely believe in the mind/body connection. I have survived lung cancer (15 years)and had one lobe removed and colon cancer (8 years)and had 4 ft. of my colon removed followed by chemotherapy. I've also had critical pneumonia and several broken bones with metal implants and screws holding me together, but I'm not on any prescription meds at all. In my younger years, I delivered 5 healthy daughters and over the years I have had several other minor surgeries. I'll turn 80 next year and attribute my 'longevity' to wonderful physicians, my faith, eating healthy along with vitamins, a positive attitude and my wacky sense of humor. I'm a humor writer and wrote one article entitled YOU MUST KEEP A SENSE OF HUMOR WHEN YOU LEARN YOU HAVE A TUMOR! Thinking I might die was just never on my radar!
- Suzie
July 2, 2012 8:51 p.m.
Chronic back pain took me off of the tennis courts, jogging, and golf. Because of my cardiac condition there was no answers but pain pills that never even made much difference at 76 years of age. Being a jock all of my life, having such fun with the guys, I became isolated -not the social being I use to be. Also, this lead to staying horizontal most of the time, sleeping that did nothing for but increase my back pain, decrease quality of life, and my relationship with my wife. Then I spent 3 weeks at the Mayo Pain Rehabilitation Center in Jacksonville (also in Rochester). At 86 years of age, this did take the dedication of both my wife and I, our group support, our strong leader and staff. My wife says "I have my husband back!" Yes, I entered with faith in the program. However, I never expected the power of the other group members to keep me going along with the staff who saw how I was having my wife assume all of the responsibilities of daily living. They all caught me and in such a caring way got me going! So because of all of the PRC, as we call it, I'm back the Italian Jock at 86 years of age. BEST MIND-BODY CONNECTION since 1926. (Because I'm filled with olive oil being Italian, I look younger...ha,ha,ha, and have a Maltese dog.) P.S. PRC staff and group created in me new ways to open channels of my mind-body to new concepts & accept pathways in my nervous system that I had not challenged before. Go do it, forget the chronic pain! Get another D
- Raymond, the Italian 86 year old Jock!
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