On January 14, 2026, the Prostate Health Education Network (PHEN) hosted a Managing Prostate Cancer Survivorship Meeting and Webinar, bringing together patients, caregivers, and advocates both online and in person at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
The main speaker and moderator was PHEN’s own Director of Clinical Trials and Patient Education Dr. Keith Crawford, who outlined three essential online portals from PHEN, which are:
- PHENPSA.com (Early detection prostate cancer screening)
- PHENPath.com (Prostate cancer treatment options)
- PHENTrials.com (Prostate cancer clinical trials)
Knowledge Empowers Better Decisions
Dr. Crawford began the webinar by thanking pharmaceutical sponsors, including Amgen, Bayer, Merck, and Pfizer among others. He explained how this Managing Survivorship Meeting has some new guests in the audience, welcoming newly diagnosed attendees or those exploring treatment and clinical trial opportunities, and reinforcing that no one should have to navigate prostate cancer alone.
“Knowledge is your best defense against prostate cancer,” Dr. Crawford shared. “The more you know, the better you can participate in decisions about your care.”
Understanding Prostate Cancer Screening and Early Detection
Regarding early detection screening, he said, “The earlier we can detect prostate cancer, the more choices you have and the longer you can live.”
A key focus of the discussion was early detection and prostate cancer screening. Dr. Crawford’s presentation described how early detection screening can find some cancers before they’ve spread throughout the body, which may provide more treatment options and better outcomes. However, PSA screening can also find slow-growing cancers that may never cause harm, and non-cancer causes can also increase one’s PSA level. This is why follow-up testing and discussions with a healthcare provider are important before making treatment decisions. Dr. Crawford also provided prostate cancer screening guidelines based on recommendations from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), which are widely used by healthcare providers:
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Men at higher risk, including those with a family history of prostate cancer or African American men, may benefit from starting screening at age 40.
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Men at average risk are often encouraged to start prostate cancer screening at age 45.
Exploring Treatment Options
Dr. Crawford also discussed common prostate cancer treatments including active surveillance, surgery (radical prostatectomy), and radiation therapy, outlining how risk levels and life expectancy will help determine a prostate cancer patient’s treatment options.
Learning About Clinical Trials
Further, he explained how clinical trials work and the different phases, such as preclinical studies. Showcasing PHENTrials.com, which is a resource designed to make learning about clinical trials easier, he described how the Find Your Trial (FYT) tool functions. This tool allows an individual to choose his diagnosis, risk level, and the state he resides in to receive a list of clinical trials available to him.
Moving Forward with Confidence
Dr. Crawford also answered audience questions and released a survey for attendees to take. The survey results show that 98% of poll takers very clearly understand the importance of early detection screening for men at high risk. In addition, 88% of survey takers now understand very well what a PSA screening result means and why follow-ups are important when PSA results are abnormal.
Furthermore, 77% much better understand that treatment decisions can be personalized. Lastly, 91% said the program provided enough time for the audience Q&A and 97% would recommend this Managing Survivorship session to others.
To learn more about prostate cancer screening, treatment options, and clinical trials, visit PHENPSA.com, PHENPath.com, and PHENTrials.com.
