Illustrations: Gabriella Marsh

Meet the Doctor Who Wants People to Have Good Sex After Cancer

60% of cancer survivors experience sexual dysfunction. Kristin Rojas breaks down taboos with a lot of determination and some lube.

Eleanor Cummins
Elemental
Published in
11 min readJan 27, 2020

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TThe sun has set on Please, an “educated pleasure shop” in Brooklyn. Against a rainbow of vibrators and dozens of intriguing how-to and history books, Dr. Kristin Rojas is surveying the latest wares. There’s the Ohnut, a set of stretchy seafoam green rings designed to limit the depth of a penetrating partner, and a smartphone-connected Kegel device for coping with incontinence.

The 32-year-old breast cancer surgeon comes here often. She lives in the neighborhood — the brownstone-lined streets of Park Slope — and works nearby at Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn’s largest hospital. In the course of a week, Rojas counsels scores of cancer patients on radiation and chemotherapy and excises a dozen lumps and bumps. But her real passion lies in the Maimonides Urogenital, Sexual Health, and Intimacy Center, or MUSIC.

The center, which Rojas founded in 2018, is designed to help some of the estimated 10 million Americans experiencing some form of sexual dysfunction after treatment for ovarian, prostate, bladder, endometrial, uterine, vaginal, vulvar, breast, rectal, or colon…

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Elemental
Elemental

Published in Elemental

Elemental is a former publication from Medium for science-backed health and wellness coverage. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Eleanor Cummins
Eleanor Cummins

Written by Eleanor Cummins

Freelance science journalist. Writes a death newsletter: https://tinyletter.com/elliepses