OncoDaily recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Paola Tarantino to celebrate the launch of “The Breast Friends” Podcast, a fresh and dynamic voice in the world of oncology conversations. Created together with Dr. Jason Mouabbi, the podcast brings an unscripted, thought-provoking approach to breast cancer discussions, blending clinical insight with authentic professional camaraderie.
In this exclusive interview, Dr. Tarantino shares the inspiration behind the podcast, the story of a collaboration built on shared passion and scientific curiosity, and why the oncology community may be ready for conversations that go beyond slides and scripts.
1. What inspired you and Dr. Jason Mouabbi to create The Breast Friends Podcast?
What was the “aha” moment that made you think the field needed this kind of unscripted conversation? Tell us about your friendship and journey in oncology.
PT: at one point, during the first episode, Jason says “you’re my brother from another mother”. I think we both got to realize how similar and synergistic we are over multiple conferences and ad boards we got to attend together. Jason and I would always speak up, expose ourselves, jump into the trickiest discussions with the aim of making some sense of the available data and reach practical conclusions. At a certain point, we both realized it would be inevitable to collaborate. TBFP is the long-awaited collaboration we needed!
2. You’ve described the podcast as “unscripted” and “off-script.”
How do you define that in practice, especially in an era where medical communication is often tightly curated?
PT: there’s plenty of medical education everywhere, through CME and sponsored activities. We want to do something different with TBFP. We want to share the though process behind the algorithms, the complexities, the hurdles of coming up with treatment recommendations based on evolving data. TBFP was not born to carefully review scientific data: it was born to digest it, question it and convert it into practical use in clinical practice.
The Breast Friends Podcast Ep. 1 | Breaking the Status Quo: New Frontiers in Breast Cancer Care
3. The first episode dives into breaking the status quo in breast cancer care. What type of topics should the audience wait for – is there a storyline between the episodes or is it what’s “hot now” choice for each episode?
PT: breast oncology evolves fast, and we want to evolve fast with it. For each episode, we try to sense the current needs of the medical oncology community. The need, in December 2025, was to make a major recap of the many advances that had been presented over the year. The need, now, is to look ahead to what is coming our way in 2026, in terms of treatment innovations. Spoiler: a lot is coming. Spoiler 2.0: we will cover it in the second episode of TBFP!
4. Who is your core target audience – practicing oncologists, trainees, patients, patient advocates, or all of the above? Why?
PT: Both of us have been very active on social media over the past few years, and social media taught us that there is a broad community of people involved in different ways in breast oncology and interested at remaining updated. TBFP speaks to this broad community: we hope, with our direct and friendly approach, to be able to reach oncologist, nurses, trainees, patients, industry stakeholders, and anyone interested at remaining updated on breast oncology in a nimble, simple and fun way.
5. Can you share you are you planning to have as guests in your show?
PT: choosing our first guest was tough. We are fortunate to be connected with a large network of brilliant people, and hope to be able to host many of them in the future. But, eventually, we converged on one name: our first guest will be the current president of ESMO, powerhouse of breast oncology and drug development, as well as my first mentor, superstar Giuseppe Curigliano!
6. What’s personally most rewarding for you about this project so far – and what’s been the biggest challenge?
PT: Having a monthly podcast takes more time and work than one would think. This has been definitely the main challenge. However, we were fortunately able to overcome it with the tremendous help of Community Health Media, a media company who’s been instrumental in taking TBFP to life. Thanks to their support, we were able to kick this project off, and we’re already experiencing the rewarding feedback from peers and, most importantly, from patients/advocates, who benefit of our direct approach to tackle difficult questions in breast oncology and learn about new drugs and trials. This feedback has been incredibly motivational, and both me and Jason treasure it and plan to channel it into many more episodes. Stay tuned!