“The Cancer Detection Program: Every Woman Counts — Reducing Breast Cancer in California… from Research to Innovative Programs”
Debra Oto-Kent, California Breast Cancer Research Council
The 1993 california breast cancer act successfully increased the tobacco tax by two cents per pack to raise funds to reduce the burden of breast cancer among California women. The Breast Cancer Act funded three major components. First, research, in the form of the CBCRP, which receives 45% of the funds generated through the legislation. The second component, the California Cancer Registry, receives 5% of program funds. The remaining 50% of the revenues raised through this unique law supports the California Department of Health Services' Cancer Detection Programs: Every Woman Counts (CDP:EWC formerly known as the state-funded Breast Cancer Early Detection Program, and the federally funded Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program). This broad public health program provides California's low-income, medically underserved women with screening and early breast and cervical cancer detection services.
The upcoming CBCRP symposium, From Research to Action A Decade of Progress, will feature several excellent concurrent breakout sessions on Saturday, September 13, 2003, in San Diego. We invite you to attend Session I - Breast Cancer Control in California: Progress through Collaboration, Public Health Practice, and Research, which will be held from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and will highlight the decade of progress of California's unique, innovative breast cancer public health approach for underserved women. Later in the day partners from the CDP:EWC will display evaluation and research projects during the afternoon's poster sessions, slated for 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and will host displays in the Conference's Exhibitor Area.
We are fortunate that in Breakout Session I former legislator Barbara Friedman, author of the Breast Cancer Act of 1993 and the current Executive Director of The Burn Foundation, will provide a historical perspective of the evolution and dimensions of the legislation which started the program.
Georjean Stoodt, M.D., M.P.H., Chief of the California Department of Health Services' Cancer Detection Section, will review California's public health model for achieving breast cancer early detection through public education and outreach, professional education, screening, tracking, follow-up and case management, quality assurance and improvement, coalitions and partnerships, surveillance, and evaluation. Highlights of achievements over the past 10 years as well as collaborative research opportunities with data sets available to California researchers will be discussed.
Henry Etta Waters, R.N., P.H.N., M.N., Vice-Chair of California's Breast and Cervical Cancer Advisory Council, will discuss future directions for breast cancer prevention and control, highlighting the California Plan to Prevent and Control Breast and Cervical Cancer. She will also explore the critical need for eliminating disparities and possible research questions to advance the body of knowledge for breast cancer prevention and control in California.
Finally, Carol Somkin, Ph.D., Research Scientist for Kaiser-Permanente, Division of Research will discuss her research project, “African American Women and Breast Cancer, What Works?” that uses data collected for implementation and evaluation of CDP:EWC programs. Dr. Somkin will talk about her experience and the potential for future collaborative research efforts between the Cancer Detection Section and outside researchers. Please join us at this informative session. We hope to spur future research applications that will embody collaboration among practitioners and researchers and utilize California's rich data sets on breast cancer services for underserved women.
