From the Director's Desk
A Light Shining Through
Almost daily, people ask me what new and exciting results are being produced by CBCRP research. And almost daily, I struggle with how to answer this question. I struggle for many reasons. First, I abhor the way the media sensationalizes the results of single research projects—touting them as “breakthroughs” promising “new treatments” or “cures.” In reality, breakthroughs are rare events, and most advances in prevention, detection, and treatment take years and result from numerous studies. And so I am cautious in describing the advances our research is making. Second, we fund a breathtaking array of research, including basic laboratory research into cancer pathways, drug discovery, population research on causes and prevention, testing of new detection technologies, exploration of cultural views towards cancer and how they impact medical care and quality of life, and development of methods to reduce the psychological impact of breast cancer. How can I summarize the progress we are making in all these areas before the elevator door opens? Finally, I am painfully aware of the slow pace of research, and the urgency to find answers NOW. While I believe we are on the right path, we won’t know until we actually achieve true prevention and cure that each small step along the way was truly exciting.
But every two years, this struggle drops away. As I sit through the presentations, walk through the aisles of posters, view the expressions of breast cancer in the art exhibition, interact with the hundreds of scientists and advocates in attendance, and participate in the “moment of noise ”—all elements of the CBCRP symposium—I become acutely aware of the immense progress we are making in so many facets of breast cancer research. I become renewed in my belief that we are on the right path and closing in on our goal of ending the suffering caused by breast cancer.
The CBCRP symposium arose in 1997 out of our values of accountability and transparency; our responsibility to answer to Californians and demonstrate our progress towards eliminating the suffering from breast cancer.
Transparency is talked about a lot these days—most frequently in the sense of a quality of an organization or process that provides full, accurate, and timely disclosure of information. But I recall another meaning—the clear plastic sheets that we used to view images and text by shining light through them and projecting them onto a screen. And this is how I like to think of the symposium—the method by which we shine light through the CBCRP to view our progress and project it for all to see.
But our symposium evolves each time we do it, and becomes more than our transparency. It is becoming a tool to express our urgency to put research into practice and achieve outcomes that impact people’s lives. Even more so than in past years, the 2005 symposium will allow us to seek solutions to the problem of breast cancer. Because when research provides a potential answer to a question, it is the CBCRP’s mission to go forward with putting it into practice.
In the plenary session, The Unequal Burden of Breast Cancer, panelists will discuss not only who is getting breast cancer and who is dying from it, but also will put forward ways that we can address the discrepancy. In the workshops, speakers will describe the state of the science in promising new areas—nanotechnology, the mind-body connection, clinical trials, and biomonitoring. Speakers and participants together will then explore the ways that these areas of science could be put to use.
Keynote speakers will emphasize the forward thinking of the symposium from a survivor and scientific perspective: Don’t look back; we’re not going that way!
Come join us as we shine a light through breast cancer research, and illuminate solutions for the future.
Marion H. E. Kavanaugh-Lynch, M.D., M.P.H.,
Director of the CBCRP
