CBCRP Recruits National Experts to Lead Special Research Initiatives

Our five-year, $18 million effort will investigate the effects of the environment and lifestyle on breast cancer and the reasons why some groups of women bear a greater burden of the disease.

Judy MacLean, Consultant

The CBCRP has recruited an outstanding steering committee of experts from across the nation to guide our Special Research Initiatives—a five-year effort to investigate questions which, if answered, could lead to major progress against breast cancer.

Newly-recruited steering committee members have all made path-breaking contributions in the research areas we selected for this effort: (1) the effects of the environment and lifestyle on breast cancer, and (2) the reasons why some groups of women are more likely to get breast cancer or to die from the disease.

The CBCRP is setting aside 30% of our funds for five years for the Special Research Initiatives, which will result in at least $18 million.

Three of the five steering committee members bring expertise with the question of why some groups of women bear an unequal burden of breast cancer.

Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, M.D., recently received a MacArthur Fellowship for her work translating findings on the molecular genetics of breast cancer in African American and African women into innovative clinical practices in the United States and abroad. She is an oncologist and the founding director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics at the University of Chicago. CBCRP Director Marion H.E. Kavanaugh- Lynch describes Dr. Olopade as “a broad thinker who is highly regarded by basic scientists. Part of her role on the steering committee will be to keep the Special Research Initiatives connected to basic science.” Dr. Olopade
applies her research findings at clinics in Chicago and West Africa.

Also serving on the committee is Susan Shinagawa, widely recognized as the nation’s leading Asian American cancer and chronic pain advocate and activist. She describes herself as a “breast cancer thriver” after two diagnoses and one recurrence. She also served on the CBCRP’s first advisory council and was the council’s second chair. Says Dr. Kavanaugh-Lynch, “Susan was part of the brains behind our Community Research Collaboration awards,” another CBCRP research effort that broke new ground. She is also the co-founder of the Intercultural Cancer Council, a national organization committed to eliminating the unequal burden of breast cancer.

Research aimed at uncovering the reasons why some groups bear an unequal burden of breast cancer has lagged behind such research into other diseases. David R. Williams, Ph.D., is an expert in research into how racial discrimination affects heart disease and other health conditions. “The CBCRP is fortunate to be able to include him on the Special Research Initiatives steering committee,” says Dr. Kavanaugh- Lynch. “He will bring an outside perspective to help speed progress
against breast cancer analogous to progress that has been made against other diseases, where he has been a leader.” Dr. Williams is based at the University of Michigan, where he is a Senior Associate Research Scientist at the Survey Research Center, and an Associate Professor of Sociology.

The reasons why some groups of women are more likely to get breast cancer or die from the disease are intertwined with the effects of environment and lifestyle on breast cancer. Our Special Research Initiatives steering committee includes two leaders in the field of the environment-breast cancer connection.

Julia G. Brody, Ph.D., is the executive director of the Silent Spring Institute in Newton, Massachusetts. Dr. Brody is the principal investigator of an awardwinning
study to determine whether chemicals that pollute air and water and which are also found in pesticides, detergents, plastics, and cosmetics cause breast cancer. “She is one of the world’s experts on breast cancer and the environment, and she’s doing cutting- edge research,” says Dr. Kavanaugh- Lynch. Dr. Brody’s ongoing Cape Cod Breast Cancer and Environmental Study includes 2,100 women and is now in its tenth year.

Author Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., wrote Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment, which presents cancer as a human rights issue. The book was the first to combine data on toxic releases with data from U.S. cancer registries. It garnered widespread praise from international media. “She is a biologist by training and her science background makes her incredibly well-informed,” says Dr. Kavanaugh-Lynch. “She’s also an environmental activist with a national reputation.” Dr. Steingraber’s new book, Living on Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood, reveals the alarming extent to which environmental
hazards now threaten each crucial stage of infant development.

Dr. Kavanaugh-Lynch will also serve on the steering committee, which is drawn mostly from outside California to prevent conflicts of interest. The committee is now beginning to determine how best to leverage Special Research Initiative funds to make the biggest impact on breast cancer. This will be no easy task, because the questions we have chosen to investigate are difficult to research.

One goal for the steering committee is to devise research strategies based on a new funding approach, because the current research funding model—providing
funds for research into questions developed by the investigators themselves— has not led rapidly enough to progress. Another goal is the development of new research strategies that could be implemented not only by the CBCRP, but also by other California organizations. Our vision is to catalyze a coordinated statewide effort to explore innovative ideas and new theories; leverage California’s unique and diverse geographic, population, and research resources; and undertake critical studies that significantly move breast cancer research forward. We want to fund research that answers scientific questions, and that also points to real-world
solutions that will lessen the suffering from breast cancer.

“ The Special Research Initiative steering committee members are all innovators with creative minds. Every member is as excited about being part of the path-breaking work the CBCRP is doing as we are about their being part of this effort,” says Dr. Kavanaugh- Lynch.

The planning process for the Special Research Initiative includes opportunities for the public to give input through a series of statewide public meetings. More information is available in the Special Research Initiatives Strategy Plan at the CBCRP website (www. CABreastCancer.org).