From the Director's Desk
Our Year in Review
This summer the CBCRP received a $500,000 check from The Avon Foundation to support three of our Special Research Initiatives, specifically two studies examining long-term environmental exposures and breast cancer in large, diverse population groups, and a third study that combines data from multiple studies to look for answers to breast cancer disparities questions. We also obtained funding from the California Community Foundation to support a new study that explores emerging concerns about whether grapefruit presents increased breast cancer risk for post-menopausal women. I am tremendously grateful for the support of these outstanding organizations, as well as the support that we’ve received from individual donors, tax check-off contributors, and members of our volunteer task force.
I see these demonstrations of support as validation of the California Breast Cancer Research Program’s research and funding directions. Environmental and chemicals exposures; disparities of incidence and mortality among different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups; and controllable risks for breast cancer are urgent, highly complex issues that require equally complex and determined measures to resolve them. The leadership of the California Breast Cancer Research Program—representatives from advocacy, research, medical specialists, healthcare providers, industry, and nonprofit organizations—bring their expertise and dedication to drive the Program’s focus towards the greatest impact.
Despite the modest size of our Program— we are the largest state-funded breast cancer research program, with a budget that is less than two percent the size of the National Institutes of Health’s estimated 2008 allocation for breast cancer research (http://www.nih.gov/news/fundingresearchareas.htm)—our focus, agility, and commitment to high scientific integrity has brought the California Breast Cancer Research Program a strong national and international reputation. Leveraging support from other organizations expands our capacity to ensure that breast cancer issues are examined and considered beyond our state’s boundaries.
And as always, I am grateful for the support, because it is needed. Our primary funding source, the state tax on cigarette sales, continues to wither. Our funding success rate this year was 21%, which is comparable to estimates from the NIH, although with our limited resources, we are forced to focus tightly on a narrower research scope. As compensation, however, our size also allows us greater flexibility in responding to new issues and in leading change. We’re hitting the nerve of the issues having greatest impact on people’s lives, and in a time of economic uncertainty, we are not losing sight of our fundamental goals.
The California Breast Cancer Research Program is not content to sit idly by and wait for success through providence. By supporting the emerging ideas of investigator-initiated research, funding research into the specific concerns brought forth by community organizations, and earmarking research funds to study broader, multi-disciplinary questions, we are actively pursuing a multipronged approach to eliminating the impact of breast cancer and delivering those solutions to Californians as quickly as possible. I continue to pursue opportunities to leverage our resources into both our Special Research initiatives and our investigator- initiated and community-initiated research projects, and I thank all of our supporters and stakeholders for their continued support, feedback, and involvement.
Marion H. E. Kavanaugh-Lynch, M.D., M.P.H.,
Director of the CBCRP
