Strategic Objectives in Research Support

“Provide for systematic disseminaand tion of research results to the public and the health care community in order that these findings may be applied to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of breast cancer-related programs.”

“Develop policies and procedures to facilitate the translation of research results into commercial, alternate technological, and other applications.”

“Development of appropriate linkages to nonacademic entities, including voluntary organizations, health care delivery systems, industry, government agencies, research entrepreneurs, and public officials.”

The CBCRP is committted to disseminating the results medical communities (to facilitate the advancement of the understanding of breast cancer and its treatment among all involved) and to the public (as stakeholders in the Program). To this end, funded research is widely publicized in a variety of ways:

Researchers also publish final results in peer reviewed scientficjournals and present them at scientific conferences; these publications and presentations are tracked by CBCRP. The 1997 California Breast Cancer Research Symposium served to disseminate results in a more interactive and visible fashion. A Council Committee, formed in 1997, is examining other means to achieve this aim.

California Breast Cancer Research Symposium

CBCRP held its first Symposium in September, 1997, bringing together individuals with a wide variety of backgrounds, but a common interest in determining the cause of, and cure for, breast cancer. This symposium was distinct from most other scientific symposiums in that it had a strong attendance by breast cancer advocates and the community at large.

The content and the composition of the symposium reflected the goals of CBCRP. Over half of the more than 700 attendees characterized themselves as lay people. The activities available to the participants included: listening to keynote speakers, both advocate (Bella Abzug) and scientist (Mina Bissel); viewing artwork by and about people with breast cancer; visiting exhibits by non-profit breast cancer organizations; attending informational seminars about how to be funded to do breast cancer research; and attending talks and posters given by investigators who were funded by CBCRP.

In 1998, the Council voted to make the California Breast Cancer Research Symposium a biennial event, and to hold smaller meetings around the state as the opportunity arises in the intervening years. The next California Breast Cancer Research Symposium is now being planned for September, 1999. Meanwhile, CBCRP held a regional event in September, 1998—a collaborative endeavor between the University of Southern California and CBCRP. The event combined a legislative breakfast with a half-day presentation on current breast cancer research, geared towards the lay public. The event offered the opportunity to learn about breast cancer research from scientists who are pushing the field forward. Some of the research discussed was already making an impact on how researchers and health care providers view cancer, while others provided glimpses of advances to come.

Four speakers described different fields of breast cancer research that could produce breakthroughs in explaining or curing breast cancer. Seven more investigators presented their research in poster form. Often emerging research fields seem invisible to the public. The Frontiers in Breast Cancer Research Symposium was a first step in bringing them out into the open.

Translation of Research Results into Practical Applications

A goal of the CBCRP is to encourage the translation of research findings into practical applications that will make a difference to those at risk for, or diagnosed with, breast cancer. Facilitating this process is one of the charges of the Council. One strategy to achieve this goal has been outreach to California biotechnology researchers to encourage applications from those most involved in translational efforts.

In 1997, CBCRP launched a new award type (the Translational Research Collaboration Award, or TRC Award) to specifically solicit research proposals for translational research that arises from partnerships of research scientists from different fields and/or institutions (especially encouraging collaborations between academic and industry-based biotechnology researchers). This award type, expanded in 1998, is helping to spread CBCRP's principle of translation and collaboration throughout the research community in the state and is resulting in teams across the state who are poised to take research results and use them to develop products, treatments, and services.

Collaboration with Communities

Close collaboration with organizations and individuals involved in breast cancer issues is a guiding principle of the CBCRP. Breast cancer activists participate in all levels of Program activities and decision-making, illustrated in the “Influence Pyramid.” Some of this inclusion was built into the Program with the enabling legislation (such as the composition of the Advisory Council).

Through active collaboration between breast cancer advocates and the Program administrators, we have made this relationship and inclusion much broader.

At the base of the Influence Pyramid are the people of California, the ultimate recipients of any benefits the Program produces. Efforts to reach these people with the research results funded by the Program fall into two major activities—dissemination and discussion of research results, and translation of research results into services that reach women, both described above.

Active participation of activists in generating ideas and advising the Program on its strategies to make a difference in breast cancer is the second step in the pyramid. The current CBCRP Research Priority Issues were developed from recommendations made at the 1996 Public Advisory Meeting. At that meeting, CBCRP brought together activists, advocates, survivors, health care providers, health educators, biotechnology industry scientists and academic scientists, who worked together to develop and prioritize the issues they thought most critical to breast cancer research.

At the next level of influence is the review of scientific proposals. Activists have always brought their perspective to assessing the innovativeness, potential impact, significance, and feasibility of individual research proposals submitted to the Program. Breast cancer advocates review every proposal submitted for funding, and serve as full voting members of the peer review panels.

Another area in which we have advanced the inclusion of advocates is in actual research. The Community Research Collaboration Award, developed in 1997, requires a partnership between community members (such as a breast cancer advocacy organization) and research scientists. The partnership works together to identify the research question, develop the research plan, carry out the research, interpret the results and disseminate to the community. The result is mutual learning and research that is important to both scientists and communities. This award type, expanded in 1998, is helping to spread CBCRP's principle of community involvement and collaboration throughout the research community and is resulting in investigations in areas of research identified by, and important to, communities across the state.

The voices of breast cancer survivors are carried into all major Program decisions by involvement of advocates on the Advisory Council—the body that determines the Program's strategies and funding priorities. With a full one-third of the members being breast cancer activists, a diverse range of activist opinions are heard and brought to bear on all decisions. Finally, the Advisory Council has chosen to ensure that breast cancer survivors are not only seated at the table, but share the leadership of the Council. In all of its five years, the Chair or Vice Chair of the Council has been a breast cancer advocate.

These efforts establish effective dialogue with groups and individuals involved in breast cancer issues. They assure wide dissemination of research results, funding priorities that are important to those most affected by breast cancer, and funded projects that respond to these priorities.