The Breast Cancer Research Council
The overall objectives, strategies and priorities of CBCRP are set by the Breast Cancer Research Council, which actively participates in overseeing the program and making final recommendations on the research projects to be funded. In each Grant Cycle, CBCRP awards grants based on the Council's recommendations, which are based on peer reviewers' evaluations, Council members' assessment of responsiveness to program priorities, and available funds.
The Council currently consists of 16 members: five representatives of breast cancer survivor/advocacy groups; five scientists/clinicians; two members from non-profit health organizations, one practicing breast cancer medical specialist, two members from private industry, and one ex officio member from the DHS Breast Cancer Early Detection Program.
Council members are appointed by the University, drawn from nominations submitted by Council and the community.
Chair
Robert Erwin
Mr. Erwin (Industry Representative), is a founder and serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Biosource Technologies, Inc., founded in 1987. As a co-founder of Sungene Technologies Corporation, he served as Vice President of Research and Product Development from 1981 through 1986. Mr. Erwin has served on the Biotechnology Industry Advisory Board for Iowa State University and the Executive Committee of the California Tissue Culture Association. He is currently a Director of the Independent Institute, the Marti Nelson Cancer Research Foundation and Large Scale Biology Corporation. Mr. Erwin's biotechnology experience includes research in molecular biology at Abbott Laboratories and at the University of Alabama Medical School. He received his M.S. degree in genetics from Louisiana State University.
Vice Chair
Suzette Wright, M.S.P.H. (deceased)
Suzette Wright, M.S.P.H., is a five year survivor and advocate of breast cancer. As a member and current president of Save Ourselves/Y-ME Breast Cancer Organization in Sacramento, she was active in lobbying and testifying for the Breast Cancer Act of 1993. Suzette balances her advocacy work with teaching mathematics at the Learning Skills Center at UC Davis and spending time with her family. She strongly hopes that her twenty-one year old daughter will never personally experience breast cancer.
Advocates
Barbara Brenner
Ms. Brenner was 41 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She quickly learned how little was known about breast cancer, and how much misinformation was being given to the public about the disease. She joined the board of Breast Cancer Action in September 1994 and became the organization's Executive Director a year later. Breast Cancer Action is a San Francisco-based national grassroots organization that carries the voices of people affected by breast cancer to compel and inspire the changes necessary to end the breast cancer epidemic. As Executive Director, Ms. Brenner is responsible for implementation of the organization's programs designed to dispel the myths about breast cancer, to inform the public about the realities of the disease, and to encourage more people to do something—besides worry—about the breast cancer epidemic. She represents Breast Cancer Action on committees addressing a wide-range of breast cancer issues, writes for Breast Cancer Action's widely-acclaimed bi-monthly newsletter, and is a frequent public spokesperson on issues ranging from detection to treatment to prevention.
Vicki Boriack
Vicki Boriack is a long-time resident of Santa Cruz, California, a 16 year veteran of the outdoor industry and an avid mountaineer, kayaker, and backpacker. Vicki was 39 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 1993. In February of 1995, Vicki climbed Mt. Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, as a member of Expedition Inspiration. The Expedition, comprised of 17 breast cancer survivors, was created to raise 2.3 million dollars for breast cancer research and to raise awareness of the disease. Vicki has since switched careers, and is now working for Community Health Partnership in San Jose as the manager of the Women's Health Partnership program which helps medically underserved women gain access to health care and education. She is a graduate of the Project LEAD training course sponsored by the NBCC, and has participated as an advocate observer during the CBCRP Cycle V grant review process.
Floretta Chisom
Floretta Chisom brings her many years of experience in committee work and team building to the BCRC. She is recently retired from her position as the Director of Health and Human Services in Oakland, CA. She also serves on a variety of health and social service committees such as the Healthy Start Advisory Board; the City of Oakland Commission on Homelessness; the City of Oakland Health Commission; the Community Action Agency Advisory Board; and the Ann Martin Children's Center. She became active in the fight against breast cancer as a member of the Breast Cancer Fund Board. The welfare of her daughter provides Ms. Chisom with her strong motivation for eradicating breast cancer.
Akua Jitahadi
Akua Jitahadi is a longtime community activist who has organized around such issues as homelessness, human rights and women imprisonment. She is a co-founder of Black Women for Wellness, a community based organization which focuses on health issues impacting black women. Ms. Jitahadi coordinates the organization's “Keep in Touch...Do BSEs,” an outreach and education program. She is also a member of the Los Angeles County Partnered for Progress African American Breast Cancer Taskforce.
Arlyne Draper
Breast cancer has been a part of Arlyne and her family's lives for the past 20 years. Arlyne Draper has survived two breast cancers and, for the past five years, has dedicated herself to fighting this disease by promoting education, increasing awareness, and encouraging others to speak up and demand attention. She is founder of the Women's Cancer Task Force (WCTF), a grassroots organization and a chapter of Y-ME, which works for changes in breast cancer education, research, diagnosis and treatment. She also co-founded the California Breast Cancer Organizations (CABCO) where she serves as president and representative to the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) working board. She has participated in numerous breast cancer conferences and committees at the state and federal levels.
Michele Rakoff
Michele Rakoff is a breast cancer survivor and advocate. She is a Board Member of the Los Angeles Breast Cancer Alliance (LABCA) and the California Breast Cancer Organization (CABCO). Ms. Rakoff has participated in the Department of Defense (DOD) Breast Cancer Research Program and the California Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) grant review process as a consumer advocate. She continues to work for the passage of legislation to increase research funding and to ensure access of care for all women. dedicated to patient care and psychosocial programs, she is the Director of Breast Friends, a peer support mentoring program, at Long Beach Memorial Breast Center.
Ex-Officio Members
Liana Lianov, M.D., M.P.H.
Liana Lianov, M.D., M.P.H. is currently medical advisor to the Cancer Detection Section at the California Department of Health Services. Over the past seven years, she has developed and implemented the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program, which is federally funded, and the Breast Cancer Early Detection Program, which is funded by 50% of the tobacco tax raised by the Breast Cancer Act. These programs offer screening, diagnostic and educational services to low income women. Dr. Lianov is a physician board certified in both Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine and Public Health and was trained at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona and Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. She received her Masters Degree in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley in 1990 and her medical degree from the University of Nevada in 1985.
Jacquolyn Duerr, M.P.H.
Jacquolyn Duerr, M.P.H. is Chief of the Breast Cancer Early Detection Program in the Cancer Control Branch of the California Department of Health Services. In this position, she is responsible for the design and development of a statewide program for the expansion of breast cancer screening services to low-income, underserved, older women. She has overseen the creation of local partnerships comprised of providers and consumers to create a network for case management, and to monitor and improve the quality of these services. She has extensive training and experience in community health education and outreach.
Industry Representatives
Teresa L. Burgess, Ph.D.
Teresa L. Burgess, Ph.D. earned her BA in Biochemistry with highest honors from the University of California, Berkeley after receiving a solid educational foundation from CA public schools, including Diablo Valley Community College. Following a move across the SF bay, she received her Ph.D. for original research on peptide hormone secretion from U.C. San Francisco. As a Helen Hay Whitney Fellow, Dr. Burgess continued to investigate the basic cellular mechanisms of membrane trafficking at U.C. Santa Barbara. In 1992 she accepted a position as Research Scientist at the successful biotechnology company, Amgen Inc., where she has continued both basic and applied cell biological research. Her investigations have led to numerous peer reviewed research publications relevant to diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's and most recently osteoporosis and other metabolic bone diseases. Dr. Burgess brings to the Council not only her scientific expertise, but also an enthusiastic desire to contribute to a healthier future for all women.
Kevin Scanlon, Ph.D.
Kevin Scanlon, Ph.D. is Vice President and Head of the Cancer Research Department of Berlex Biosciences in Richmond, CA. Dr. Scanlon did his post-graduate work at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of London in the United Kingdom. He was a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Pharmacology at Yale University, School of Medicine and a scholar in the Leukemia Society of America. Dr. Scanlon was awarded the 1988 Paul Martini Internal Medical Research Prize in Germany. He has published over 85 papers on Cancer Research and currently serves as co-editor for Cancer Gene Therapy, and the Internet Book of Gene Therapy. His extensive experience as a member in the National Institutes of Health, Cancer Study Section provides the council with insight into the traditional review process.
Medical Specialists
Bobbie Head, M.D., Ph.D.
Bobbie Head, M.D., Ph.D., specializes in caring for women with breast cancer in her private practice in Marin County, California, providing education and information to women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her practice caters to the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of women and provides access to complementary care modalities to assist women with making informed decisions about treatment options. Dr. Head chairs the Breast Health Committee at Marin General Hospital and the California Healthcare Systems Science Committee, which evaluates new trials for 3 Bay Area Hospitals, and is Medical Director of Hospice of Marin. She is active in clinical research and teaching and participates in national and pharmaceutical company trials that utilize new cancer therapies.
Non Profit Health Organizations
Judith Luce, M.D.
Judith Luce, M.D. has demonstrated her dedication to the fight against breast cancer in her volunteer and her professional work. She has been an active member of American Cancer Society for over 15 years. She has served as president of the San Francisco Unit of the ACS, as well as both member and Chairperson of the California Division Breast Health Task Force. Dr. Luce is a faculty member at UCSF and the director of Oncology Services at San Francisco General Hospital. She is also the principal investigator on several clinical trials including a study on breast and cervical cancer intervention, and a multi-center breast cancer prevention trial. Her proudest achievement of her volunteer/research life has been her work with others in the Department of Public Health to offer breast and cervical cancer screening to underserved women in San Francisco. “We started this work in 1988, and today have highly successful programs in BCCCP (we were one of the first in the state) and BCEDP, as well as a new program to do targeted outreach to every woman in our patient population who has not been screened. We have worked with a variety of others to accomplish this, and I am certain that we are seeing the results of these efforts in better health for women in our city.”
Felicia Schanche Hodge, Dr.P.H.
Felicia Schanche Hodge, Dr.P.H., is the founder and director of the Center for American Indian Research and Education (CAIRE). Dr. Hodge, a Wailaki Indian from Northern California, has been the recipient of several R01 research awards from the NCI and the NINR. Her research is in the area of cancer prevention and control, as well as behavioral modification. Dr. Hodge is currently the Director of Research at the California Rural Indian Health Board (CRIHB) an advocacy agency representing California Indians, and is an adjunct Professor at UCSF.
Holly Mitchell
Holly Mitchell is past Executive Director of the California Black Women's Health Project (CBWHP), a women's health advocacy organization that is committed to improving the health of Black women in California. She has recently taken a new position as Legislative Advocate at Western Center of Law and Poverty. She has been actively involved in public policy and service through her former positions as a graduate fellow in the Coro Foundaton; a senior consultant to the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services for State Senator Diane Watson; and as a project director for the California Women's Health Project, a program of the California Elected Women's Association for Education and Research (CEWAER). A local activist and staunch supporter of women's rights, Ms. Mitchell volunteers with numerous community-based organizations and serves on several boards of directors including: Planned Parenthood of Sacramento Valley; The Center for Community Health and Well Being (home of the nationally recognized Birthing Project); Save Ourselves, a breast cancer advocacy, education and peer support organization; and the Dangerfield Institute, a foster care
Scientist/Clinicians
Shelley Adler, Ph.D.
Shelley Adler, Ph.D. is a medical anthropologist specializing in sociocultural gerontology at the University of California, San Francisco. Some of her current research includes “Women's Breast Cancer Treatment Choices by Cohort and Ethnicity;” “Older Women's Interactions with Their Physicians Regarding Breast Cancer;” and “Alternative Breast Cancer Treatments.” She is a member of the American Anthropological Association, the Society for Medical Anthropology and the American Society on Aging.
Susan Blalock, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Susan Blalock, Ph.D., M.P.H. is an Associate Professor in the School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at the University of the Pacific. Dr. Blalock is a behavioral scientist with expertise in health behavior and health education. She holds graduate degrees from the Schools of Public Health at the University of Michigan (MPH) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Ph.D.). Dr. Blalock has served as a principal investigator on numerous studies investigating behavioral factors associated with illness prevention and disease management. Her current interests include quality of care issues, including economic and ethical issues that influence the delivery of health care services in the United States.
Hoda Anton-Culver, Ph.D.
Hoda Anton-Culver, Ph.D. is Professor and Chief of the Epidemiology Division in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. She received her baccalaureate degree in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Alexandria in Egypt in 1964 followed by a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and Biochemistry at St. Andrews University, Scotland in 1968. Following her doctoral degree, she began her academic career as a Lecturer at McGill University Medical School, Canada. From 1971 to 1978, she joined Dr. Henry Lynch as an Assistant and then as Associate Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at Creighton University School of Medicine, Nebraska. Since 1978, she has been at the University of California, Irvine as an Associate Professor and then as Professor and Chief of the Epidemiology Division in the Department of Medicine. She also holds a joint appointment with the School of Social Ecology at UC Irvine, and an adjunct appointment with the San Diego State University Graduate School of Public Health.
Mary Ann Jordan, Ph.D.
Mary Ann Jordan, Ph.D., earned her BA in mathematics, magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota, and her Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of Rochester, Rochester NY. At the University of Rochester she was an NSF and NIH graduate fellow. She has taught and conducted research at Washington University, University of Michigan, and Utah State University. For the last 20 years, as a researcher and professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Jordan has focused on the mechanisms of anti-mitotic, anti-cancer drugs including vinblastine, taxol, and novel drugs such as the cryptophycins and dolastatins in binding to microtubules, suppressing microtubule dynamics, and the completion of mitosis and cell proliferation. She is interested in control of growth and proliferation of cancer cells and overcoming the development of resistance to anti-tumor drugs.
Susan M. Love, M.D.
Susan M. Love, M.D. is an author, teacher, surgeon, researcher and activist. She is an Adjunct Professor of Surgery at UCLA and former Director of the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center. She is one of the co-founders of the National Breast Cancer Coalition and serves on their Board of Directors. She also serves as a co-chair of the Biological Resources Task Force of the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer. She is the author of many books and articles including an Atlas of Techniques in Breast Surgery and Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book (second edition June 1995), which has been termed the ‘bible’ for women with breast cancer. Her second book, Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book: Making Informed Choices about Menopause, was published by Random House in February of 1997.
Maria Pellegrini, Ph.D.
Maria Pellegrini, Ph.D., is currently Dean of Research in the College of Letters Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Dr. Pellegrini's research interests have included studies of the structure-function relationships within proteins and the regulation of gene expression. She is the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship and a Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar Award and has received several research and training grants from the National Institutes of Health. Since 1977, Dr. Pellegrini has been Professor of Biological Sciences at USC. Dr. Pellegrini has served on a number of National Institutes of Health grant review panels, including a current assignment on the NIH Training Grant Study Section. She is a breast cancer survivor and a co-founder of Reprogen, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing new products relating to women's reproductive health.
Tammy O. Tengs, Sc.D.
Tammy O. Tengs, Sc.D., is the Director of the Health Priorities Research Group and an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine. Previously she was a member of the research faculty in the Center for Health Policy Research and Education at Duke University. She completed her doctorate in Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health in 1994. Before coming to Harvard, she earned a master's degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and studied in the Engineering-Economic Systems Department at Stanford. Dr. Tengs directed the 1990- 94 Lifesaving Priorities Project at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, supervising a team of 20 that amassed cost-effectiveness data for hundreds of public health and medical interventions. She is the principal author of the papers “Five-hundred life-saving interventions and their costeffectiveness” and “The opportunity costs of haphazard societal investments in life saving.” Following considerable media coverage, she has received approximately 1500 requests for these publications. Dr. Tengs is a “decision scientist.” Broadly, her research interests include the economic efficiency of societal investments in health and science. With $2.7 million in grants, she is collecting information on the cost-effectiveness different interventions aimed at cancer and developing a computer simulation model to predict the long-term economic and public health consequences of any change in federal tobacco policy.
Anne Wallace, M.D.
Anne Wallace, M.D., has substantial experience with breast cancer patients, basic research, and clinical research. She is a Surgeon at the University of California, San Diego whose practice consists primarily of breast cancer patients. Dr. Wallace has experience in research at many levels. She heads the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) for UCSD, a large scale clinical study that has increased in efficiency and in the patient participation under her direction. She is a member of the UCSD Cancer Center Protocol Review Committee, which is a body that evaluates the protocols for grant applications from the entire Cancer Center. She also collaborates on research projects that investigate the basic biology of breast cancer. She has a profound interest in funding forward thinking research that is maximally beneficial to breast cancer patients.
