A Message from the Director
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Welcome to the California Breast Cancer Research Program’s 2004 Annual Report, marking our tenth anniversary year. This report is part of our wide-ranging efforts to make our research available to the public. On these pages, you will find brief summaries of the studies we funded during 2003, along with summaries of studies we funded in previous years that were completed or made progress during 2003. We are one of the few research programs in the world to publish annual reports of studies while they are in progress.
During 2003, we awarded $11,571,451 for 50 single- and multiple-year research projects and 3 supplement awards at 25 California institutions. Since 1995, we’ve provided a total of $142,330,413 in research funds.
The need is urgent. Breast cancer is the biggest threat to the lives of our state’s young and middle-aged women. More than 200,000 California women are living with the disease. While some women face a higher than average risk, no woman is free from risk. And every woman who has had breast cancer knows it can return at any time.
However, adequate support for breast cancer research in California is uncertain. Our main source of revenue, a state tax on tobacco products, is steadily declining, because fewer people are using tobacco. This means that every year the amount of research the CBCRP can fund will go down, unless we replace that lost revenue.
That makes our Community Partners Program, now in its second year, all the more important. Through this program, Californians can make financial contributions to support our revolutionary breast cancer research. “Community Support for Breast Cancer Research,” tells about how Californians are coming together to help end breast cancer. In this tenth anniversary year, the CBCRP is celebrating a decade of progress.
We have become the fourth largest funder of breast cancer in the world. As we look ahead, we confront a great challenge: to make sure the coming decade brings progress against this disease—more, faster, and better. The purpose of all our investment in research is to eliminate breast cancer from the lives of women who are suffering and dying from it now—and from the lives of all women.
Marion H.E. Kavanaugh-Lynch, M.D., M.P.H.
Director, California Breast Cancer Research Program
Thanks, California taxpayers!Every year, thousands of Californians participate in Check It Out! Check It Off!, the public education campaign that encourages voluntary donations on Franchise Tax Board Form 540. Donations fund grants to California scientists and community researchers who are searching for more effective ways to prevent, treat, and cure breast cancer. Last year, 58,570 taxpayers donated $646,664 on their state income taxes. Thanks, California taxpayers! |
