What They're Saying About the CBCRP

Fabulous

“People who lead are those who say, ‘There’s got to be a better way,’ and then they find a way to make it happen. And that’s what the California Breast Cancer Research Program is all about. Texas doesn’t have anything like this. I think it’s fabulous, and it gives me something to work toward in our state.”

Sarah Weddington, J.D.
Litigator, Roe vs. Wade case
Former Special Assistant to the President of the United States
Author, A Question of Choice
Recent breast cancer survivor
Austin, Texas

Incredible

“ This is an incredible program. Every research program should make it as clear to the public how they spend their money as this one does.”

Ana Teresa Garcia
Eleven-year survivor of metastatic breast cancer
Team Leader, National Breast Cancer Coalition
Hawi, Hawaii

Opening the Door

“ What I like most about the California Breast Cancer Research Program is that they encourage researchers to apply in areas that have been difficult to research. The CBCRP is opening the door to a research area about which we know very little—advanced breast cancer and why women from some ethnic and socioeconomic groups die disproportionately. I have a lot of admiration for the thoughtful way in which this program is administered.”

Musa Mayer
Survivor and Patient Advocate
Author, After Breast Cancer: Answers to the Questions You’re Afraid to Ask
New York, New York

Visionary

“ In California, you have taken a visionary approach to the funding of breast cancer research, and I applaud you for that.”

Julia Brody, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Silent Spring Institute
Newton, Massachusetts

No Better Place

“ The CBCRP is almost too good to be true. It is wisely and efficiently administered by an amazing team of grant administrators whose depth of knowledge and interpersonal skills elicit the very best from applicants. The CBCRP casts a wide net to fund both established and new investigators in both academic and community settings. As opposed to most other funding agencies, there is an open-mindedness and helpfulness which leaves applicants feeling that their proposals are given the best chance to receive an excellent scientific review and the best chance of funding. This is not just ‘nice’. The effect is that creative ideas surface, ideas that would not have a chance with the more traditional agencies, and ideas which hold the hope of finding an innovative way to reduce the impact of this disease. The best and brightest of the new investigators in particular are encouraged to build a career around the quest to eliminate breast cancer. There is no better place for a donation of money for breast cancer research, and there is no other organization that can stretch a dollar as well toward programs supported by academic researchers and advocates alike.”

Ellen Mahoney, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Breast Surgeon, Activist
Arcata, California and Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery
Stanford University
Stanford, California

I Love the Blend

“ I love the blend of researchers with advocates at the California Breast Cancer
Research Program’s Symposium. I love that it lasts three days so we can interact, reflect on what people said, and later discuss our ideas and hunches.”

Karen Folger Jacobs, Ph.D.
Filmmaker, Breast Cancerland
Breast cancer survivor
Berkeley, California

An Effective Model

“ Perhaps no other program has so effectively modeled bringing the university into contact with the people who count, that is, the patients and their families.”

Cornelius Hopper, M.D.
Vice President for Health Affairs, Emeritus
University of California
Oakland, California

Forward Looking, Collaborative, Uniquely Situated

“ The CBCRP is unique in three ways: First, it is forward looking. This is a time when most funding agencies are saying, ‘Why? Why should we fund this?’ Instead, the CBCRP says ‘Why not? Why not fund innovative work?’ Second, it is collaborative, the only funding agency that truly rewards and promotes active research that includes community based advocacy groups and leading scientists in basic sciences and epidemiology. Third, it is uniquely situated. California is a state where all of the basic problems in breast cancer research converge: disparities in access to health care, racial and geographic inequalities, exposure to a variety urban and agricultural environmental chemicals, and a huge population base with which to work. The CBCRP is a paradigm of how breast cancer research should be conducted: if anyone can make it work, the CBCRP can.

Robert C. Millikan, M.P.H., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
School of Public Health
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina