Special Research Initiatives

 

Focus on Environment, Disparities, and Primary Prevention

In 2004, the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) launched its Special Research Initiatives (SRI). The CBCRP’s Breast Cancer Research Council devoted 30 percent and then 50 percent of CBCRP research funds to support coordinated, directed, and collaborative research on:

  1. The identification and elimination of environmental causes of breast cancer, and
  2. The identification and elimination of disparities/inequities in the burden of breast cancer in California. In March 2010, the council decided to build on the existing SRI by devoting 50 percent of CBCRP research funds for the next five years. The focus was expanded to include:
  3. Population-level interventions (including policy research) on known and suspected risk factors and protective measures; and
  4. Targeted interventions for high-risk individuals including new methods for identifying or assessing risk.

Developing the SRI Research Agenda

The CBCRP is collaborating with Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH, and her team at the University of California, San Francisco, Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) in this new phase of the SRI.

Steering Committee

Marion H. E. Kavanaugh-Lynch, MD, MPH
Co-Chair

Director, California Breast Cancer Research Program
Office of the President, University of California

Tracey J. Woodruff, PhD, MPH
Principal Investigator/Co-Chair

Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences and Director, Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment; Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco

Julia G. Brody,  PhD

Executive Director, Silent Spring Institute

Margaret L. Kripke, MD

Professor of Immunology and Chair Emerita
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Jeanne Rizzo, RN

President and CEO, Breast Cancer Fund

Saraswati Sukumar, PhD

Professor of Oncology and Professor of Pathology
Co-Director, Breast Cancer Program
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
Johns Hopkins University

Engelberta (Beti) Thompson, PhD

Full Member and Associate Program Head
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

David R. Williams, PhD

Florence and Laura Norman Professor of Public Health and Professor of African and African American Studies
Harvard University

Marc Hurlbert, PhD
Ex-Officio Member

Executive Director, Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade

Chandini Portteus, MPH(c)
Ex-Officio Member

Vice President, Research, Evaluation and Scientific Programs
Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Medical & Scientific Affairs

Strategy Development Plan
The Steering Committee has finalized a Strategy Development Plan, detailing the process for the next four years of the SRI, and to lay the groundwork to expand the SRI research funding.  This plan has been approved by the California Breast Cancer Research Program.

Click here to view it.

Science Review

The first review of science in the new phase of the SRI will be conducted on the projects funded in the initial phase of the SRI to explore the process, study questions, lessons learned, and recommendations for future research from the PIs and others.

Input from Advocates, Community Members, and Scientists

Stakeholder involvement is a key component of the SRI, as in all of the CBCRP.  In addition to representation by advocates on the SRI leadership and advisory bodies, interested people will be engaged through several mechanisms, including ongoing solicitation of input through our websites, interactive webinars, and at our CBCRP Symposium. If you missed the first webinar, you can view online.

We would like to hear from you! If you aren’t already on it, please sign up for the CBCRP e-newsletter to receive updates and opportunities to share your thoughts about new research. Just send us an email with your name and address, and put "mailing list" in the subject line.

We will send you periodic updates and links to get your input on SRI research directions.

Policy Research Initiatives

The CBCRP has also begun a Policy Research Initiatives (PRI) to fund public and private health policy research on issues related to prevention, detection, and treatment of breast cancer as well as research into the formulation of policy alternatives that would reduce disparities in the incidence, morbidity, and mortality of breast cancer.

SRI Funding Opportunities

While other CBCRP award types are released annually, SRI Calls for Application and grants are not routinely scheduled. As of June 2011, all of the first round of disparities and environmental initiatives will have been funded.

In 2012, a new round of intermittent SRI Calls for Applications will begin. The first opportunities will pursue successes and intriguing funding topics arising from the previous strategies and new research on address disparities and the environment. These will be followed by new efforts to research interventions for primary prevention at individual and population levels.

SRI funding will continue at least through 2015. All funding announcements will be sent to everyone on the CBCRP mailing list. To join our email list, please send us an email with your name and address, and put "mailing list" in the subject line.

SRI Research Underway

In March 2008, the CBCRP Advisory Council reviewed the recommendations of the SRI Steering Committee and decided to pursue program-directed research areas. As of August 2011, 27 grants totaling about $22 million have been awarded to address the environmental causes of breast cancer and the unequal burden of the disease, and to move the SRI research agenda forward.

To read more about a particular grant, click on the grant title.

More Information

For our latest press releases and other announcements, please check our Media Center. For more information about the SRI, please contact Catherine Thomsen at 888.313.2277 or email SRI@CABreastCancer.org.