Special Research Initiatives
Focus on Environment and Disparities
In 2004, the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) launched its Special Research Initiatives (SRI). This $23 million effort has identified and is pursuing research strategies that increase knowledge about and create solutions to both the environmental causes of breast cancer and the unequal burden of the disease. The SRI is leveraging California's unique and diverse geographic, population, and research resources to support critical studies that significantly move these fields forward.
SRI Funding Strategy Announced: Research Selected
In March 2008, the CBCRP Advisory Council reviewed the recommendations of the SRI Steering Committee and decided to pursue the following research:
- Disparities: Combine studies to explore racial and ethnic differences in breast cancer survival; identify demographic measures that will improve understanding of disparities in breast cancer; and study the characteristics of immigration that influence breast cancer risk and overall survival.
- Environment: Develop recommendations for chemical policies that consider breast cancer; create new protocols and methods for chemical testing; and investigate environmental causes of breast cancer across three generations.
- Both Environment and Disparities: Create statistical models that could provide a new approach to understanding and studying the multiple, interacting factors that impact breast cancer; and develop a complexity-theory model of breast cancer causation.
More information about this research and details about applying for research funds will be coming soon. If you are not already on our mailing list and would like to receive SRI funding announcements, please email SRI@CABreastCancer.org.
Reports
Go to our reports page for the latest draft of Identifying Gaps in Breast Cancer Research, written and edited by more than 40 experts in breast cancer, the environment and disparities. You can also find handouts and a summary from our stakeholder meetings, our Strategy Development Plan, and background papers that led to the development of the Special Research Initiatives.
Experts Guide Strategy Development
An external steering committee guided the SRI's five-phase strategy development plan. Working closely with the SRI Steering Committee and senior California Breast Cancer Research Program staff, the Strategy Team provided the guidance, expertise, and vision to produce research strategies to accomplish our mission. For more information, go to our Advisory Boards page.
More Information
For our latest press releases and other announcements, please check our Media Center. For more information, please contact Catherine Thomsen at 888.313.2277 or email SRI@CABreastCancer.org.
