Director's Welcome
I am tremendously excited by this symposium. It’s been three years since our last meeting, and the Program has undergone several significant changes. We have many exciting developments to share with you.
The California Breast Cancer Research Program has always been envisioned to be dynamic, responsive, and highly active in making an impact against breast cancer. We were born from the urgency and dreams of breast cancer advocates frustrated by the slow progress of research, and in the 16 years since our inception, we have helped influence both the pace and the direction of breast cancer research.
“From Research to Action” is the name of our breast cancer research symposium, which arose from our values of accountability and transparency, our responsibility not only to demonstrate our progress towards eliminating the suffering from breast cancer, but also to facilitate the rapid translation of research results into practical use. This year’s event will focus on “Tools for Change”—the new methods, tools, and approaches that we are using to change the research paradigm and drive greater progress against the disease. During Friday’s plenary session, “Tools for Expanding the Research Paradigm,” Susan Love, Laura Esserman, Elly Cohen, and Anna H. Wu will discuss innovative research strategies that are breaking down barriers that have stymied advances for decades.
The research projects initiated under our Special Research Initiatives are underway, and some are beginning to bear results. Saturday’s plenary session, “Making Chemical Testing Relevant to Breast Cancer,” will include a report from the California Breast Cancer and Chemicals Policy Project. This multidisciplinary team of experts developed an approach for identifying and prioritizing chemicals testing in order to inform California’s Green Chemistry Initiative and to include breast cancer risk as a factor in evaluating toxicity for commonly used chemicals in consumer products.
The California Breast Cancer Research Program’s founders intended that the strong voices of advocates be heard throughout all aspects of the Program. Our keynote speaker, Angela Padilla, is one of those voices. Co-founder of Bay Area Young Survivors, Angela also led our Breast Cancer Research Council for two years. She will discuss how advocacy can drive the breast cancer research agenda.
I invite you to roam our exhibits, where you’ll find valuable resources offered by nonprofit organizations, displays of research results presented by some of our funded researchers, and an art exhibition, wherein you will discover powerful expressions of the impact of breast cancer—the human stories that motivate our research.
We welcome your input, not only about the progress and research directions of the California Breast Cancer Research Program, but also about the ways in which breast cancer has affected your life. I welcome you to visit our booth, where we will be collecting your stories on video. We will share those stories at the end of the symposium.
On behalf of the California Breast Cancer Research Program staff and council, and the University of California, I welcome you to the CBCRP breast cancer research symposium—From Research to Action: Tools for Change. I look forward to your participation.
Mhel Kavanaugh-Lynch, M.D., M.P.H.
Director, California Breast Cancer Research Program
