Groundbreaking Meeting Brings Together Cancer Funding Organizations,
Advocates, Government Agencies, and Scientists from Academic Institutions
and the Pharmaceutical Industry
NEW YORK, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Leadership and senior staff of
twenty- seven breast cancer funding organizations and advocacy groups met
on November 1-2 along with experts from government agencies, scientists
from academic institutions and researchers from the pharmaceutical industry
at the unprecedented Collaborative Summit on Breast Cancer Research. This
first meeting of its kind in the US took place in Leesburg, VA, outside
Washington, DC, and included some 100 invited participants. Special host
for the event was Paula Zahn.
The Collaborative Summit was facilitated by the Avon Foundation and the
Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, and co-funded by the Avon
Foundation and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, who worked with co-organizers
to create an event to bring together those who raise and award funds with
those who are on the edge of new discoveries, with the goal of discussing
possible new collaborations and cooperation to end the burden of breast
cancer. Key topics addressed by the funders, advocates, researchers,
regulators, industry representatives, and social scientists included the
current federal government budget crisis in research funding and a
definition of new research funding paradigms to optimize opportunities and
reduce barriers and waste, all towards the goal of eradicating breast
cancer.
Several initial action items were developed by consensus, including:
* A "National Breast Cancer Planning Committee" will be formed by key
funding agencies, including the Avon Foundation, The Breast Cancer
Research Foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and other key
stakeholders. The Committee will meet periodically to review the
breast cancer landscape and national agenda in breast cancer.
* Information on grant awards will be placed into common database by the
key funding agencies to help identify gaps, opportunities and overlaps.
* A report to the public will be developed by key funding agencies on how
donations are expended in the breast cancer field.
Attendance at the Collaborative Summit was by invitation only, and the
event was closed to the public and media to ensure open dialogue. In
addition to the Avon Foundation and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, attendees
included representatives from the co-organizers: The Breast Cancer Research
Foundation, American Association for Cancer Research, American Cancer
Society, the ASCO Foundation, the Foundation for the National Institutes of
Health, the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund, the National Cancer
Institute, Polo Ralph Lauren Foundation Pink Pony, and more. Other
organizations represented included the Food and Drug Administration, Eli
Lilly, Inc., AstraZeneca, and academic leaders from Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Johns
Hopkins University, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the Salk Institute,
and the University of California Los Angeles and others.
"Collaboration is at the heart of the mission of the Avon Foundation
and will be key to eradicating breast cancer. We have been committed since
1992 to advancing access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer
worldwide, and have facilitated collaboration among the hundreds of cancer
centers and breast health organizations we fund to maximize the efforts of
all. Now, with this unprecedented meeting, collaboration is brought into
the arena of funders and advocates," stated Carol Kurzig, Executive
Director, Avon Foundation. "There is a new diagnosis of breast cancer about
every three minutes, and there is still work to be done together."
Within the next 25 years, an estimated 10 million women around the
world will die because of breast cancer. "It is going to take all of us,
working together united in this fight to discover and deliver the cures for
this dreaded disease. We have to commit to mobilizing people, ensuring open
dialogue and maximizing funding if we are to end breast cancer. Cancer as a
whole kills some 7 million people around the globe each year," said Hala
Moddelmog, President and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "Since our
inception 25 years ago, Susan G. Komen for the Cure has invested in breast
cancer research and community outreach programs, and over the next decade,
we plan to increase our investment to demonstrate the seriousness of our
commitment."
The Collaborative Summit opened with an address by the Honorable John
Edwards Porter, Vice Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for the
National Institutes of Health, followed by Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker,
founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world's largest grassroots
network of survivors and activist committed to ending breast cancer
forever. Ambassador Brinker, spoke on the nation's "funding landscape" as a
leader in the non- governmental and non-profit sector, saying, "I believe
in this partnership between science and society. It is the collaboration
between so many of us, (that) lies at the heart of our progress in this
fight ... let's use this summit to start building a new culture, a culture
of collaboration."
The participants made an appraisal of the current breast cancer
landscape; held frank, open discussions on current barriers to prevention
and cure; and developed compelling action steps for making significant,
expedited progress forward. In addition to the specific goals, the open
dialogue among disparate members of the breast cancer community itself
broke barriers, creating a new paradigm for constructive movement forward
towards innovative initiatives, new models, partnership opportunities and
potential collaborations.
"Working together with our partners who raise funds for breast cancer
research is key to our collective success," said Myra Biblowit, President
of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). "We have different
approaches, and somewhat different philosophies and programs, but we are
united in our shared responsibility to fund research, our shared demand
that it adheres to the highest standards, and our shared responsibility to
ensure that its benefits are translated to the clinic, for the patients who
need it."
Larry Norton, MD, Director of Breast Cancer Programs at Memorial Sloan-
Kettering Cancer Center and Scientific Director of The Breast Cancer
Research Foundation, summarized the work of the Summit as follows: "This
Summit is a critical step toward identifying, analyzing, and eventually
overcoming all the barriers that stand between where we are now and the
eradication of breast cancer. The researchers of our nation and the world
are counting on the united dedication of organizations, governments,
corporations, and individuals to this mission."
Media Contacts:
-- Avon Foundation: Susan Arnot Heaney
212-282-5668, Susan.heaney@avonfoundation.org
-- The Breast Cancer Research Foundation: Anna DeLuca
917-697-7500, andeluca@bcrfcure.org; annadeluca@aol.com
-- Susan G. Komen for the Cure: Emily Callahan
972-855-1607, ecallahan@komen.org
-- Foundation for the National Institutes of Health: Chuck Pucie
301-402-5311, cpucie@fnih.org
SOURCE Avon Foundation; Susan G. Komen for the Cure
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Related links:
http://www.avonfoundation.org
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/079575.html/
CONTACT:
Susan Arnot Heaney of Avon Foundation,
+1-212-282-5668, Susan.heaney@avonfoundation.org; or Anna DeLuca
of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, +1-917-697-7500,
andeluca@bcrfcure.org, annadeluca@aol.com; or Emily Callahan of
Susan G. Komen for the Cure, +1-972-855-1607,
ecallahan@komen.org; or Chuck Pucie of Foundation for the
National Institutes of Health, +1-301-402-5311, cpucie@fnih.org
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