Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States, other than skin cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer.
The chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer some time during her life is about 1 in 8. The chance of dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 35. Thankfully, breast cancer death rates are going down as a result of early detection and improved treatment.
Recently, an article ran in the NY Times about how difficult it is to get cancer patients (and their doctors) interested in clinical trials. The author dissected the problem with our country’s clinical trials program. The economics, which provide a disincentive for doctors to enroll patients, combined with trials that do not address important clinical questions and patients who are already overwhelmed with decision-making are largely to blame for this situation.
Dr. Susan Love is answering the call for women’s health. In fact, she has dedicated her 30-year career to the research and prevention of breast cancer. Recently, her foundation (Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation) and the Avon Foundation for Women, a global leader in breast cancer research, joined forces to launch the Love/Avon Army of Women.
They have two key goals:
· To recruit one million healthy women of every age and ethnicity, including breast cancer survivors and women at high-risk for the disease, to partner with breast cancer researchers and directly participate in the research that will eradicate breast cancer once and for all
· To challenge the scientific community to expand its current focus to include breast cancer prevention research conducted on healthy women
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