Read the full LA Times article.

Dejana Braithwaite, PhD, is a former fellow of the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

Dr. Braithwaite and her colleagues compared yearly breast cancer screening with screening every two years to see if there were differences in the stage of diagnosis. The results showed that, for women ages 66-74, the risk of having breast cancer detected at a later stage is no greater for women screened every two years than it is for women screened annually.

The study also looked at how screening intervals affected the number of false-positive test results. For women ages 66 – 89, Dr. Braithwaite found that women screened yearly were more likely to have false-positive results than were women screened every two years.

The results of this study may not resolve the ongoing debate about breast cancer screening intervals, but these new findings provide valuable information for older women discussing the impact of screening yearly versus every two years.

Recently, we caught up with Dr. Braithwaite to ask her a few questions about the impact of the Foundation’s fellowship on her career and the importance of funding cancer prevention and early detection research. Here is what she had to say:

How did receiving an earlier Prevent Cancer Foundation/American Society of Preventive Oncology fellowship impact your career in breast cancer research?

Receiving a Prevent Cancer Foundation/American Society of Preventive Oncology fellowship enabled me to develop further expertise in cancer prevention research and epidemiology. I am incredibly grateful to the Prevent Cancer Foundation for helping to launch my career in breast cancer research.

Why is it important to fund research in prevention and early detection?

Cancer, especially breast cancer, is a common disease and one of the leading causes of death around the globe. Through prevention and early detection, our goal is to reduce the disease burden and improve life expectancy.

Learn more about the innovative research being funded by the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

The Foundation is proud to help Alloro fulfill their mission of helping breast cancer survivors “recapture the joy” both emotionally and financially. Twenty-five percent of the profits will go toward breast cancer prevention research and educational programs that target underserved women.

Alloro co-founders Christine Irvin & Laurel Kamen. (photo coutesy of allorocollection.com)

The idea for this collection was born when founder and breast cancer survivor Laurel Kamen was about to undergo a double mastectomy. On the evening before her surgery, Kamen discovered that sophisticated clothing was not available to women recovering from breast cancer treatment. Kamen then recruited her friend Christine Irvin, an artist and Wall Street veteran, and her cousin Roedean Landeaux, a New York City couturier, to help her create a fashion line that would help women with breast cancer feel good about themselves, despite the physical toll of surgery, chemotherapy or radiation.

Inspired by Kamen’s own breast cancer experience, co-founders Kamen and Irvin were determined to use Alloro as a way to help other women. Alloro chose to partner with the Prevent Cancer Foundation in order to support efforts in breast cancer prevention and research for underserved women. Alloro was impressed with the outreach programs developed and supported by the Foundation, including the GW Mammovan, a mobile mammogram unit that provides free breast cancer screening to underserved Hispanic and African-American women.

“The Prevent Cancer Foundation is proud to partner with Alloro,” said President and Founder Carolyn Aldigé. “Breast cancer is a cruel disease; it affects millions of women worldwide who must face physical, psychological and financial challenges related to breast cancer and its treatments. We are pleased to team up with Alloro in this effort.”

The Alloro Collection is available online at www.allorocollection.com and at the upcoming Alloro Collection Trunk Show in Manhattan on April 17 & 18 from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m at the Jim Villa Designers Agent Showroom, 263 11th Avenue, 4th floor, NYC.

Watch Alloro Collection Founders Laurel Kamen and Christine Irvin’s interview with WUSA-9 Morning Anchor and Prevent Cancer Foundation Sustaining Board Member Andrea Roane.

Facilitators work with Campeonas to share messages of breast cancer prevention with DC Latinas

The Campeonas program was developed by a bilingual and bicultural team then pilot-tested among Latinas in Washington D.C. The purpose of this outreach is to address Latina health disparities in the U.S. where mammography rates are lower for Hispanic women than for non-Hispanic white women. The program provides training for Latinas who are interested in sharing their own breast cancer screening experiences with friends and family in order to encourage them to get regular screenings. It also offers free-standing community-level materials: the novela entitled Un encuentro oportuno: conversando sobre el cáncer de seno (“A Timely Encounter: Talking about Breast Cancer”) uses pictures and conversation between friends to share information about breast cancer screening.

The easy-to-use, step-by-step Campeonas training guide and free-standing community-level materials are now available in Spanish or English to community health organizations and can be downloaded for FREE on the Foundation’s website www.campeonas.org.

We encourage you to visit our website where you’ll find fresh, exciting and culturally appropriate resources to help increase awareness and screening among Latinas in your community.

Special thanks to the National Capital Area Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure for its support of the Campeonas project.

A Campeona is a Latina age 40 and over who shares her own story of getting screened for breast cancer with friends and family to encourage them to do the same. Because screening has not increased as much for Latinas as for women of other ethnic or racial backgrounds, the Foundation put together a team to design, develop, pilot test and implement the Campeonas project to help address this health disparity. The project is a culturally appropriate, informal outreach effort to friends and family to increase breast-cancer screening in the Latina community. The Campeonas training and free-standing community educational materials in both Spanish and English are available at no cost on the Foundation’s website for community organizations. One of these materials is a novela entitled Un encuentro oportuno: conversando sobre el cáncer de seno (“A Timely Encounter: Talking about Breast Cancer”) which uses pictures and a story to share information about breast-cancer screening.

The part of the Campeonas story I want to share is about the people, dedicated to the Latina community and to cancer prevention and early detection, who came together to make the project happen: the ¡Celebremos la vida! staff and volunteers at the Spanish Catholic Center in Washington, DC, and the McCarrick Center in Silver Spring, MD; the community volunteers on the advisory committee; the Washington, DC, metro community which made in-kind contributions; supportive colleagues across the Foundation; the Latinas who participated in formative research; the 22 Campeonas trained in pilot tests; and the project team of professionals with complementary skill sets, who saw the project through to its completion.

A Campeona shares her breast-cancer screening story with DC Latinas.

Many who worked on the project have been personally touched by cancer. Two members of the advisory committee were breast-cancer survivors; we all felt the loss when Elizabeth passed away midway through the project. On the project team, the designers and trainers Mary Jo and Gloria are both breast-cancer survivors. Project manager Suzette was diagnosed with cancer as she joined the team and went through chemotherapy as the project neared completion. The three of them often shared experiences of their illnesses and treatments and their gratitude for life and family. The support affected the whole team and made the project more real and meaningful for all. We know how much it means to save a life and Stop Cancer Before it Starts!

I end this blog with the Campeonas themselves. They gathered with the project team in October to share their stories of conversations about screening with their friends and family at home, at the laundromat and at church. They also talked of the strength they had found in themselves: as Campeonas, they felt empowered and confident to take on a health-affirming role with their loved ones. I am honored to be a part of this amazing new program and look forward to the progress that we will make in the new year.

The warmest of holiday wishes to all, ¡y amor, paz y mucha felicidad en el año nuevo!

The facilitator’s guide has step-by-step instructions for diverse activities as well as all necessary forms, sample tests and FAQs to make it easy to implement the activities with groups of young women in any setting. Using this educational tool you can implement breast health sessions with basic information about breast cancer and screening, myths and facts, and the importance of advocating for one’s health.

The interactive activities and the target audience make these materials unique. As a St. Louis health educator put it, “the interactive group activities are a valuable resource and an effective teaching tool.”

The guide has been shared with groups from across the country. For more information and to download our guide visit our website.

Military health activists are pushing Congress to explore the causes of high breast cancer rates within the military and veteran communities. If studies conclude that exposures during military service correlate with breast cancer, advocates hope to classify the disease as a service-related disability, thereby ensuring military medical benefits for service men and women battling breast cancer.

Read the Full USAToday Article

From L to R: Panelist Dr. Carolyn Runowicz, Moderator WUSA 9 Anchor Andrea Roane, Panelists Dr. Ann Kulze and Athena Water Founder Trish May.

The panelists included physician, educator and breast cancer survivor Carolyn D. Runowicz, M.D., physician, health and wellness expert Ann Kulze, M.D. and entrepreneur, founder of Athena Water and breast cancer survivor Trish May. Held at the very beginning of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, this discussion was especially timely as two of the panelists are breast cancer survivors themselves. Special guest singer Amy Grant also attended the reception and panel discussion.

Dr. Runowicz started the discussion with an oncologist’s perspective of prevention through chemopreventive drugs and essential screening. She provided a frank look at the importance of knowing your family history, risk factors for gynecological cancers and the need to educate yourself on the best prevention options. Touching on what has become something of a controversy as of late, the issue of mammography, Dr. Runowicz took a critical position on the media’s handling of the issue, saying that some members of the media promote the fear and anxiety associated with the procedure, flatly stating: “My patients can live with a little anxiety. They can’t live with a little cancer.”

Special guest singer Amy Grant participating in the Foundation’s new online “#PreventCancer4″ campaign at the reception.

Dr. Ann Kulze, affectionately known as “Dr. Ann” followed, leading the discussion on health and wellness. She began with the statistic that 70% of the cancer burden could be prevented through healthy eating, lifestyle changes and completing necessary and regular screenings. She went on to detail her eight steps for a healthy and cancer free life, which included tips like eating a plant based diet, limiting red meat, abstaining from tobacco and maintaining a healthy weight. She also brought up the dangers of prolonged sitting—encouraging the audience to get up often while at work.

Trish May then detailed her own battle with breast cancer—she was diagnosed right after her own mother had lost her battle with ovarian cancer. After finding a lump in her breast, she was told by not only one but two doctors that she was fine. After a persistent uneasy feeling, May insisted on advocating for her own health and got a biopsy. The lump had indeed turned out to be cancer. “I thought I was going to die like my mother,” said May. She resolved to take charge of her health and navigated her way through chemotherapy, recovery and eventually remission. She also founded her company, Athena Water, to celebrate the essence of life and other “warriors” who fight for breast cancer awareness.

The panel was extremely engaging and informative, with the panelists answering a variety of audience questions with a lively Q and A session. After the panel, attendees stayed and toured the “Women Who Rock” exhibit currently on display at the National Museum for Women in the Arts. The exhibit features clothing and other memorabilia from famous female musicians ranging from Tina Turner to Joni Mitchell to Lady Gaga.

Jennifer and her family

Blogger Jennifer Kolodziej, author of the successful “Mommy blog,” Tastefully Childish, has written an insightful post about her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis and how it led her to teach her children about the value of a healthy diet. Jennifer, sister of Prevent Cancer Foundation Accountant Elliot Turner, also wanted to broaden her children’s knowledge about other cultures so she used the Foundation community grant-funded Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Traditional Food Guide and Activity Book that promotes healthy lifestyle choices and nutritional habits among Alaskan children (8-10) at risk for obesity, cancer and other diseases.

Uncle Elliot works with his nieces on the Alaska Native Traditional Food Guide and Activity Book

The Prevent Cancer Foundation encourages you to visit Tastefully Childish and to read the post in its entirety. What are your favorites tips for parents that want to teach their children about healthy eating?

That’s what I’ve been saying for nearly two decades as the face of Buddy Check 9, WUSA-TV’s breast cancer awareness program. It began 19 years ago in partnership with the Prevent Cancer Foundation and Georgetown University Hospital.

Since the start, I’ve heard from scores of women and men who say after hearing my reminders on the 9th of each month, they do perform monthly breast self exams, get annual mammograms and schedule appointments for clinical exams. Some have even credited me with saving their lives.

Recently my colleague, local broadcast news icon JC Hayward, thanked me for being a faithful breast cancer advocate because the message hit home for her.

While on a cruise through South America, breast cancer interrupted JC’s time in paradise. Always in excellent health, she was proud that she wasn’t always one to run straight to a doctor’s office. And JC was only a “some-timer” when it came to early detection. Yet when she noticed something in her right breast, her gut reaction was that it wasn’t quite right. That nagging feeling did not go away when she came back to the U.S. Upon returning to work, she called me to her office and asked me what I thought. There was definitely something there, so I advised her to see an expert. She called breast surgeon Dr. Colette Magnant’s office. The following day JC was having a mammogram. That was Tuesday.

Wednesday she received the news no woman wants to hear. “You have breast cancer.”

Initially, she didn’t want to tell anyone—not me, not even her best “peeps,” as she calls her dearest friends. But she did tell me and I encouraged her to go public. That was Thursday.

Friday, I was with her live on-set as JC Hayward, anchorwoman, legend and “Buddy” looked directly into the camera and invited her family of viewers to join her on her breast cancer journey. She encouraged them to follow her lead and make early detection a regular part of their health care.

Immediately the word spread like wildfire on social media. Her JC Hayward.com website flooded with 100,000 hits. Sibley Hospital saw a jump in appointments for mammograms directly related to JC’s announcement, and I was getting calls for Buddy Check 9 reminder packets. In just a few hours she had become a powerful catalyst for change, especially among the city’s African-American women who have the highest mortality rate in the nation.

On Monday, I was with JC and her other “peeps” when she learned her cancer was invasive ductal carcinoma, a stage one or two, non-aggressive, estrogen receptor positive. An MRI that same day also detected a second lump. Radiologist Dr. Rebecca Zuurbier, Director of Breast Imagining at Sibley, located and removed the pea sized lesion during an Ultra Sound Guided Core Biopsy. The pathology report came back negative. It was benign.

Now JC had a decision to make–lumpectomy or mastectomy?  Because her breast cancer was detected early, she did have a choice. She chose a lumpectomy.

One week after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, JC’s tumor was removed and the news was all good. Both the tumor and mass had clear margins—and no surprises. Early detection had made a critical difference. Early detection gave JC control over her breast cancer, not the other way around. My Buddy JC  Hayward is saving lives, by example.

Watch Andrea’s interview with JC:

Andrea Roane is now in her 31st year with WUSA-TV 9. Ms. Roane is best known to viewers for her passionate reporting on breast health issues and promoting the importance of early detection in the fight against breast cancer through the Buddy Check 9 program. She currently serves as a Sustaining Director on the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Board of Directors.