Contributed by Walter Willett, MD, Dr.PH (Fredrick John Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Chair, Department of Nutrition and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School) and Felicia Knaul, PhD (Director, Harvard Global Equity Initiative, Founding President, Tómatelo a Pecho, México, A.C. and Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School).

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation announces a partnership with Healthy Hispanic Living to increase breast cancer awareness in the Latina community. The partnership commences on February 1st with a 90-day breast cancer campaign to advance Hispanic women’s understanding of the disease and their risk while also inspiring them and their families to lead healthier lives.

By Breast Cancer Research Foundation

This is the conclusion of a two-part Q&A between Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) and Dr. Jeffery Weitzel, Division Chief of Clinical Cancer Genetics at City of Hope in California, in which he discusses his work in the Latina community, both in the U.S. and Latin America, and his insight on new discoveries that are helping us to understand the role of genetics in breast cancer risk for Hispanic women.

Breast cancer research has fueled advances in early detection, prevention and treatments that have had a significant impact on many women. In the U.S. alone, there are nearly three million breast cancer survivors today; however, in spite of this trend, not all women experience the same good fortune. Disparities in breast cancer health, care and survival still exist across various populations, in particular the Hispanic community.

BCRF investigator Dawn Hershman, MD, MS of Columbia University Medical Center and BCRF Grantee looks for differences in recurrence scores between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women with the most common type of the disease.