The mission of the California Breast Cancer Research Program is to eliminate breast cancer by leading innovation in research, communication, and collaboration in the California scientific and lay communities.
California Breast Cancer Research Program Receives $500,000 from Avon Foundation
Funds Increase Support into Racial/Ethnic Disparities, Environmental Exposures and Breast Cancer
July 14, 2008—Oakland, CA—The Avon Foundation has awarded a $500,000 grant to the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) to support its funding for ground-breaking breast cancer research in California. CBCRP Director, Mhel Kavanaugh-Lynch, M.D., M.P.H., who accepted the award during a ceremony at the conclusion of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in San Francisco on Sunday, July 13, said, “We are thrilled to have the Avon Foundation stand shoulder to shoulder with the California Breast Cancer Research Program in our efforts to eliminate breast cancer’s heavy toll on California women and men.”
The Avon Foundation grant will be earmarked for three of the ten CBCRP Special Research Initiatives. Two of the initiatives support research exploring environmental exposures and breast cancer among large and diverse groups of women at several points through their life, and the third project will combine data from multiple California studies to explore answers to why people from different racial and ethnic groups have different survival outcomes, despite being diagnosed with breast cancer at the same stage.
“Questions about disparities and the environment’s impact have been around for a long time,” said Debra Oto-Kent, breast cancer survivor, Executive Director of the Health Education Council, and chair of the CBCRP’s advisory council from 2003–2005. “We have the opportunity to create solutions through leveraging California’s unique resources and supporting coordinated statewide efforts.”
