The PNCBank team was honored to join with the Pittsburgh community at Race for the Cure on May 13, 2018. Our Region Pres. Louis R. Cestello had the added honor of presenting Ms. Karen DiVito with the 19th annual PNC Community Caring Award. (Twitter Photo)
by Karen DiVito
A breast cancer diagnosis means having some form of treatment—perhaps surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, oral medications or any combination. After treatment is complete, many patients return to their prediagnosis lives. This is a win! Sometimes, too, a diagnosis changes patients in such a way that they want to continue to learn about breast cancer and to have a positive impact for people who may be diagnosed in the future. Such is the case for the patients who have become advocates for the Breast Cancer Research Advocacy Network (bcRAN).
Research advocates with bcRAN are at least one year post treatment. They also commit to receive ongoing education about what is happening in the scientific community regarding new therapies and to listen to what is happening in the patient community with respect to unmet needs. Advocates, therefore, serve as a collective patient voice, to inform researchers about what is important for patients. Conversely, bcRAN advocates serve as liaisons and commit to performing outreach and education in the community so that the research process is better understood.
One area where there is a gap, or unmet need, is in patient outcomes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that Black and white women get breast cancer at about the same rate but that Black women die from breast cancer at a higher rate than white women. This is true in Pittsburgh.
Research is the key to understanding disparities such as the example above. Through collaborations with many other organizations, such as the Urban League and Susan G. Komen Greater Pennsylvania, bcRAN advocates are out in the community talking with survivors, current patients and even people who have never had a diagnosis. Let’s hear what your experience has been, positive or negative, so we can better understand what can be improved! Let us share with you the facts about clinical trials and research and why both are so very important in order to improve not only outcomes, but treatments and, ultimately, prevention.
If this sounds like a mission that you share, or if you would like representatives from bcRAN to speak to a group in your community, please contact us at UPCIbcran@upmc.edu or follow us on Facebook by searching “bcRANpittsburgh.”
Karen DiVito is co-leader of bcRAN (Breast Cancer Research Advocacy Network)
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