Cheryl Jernigan Named to “ULTIMATE THINK TANK”

Next Step in Breast Cancer Research from Susan G. Komen for the Cure®

Cheryl Jernigan, founding board member of the Greater Kansas City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure has been selected to serve on a new panel of more than 60 top-ranking scientists, clinicians and advocates to guide the extensive research program of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the world’s largest breast cancer organization.

The distinguished experts from a wide range of disciplines and seven countries will serve as inaugural members of Komen for the Cure’s new Scientific Advisory Council (SAC). They will provide scientific peer review for the breast cancer grants and programs that Komen funds on an annual basis. The Scientific Advisory Council will also provide Komen leadership with guidance on breast cancer education and public policy.  

Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the largest source of breast cancer research funding outside of the U.S. government, currently funds nearly 760 active research grants around the world, with plans to invest another $55 million into 105 projects in 2010 alone.  Kansas City is home to seven of the currently active research grants for a total of over $1.7 million being conducted by researchers at The University of Kansas Cancer Center.

Komen for the Cure’s $500 million in research funding over the years has led to treatments that extend survival and improve quality of life for individuals with breast cancer. Moreover, Komen’s breast cancer effort has led to a much finer understanding of the genetic and molecular basis of the disease,” said Eric Winer, M.D., Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s chief scientific advisor and Director of the Breast Oncology Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. “This new council is a logical step forward in our evolving approach to breast cancer research.  Our hope, and our plan, is to further reduce breast cancer mortality and incidence in the next decade. We need to make progress in the years ahead, and want to do so much more rapidly than in the past.”

The new advisory council will span a wide range of specialties, including clinical research, laboratory research, surgery, pathology, radiation oncology, epidemiology, medical oncology, behavioral sciences, disease prevention, bioinformatics and international health. Jernigan is one of four advocates chosen to also sit on the advisory panel.

The new council builds on a foundation established in 2007 by Winer with Komen for the Cure’s eight-member Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). During the past three years, the SAB has focused Komen’s program on research that can lead to reductions in breast cancer mortality or incidence in the next decade. The SAB will oversee Komen’s SAC as an executive committee.

SAC members based in the U.S. will serve as liaisons in 21 communities while international members will provide the same valuable information to those living in Belgium, Canada, England, Israel, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. They will also participate in professional scientific conferences, think tank meetings and state-of-science reviews.

SAC members will serve two-year terms, which are also renewable.

ldquo;Every person in this field is eager to get the best results for our patients and future generations,” said Ann Partridge, M.D., M.P.H., a new associate council member and medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. “This approach, augmented by our own research and our outreach to our communities, helps us better define critical areas for science and clinical research going forward.”

Komen is adhering to a longstanding tradition of including breast cancer advocates as active participants in its research process. “Komen is an advocacy organization at its core, and it’s critical the perspectives of those affected by breast cancer continue to be fully integrated into decisions at every step of our research process,” said Jernigan. “It’s with a humbling sense of responsibility; I am looking forward to being a part of the SAC’s work to optimize our research efforts in our quest to put an end to breast cancer.

A complete list of Scientific Advisory Council members is attached. To learn more about the SAC and its membership, go to http://ww5.komen.org/ResearchGrants/ScientificAdvisoryCouncil.html

About Susan G. Komen for the Cure®

Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure, now the world’s largest breast cancer organization and the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer with more than $1.5 billion invested to date. For more information about Susan G. Komen for the Cure, breast health or breast cancer, visit www.komen.org or call 1-877 GO KOMEN.

About Cheryl Jernigan

Cheryl Jernigan, a self proclaimed a 14-year breast cancer “thriver”, is a founding board member, a past board president  and currently Public Policy Co-chair of the Greater Kansas City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure; Chair of The Advancement Board for The University of Kansas Medical Center and The University of Kansas Hospital; Immediate-past Board President and founding board member of Turning Point;  a member of the National Cancer Institute’s Director’s Consumer Liaison Group (DCLG) and their Consumers in Research and Related Activities program; the DCLG’s representative to the National Community Cancer Centers Program; the Treasurer for the Susan G. Komen Advocacy Alliance’s Board of Directors, and has served as an advocate reviewer for Komen’s Research Program, the U.S. Congressionally-Directed Breast Cancer Research Program, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.