Abstract B46: Advocacy for breast cancer and for community health initiatives
Authors: Burry Yvonne H. 
Published: October 2015

Yvonne H. Burry recently retired as a proposal manager for Battelle, an international contract research organization headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. She currently continues her consultancy, serving as a technical writer, job competency analyst, and testing/assessment specialist. She is also a lecturer in technical writing in The College of Engineering at The Ohio State University.

She has participated in various Komen events and fundraising for over a decade, initially inspired by a close friend's heroic and unsuccessful battle against breast cancer. For several years, she has served a Board Member and Grants Director for the Columbus Komen Affiliate. In 2012, she was selected to become a Komen Advocate in Science.

Komen Advocates in Science involves advocates in a variety of scientific activities to ensure that their unique and valuable perspectives are integrated into the scientific dialogue and decisions that affect our progress toward ending breast cancer. Breast cancer survivors and others affected by breast cancer provide unique and valuable perspectives on the cancer experience, issues that will most influence those affected by breast cancer, and the urgency of finding cures and ending breast cancer forever.

Komen Advocates in the AIS program participate in scientific review of research applications, advisory and planning committees, as well as scientific conferences. Participation in scientific peer review research involves reading research applications, assessing the potential impact of projects to affect those with breast cancer, and participating in review meetings. Advisory and planning committees assist Komen in assessing issues, recommending approaches and policies, planning new initiatives and/or redesigning existing programs. Involvement in scientific conferences may include representing the advocate perspective in panel discussions or participating in invited seminars.

As an Advocate, Burry currently serves on the Institutional Review Board for OhioHealth (since 2013) and was recently invited to join the newly formed Community Engagement Advisory Board at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She volunteers to serve as an advocate within research programs. Burry has also been active as a grant reviewer for the Columbus Komen Affiliate, Komen National programs for young professionals and for post-doctoral- researchers, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and within the cancer community. Burry has attended several professional research conferences, including ASCO Breast and AAADV, and regularly reports to her community and to organizations who invite her to speak on recent research and therapeutic advances.

Originally from Denver, Burry received her B.A. in biology and chemistry from the University of Colorado-Boulder and later earned an M.A. in science journalism from The Ohio State University. She began her career as a high school science teacher, and then moved into technical and proposal writing. She also authored over 200 nonfiction, consumer, and culinary articles, including dozens published in Columbus Monthly, Bon Giorno, and other magazines.

Citation Format: Yvonne H. Burry. Advocacy for breast cancer and for community health initiatives. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Seventh AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 9-12, 2014; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015;24(10 Suppl):Abstract nr B46.