Thanks to a generous gift from the Avon Products Foundation, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco will be working on new ways to identify women at risk for breast cancer, exploring how cancer spreads within the body and developing new therapeutic agents to treat the disease. The gift will enable UCSF to offer breast cancer screening programs and clinical care at the San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center Breast Clinic as well as educational outreach efforts at other locations. Andrea Jung, chief executive officer of Avon Products, Inc., says that the Crusade's mission is to fund access to care and find a cure for breast cancer. As we help to fund research for prevention and a cure, we are also committed to supporting outreach, screening and treatment. The comprehensive funding strategy that we have put in place addresses many breast health concerns, with a particular focus on women who face barriers due to lack of economic means or insurance.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women in the United States.
More than 180,000 cases are diagnosed each year, and approximately 40,000 women die annually from the disease. Early detection can reduce breast cancer mortality by allowing early intervention, but all too often, testing is inaccessible to poor, elderly, minority and uninsured women. Frank McCormick, PhD, FRS, director of the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, says that the gift from the Avon Products Foundation will greatly accelerate research efforts in the breast oncology program, particularly with respect to investigations into the molecular genetics of breast cancer. Our goal is to use genomic analysis to improve early detection and treatment of the disease, and to make these advanced technologies more generally accessible. Discovering the genetic and biological changes that occur when cells become a localized cancer and the biological processes that influence the transition between localized and invasive cancer.