The Avon Foundation has awarded $750,000 to Emory Winship Cancer Institute and the Avon Comprehensive Breast Center at Grady Memorial Hospital. The grant will be used to continue community outreach, education, clinical access, and four research studies that directly affect care for the underserved populations in Atlanta.
“We are grateful to the Avon Foundation for their extraordinary and steadfast support,” says Sheryl Gabram, professor of surgical oncology in Emory School of Medicine and principal investigator for the Avon grant. “Our aim is to reach 10,000 or more women through outreach and education presentations throughout Atlanta. We also will increase mammography, treatment services, and access to clinical trials to underserved women.”
Since 2000, the Avon Foundation has awarded more than $11 million to Emory Winship and Grady. The funds have been instrumental in building new facilities, acquiring state-of-the-art equipment, and supporting leading-edge breast cancer research projects aimed at improving outcomes for underserved women diagnosed with breast cancer in Atlanta.
“This grant will enable us to build upon the success of our navigator program,” says Gabram. “Our breast clinics will be staffed with patient navigators who are also breast cancer survivors and who can immediately reach out to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. For these patients, we will evaluate their need and provide personalized support from breast cancer survivor navigators on an ongoing basis.”
In addition to an emphasis on outreach and clinical services, the grant will support research projects that will examine how access to care, income and other factors impact breast cancer survival among women in Georgia; how a specific surgical procedure affects patients’ return rate to the operating room; and why African American women with estrogen receptor positive tumors have worse survival rates than Caucasian women. The grant will also support a collaborative research study with the San Francisco General Avon Comprehensive Center, investigating an educational risk-assessment tool to help patients understand the importance of genetic counseling and referral.
“We are proud to continue our longstanding partnership with Emory and Grady,” says Marc Hurlbert, director of the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade. “We very much appreciate the exceptional work of the Emory Winship and Grady faculty, staff and volunteers. Their work is helping us reach our goal. In addition, Avon’s regional headquarters is just outside Atlanta and both Avon and the Avon Foundation have a special connection to the community. We are especially grateful to the Avon Sales Representatives and participants in the nationwide Avon Walk for Breast Cancer series whose work and involvement make these grants possible.”
The Emory Winship Cancer Institute is Georgia’s only National Cancer Institute Designated Cancer Center. Emory Winship is recognized as one of the top 50 cancer centers in the United States by U.S. News and World Report and has received the Blue Cross Blue Shield Designation for Treatment of Rare and Complex Cancers. To learn more about the Emory Winship Cancer Institute, its research, outreach, clinical trials, and faculty and staff, visit www.cancer.emory.edu.
The Avon Foundation Comprehensive Breast Center at Grady Memorial Hospital's Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary breast care program, offering a full spectrum of clinical and support services, including screening, diagnosis, treatment, counseling and laboratory research. Its mission is to expand breast health care for medically underserved women in metropolitan Atlanta.
In the photo: Patient navigators Dorothy McMichael (left) and Gloria Brown help cancer patients at Grady Memorial Hospital.
September 2009
