Profile

•    Dedicated breast cancer advocate since diagnosis of bi-lateral breast cancer in 2009.  Especially active in the areas of cancer prevention, research, and the impact of lifestyle and diet on survival.
•    Founded Sisters4Prevention in 2010 to share the latest research and strategies for those newly diagnosed as well as those living beyond.
•    Serve on the board of Directors of the Toni Turchi Foundation, a breast cancer 5013c dedicated to supporting breast cancer research and providing financial assistance to underserved women in the Ohio area.
•    Primarily responsible for conceptualizing, writing, and promoting all the content for the Sisters4Prevention website, podcast, and YouTube channel
•    Graduate of the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s Project LEAD advocate training. Dedicated to researching and learning breast cancer biology to better understand the challenges of treatment.
•    A consumer advocate for the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Grant Program.
•    Attends San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposiums as Consumer Advocate
●    Selected by Ford Motor Company as a “Warrior in Pink” for service to the breast cancer community in 2015.
●    Organized and led a group of women in 2019 to lobby Congress to obtain government funding for a “Women’s Health Initiative” to facilitate clinical trials for the primary immune prevention of breast and ovarian cancers in otherwise healthy, cancer-free women. Organized meetings with offices of six Representatives and requested that a “Women’s Health Initiative” language be included in the Federal budget. Our request was Championed by Representative Debbie Wasserman-Shultz and was included and passed the House Budget.  The language was included in the Senate budget, but was changed to include all women’s cancer clinical trials whereas the former was allocated for prevention trials.
●    Presently serving as a patient advocate for the ongoing Phase I clinical trial for the preventive breast cancer vaccine under the direction of Drs. Justin Johnson and Thomas Budd at the Cleveland Clinic and have attended weekly meetings for the past five years. My duties included recruiting patients for the trial.
●    Patient Advocate Member of ASCO.
●    Speaker: NIH/NCI Advocate participating in Cancer Prevention Workshop Series
●    Retired so schedule is very flexible.
●    Komen Advocate in Science
●    FDA Patient Advocate
●    Cochrane reviewer and patient advocate

.     Employment History
Teacher at Saint Philomena School, Portsmouth, RI
January 2001 — June 2009
Fifth Grade Teacher and Science Coordinator
Computer Programmer at IBM
1978 — July 1981
Programmer for Defense Contract: Trident Submarine
Computer and Math Teacher at American Community School, Cobham, UK
January 1994 — June 1997
International Baccalaureate Compute Teacher
Fifth Grade Mathematics Teacher

   Education
BS Chemistry, Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island
September 1974 — May 1978
BS Chemistry Providence College 1978

 

Breast Cancer Training/Professional Work
Project LEAD Graduate, National Breast Cancer Coalition
July 2019 — July 2019
   An Introduction to the FDA and the Regulatory Environment for Drug 
Development - A Patient Advocate's Primer
March 2022

Getting the Dose Right: Optimizing Dose Selection Strategies in Oncology An FDA-ASCO Virtual Workshop
May 3,4,5 2022

2023: NIH/NCI: Speaker: Complementary and Integrative Approach: A Patient Perspective
 

 References
Dr. Justin Johnson - Lerner Research Institute Cleveland Clinic
        johnsoj1@ccf.org
Dr. Thomas Budd

buddg@ccf.org – Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center Cleveland Clinic
  
Skills

• Dedicated Breast Cancer Advocate

• Breast Cancer Survivor

• Ability to Work in a Team

• Leadership and Teamwork

• Ability to Multitask

• Eager to Serve