HERS Breast Cancer Foundation Event Honors Community Leadership in Support of Breast Cancer Survivors
Fremont, CA (PRWEB) April 21, 2014 -- HERS Breast Cancer Foundation today announced that they are hosting a community awards event on April 24. The fifth annual People with Purpose Awards Luncheon honors people and organizations from the Bay Area whose contributions have supported breast cancer survivors and the foundation’s efforts to serve them. The luncheon features keynote speaker Dr. Kimberly H. Allison, Stanford University Specialist in Breast Pathology, Associate Professor of Pathology, and Associate Residency Director for Anatomic Pathology. Dr. Allison is a breast cancer survivor and author of "Red Sunshine: A Story of Strength and Inspiration from a Doctor Who Survived Stage 3 Breast Cancer."
The funds raised at this event will go toward HERS Breast Cancer Foundation programs, including We Support, YOU Survive, which serves low-income women. The event takes place April 24 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Sheraton San Jose Hotel in Milpitas, California. More information about the event can be found at http://hersbreastcancerfoundation.org/people-with-purpose/.
This year’s honorees include: Mark D. Pegram, M.D. of the Stanford Cancer Institute; Ysabel Duron of Latinas Contra Cancer; Gene Mello of Mello Insurance Services; and To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation.
Dr. Mark Pegram is the first director of the Breast Cancer Oncology Program at Stanford Women’s Cancer Center. He is also the co-director of Stanford’s Molecular Therapeutics Program. He is a renowned clinician and scholar in breast cancer research and a leader in translational medicine. Dr. Pegram played a major role in developing the drug Herceptin as a treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer, which constitutes about 20 percent of all cases. Dr. Pegram’s current research efforts include a continued focus on the cancer-associated gene that encodes HER2 and developing new ways to target cancer cells expressing this protein. He is also pursuing strategies to target estrogen receptors, implicated in some 70 percent of all breast cancer cases.
Ysabel Duron is the Founder and CEO of Latinas Contra Cancer, a Silicon Valley-based organization that works on a national level to provide education, navigation, and support to the underserved Latino population around issues of cancer. Following a distinguished career as a television news journalist, Duron was appointed to the Congressionally-mandated Interagency Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Convening Committee investigating the state of science on breast cancer and the environment. She currently serves on the boards of the California Breast Cancer Research Program Council and the Patient Advocacy Leadership Committee at GSK.
Gene Mello is the President and CEO of Myers-Stevens-Mello & Co., Inc. and Mello Insurance Services, Inc. He has been in the insurance industry for over 40 years, providing business owners with sound insurance advice and superior products. Gene grew up in Fremont, California and continues to reside there. He is a leader who has built his career on an absolute commitment to the community.
To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation is a Bay Area organization whose mission is to raise funds and grant financial assistance to nonprofit organizations providing services and support to people living with breast cancer. To Celebrate Life’s vision is that no one in the Bay Area should face breast cancer alone. Their 2013 grants provided 1,695 direct services, including emergency financial aid and other critical needs, to breast cancer patients in the nine Bay Area counties.
About HERS Breast Cancer Foundation (HBCF)
HERS Breast Cancer Foundation’s mission is to support all women healing from breast cancer by providing post-surgical products and services regardless of financial status. HBCF is the only nonprofit organization in the Bay Area that provides appropriate products (such as bras, prostheses, and wigs) for breast cancer survivors in a safe, comfortable, and understanding environment. Services for breast cancer survivors are provided at two locations: their new program store at the Stanford Cancer Center and their flagship program store at Washington Hospital in Fremont. HERS Breast Cancer Foundation offers several services, including:
Bras for Body & Soul®: The program provides a private, understanding environment for breast cancer survivors to be properly fitted for post-surgical garments, specialty mastectomy bras and prostheses.
We Support, You Survive: The purpose of this program is to provide free post-mastectomy garments to underserved women affected by breast cancer in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Lymphedema Project: This program assists survivors by providing lymphedema garments for the prevention and support of treatment of this condition in the arm.
Hair with Care: This program addresses the dramatic effect of hair loss as a consequence of chemotherapy, as wig specialists assist our clients with a variety of different wigs.
Jennifer Kindred, Gutenberg Communications, http://www.gutenbergpr.com, +1 408-205-2720, [email protected]
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