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Triple Negative Breast Cancer
Foundation Names First Executive Director
Foundation's
growth to be managed by Elizabeth Woolfe, experienced breast cancer
leader
NORWOOD N.J.-June 7, 2010 -- The Triple Negative
Breast Cancer Foundation (TNBCF) announced that Elizabeth Woolfe, an
experienced non-profit executive and breast cancer community leader,
has joined the Foundation as its first executive director.
TNBCF was founded in 2006 as the only organization focused exclusively
on triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of breast cancer
that can be difficult to treat and is more prevalent in younger women,
African American women and Latinas.
"We raised a lot of
money, drove important research and supported thousands of patients as
an all-volunteer organization over a relatively short time," said Hayley Dinerman, TNBCF's board chair, and a
member of the group of friends who founded the organization to honor
Nancy Block-Zenna, a young woman who lost her battle with the
disease. "Our board recognized that we needed an experienced
staff leader and the infrastructure to leverage our success to meet
tremendous need," she added. "Our early focus on
raising money for research and increasing awareness evolved as we
recognized that we had become an essential resource for the thousands
of triple negative patients around the world who look to us for
specific information, support and a place to connect with one another.
"
Ms. Woolfe has been a nonprofit
professional for over 25 years, creating and implementing innovative
marketing and educational strategies, with significant experience
working on a senior level with breast cancer organizations such as
Breast Cancer Network of Strength, Fashion Targets Breast Cancer and
the National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations (NABCO). She has a
Master's degree in Public Health from UCLA and lives in Atlantic Beach,
NY with her husband.
In addition to providing
strategic direction to the TNBCF, Ms. Woolfe will also maintain and
develop new partnerships with other breast cancer organizations to
leverage resources and eliminate duplication. Existing patient
support partnerships include:
· TNBCF's hotline, telephone and
online support groups in partnership with CancerCare. (Go to www.tnbcfoundation.org/supportgroups.htm
for more information)
· TNBCF's Clinical Trials
Matching Service in partnership with EmergingMed. (www.emergingmed.com/networks/tnbcf/)
· "Guide to Understanding
Triple Negative Breast Cancer" brochure, in partnership with
Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC). (To order a brochure, go to www.tnbcfoundation.org/tnbcbrochure.htm)
· Educational teleconferences in
partnership with LBBC. (To listen to this podcast, go to http://lbbc.org/transcript-category.asp?transcriptcategory=medical)
Promise Grant
TNBCF invested in a $6.4
million, five-year grant to support a team of researchers at the
University of Alabama that has shown in early studies that an antibody
(drug) they have developed might be an effective targeted therapy for
triple negative tumors. The Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Promise Grant co-funded by the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation
marks the first time that Komen for the Cure has collaborated with
another non-profit organization to fund national research, and was the
largest single grant focused on triple negative disease when it was
announced.
About Triple Negative Breast
Cancer
It is now commonly understood
that most breast cancers are characterized by the presence of three
receptors (proteins found inside or on the surface of breast cells):
estrogen, progesterone and HER2. These receptors are not
"expressed" in women with triple negative breast cancer -
hence the name. Since most treatments available today are aimed at
those receptors, TNBC is difficult to treat, and the tumors are often
more aggressive. Triple negative breast cancer represents approximately
15 percent of all breast cancer cases. It disproportionately
affects younger women, African American women and Latinas.
About Triple Negative Breast
Cancer Foundation
Launched in 2006 in honor of
Nancy Block-Zenna, a young woman who was diagnosed at age 35 with
triple negative breast cancer and died less than three years later, the
Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation®supports the triple negative
community and focuses on raising awareness and supporting research to
find a cure for the disease. For more information about the
Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation®or triple negative breast
cancer, visit http://www.tnbcfoundation.org
or call 646-942-0242.
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