Over the next four years, different aspects of the Affordable Care Act, our country’s new health care reform law, will be put into place. Here’s what you need to know right now:

1. The federal government has launched a new website www.healthcare.gov, where you can find up-to-date information about  your health care options. On the site you can also determine if you qualify for a government health program.

2. Individuals with preexisting health conditions who have been unable to get health insurance can now enroll in the temporary high-risk insurance pool, called the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan. This plan will stay in place until January 2014, which is when insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage based on a preexisting medical condition.

3. If you have a new health insurance plan or insurance policy that begins on or after September 23, 2010, there are certain preventive services that the plan must cover without your having to pay a copayment or coinsurance or meet your deductible, when these services are delivered by a network provider. These services include mammography, breast cancer risk reduction counseling, cervical cancer screening, and osteoporosis screening for all women over age 60 who have specific risk factors. You can see the full list of Covered Preventive Services.

I hope you are having a lovely summer!

It has been about a week since I returned from my recent trip to China to monitor our Foundation’s study, “The Development of a Breast Fluid Test to Identify Women at Risk for Breast Cancer.” Our goal for this research project is to develop a “home test” that women could use to determine whether they are at risk of developing breast cancer.

In most of the world breast cancer occurs more frequently in premenopausal women.  And most of these women do not have access to screening and diagnostic facilities.  The overall number of cases is not huge, so in most cases finding the women with breast cancer is akin to looking for a needle in a haystack. This means that if there were a simple test that a woman could do herself (like a home pregnancy test) to find out whether she was at risk of developing breast cancer, and if she knew that a positive test meant it was worth the effort to obtain additional screening, it could be transformative. 
Continue Reading »

I’m very excited that I have been asked to be a speaker at The Women’s Conference 2010!

The Women’s Conference, created seven years ago by California First Lady Maria Shriver and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, features presentations and workshops designed to empower and inspire its 30,000 attendees to make important changes in their lives, their communities, and the world.

The conference also provides ample opportunity for attendees to engage in intimate conversations with other women who share their concerns and interests in issues that matter most to women today.

At the previous conferences I have attended, these opportunities have allowed me to meet and chat with hundreds of breast cancer advocates, Foundation supporters, and Army of Women members—and l’m looking forward to having that opportunity again this year.

This year’s Women’s Conference will be held from Sunday, October 24 through Tuesday, October 26 at the Long Beach Convention Center.

I will be speaking at The Main Event, which will take place on Tuesday, October 26. Please stop by and say “Hi!”

You can learn more about the The Women’s Conference at womensconference.org.

There have been several interesting media reports about cancer lately. First, there was the study that showed that women who participated in a psychological intervention at the time of their breast cancer diagnosis did significantly better (a statistical term) than those who did not. Then there was the study that showed that intraoperative radiation was as good as six weeks of radiation in selected patients.

Both of these well-designed studies provoked incredulity from the medical world: “intraoperative radiation therapy termed experimental!” screamed one headline. “Oncologists skeptical regarding psychological interventions” blurted another. Yet, these are the same people who tout a two-month increase in survival from a new drug as earth shattering news.
Continue Reading »

Every now and again a research study grabs my attention because the investigators have gone off on a new path and have published findings that make me think: Wow, they could be on to something! In other instances, a study grabs me not because of what the researchers found, but because the media made it sound so much better than it was.  And sometimes it’s a bit both—which is why I want to talk to you about the breast cancer vaccine that’s been all over the news.

The idea that we can use vaccines in cancer isn’t new. A number of researchers have been trying to develop vaccines that could be used to treat cancer. These vaccines are designed to try to get the body’s immune system to go after cancer cells, and there are a number of clinical trials now underway testing these vaccines right now.
Continue Reading »

THANK YOU to the hundreds of women and men who joined us on June 6 in Pacific Palisades for this fabulous 5K event, which raises funds to benefit the Foundation’s breast cancer research projects and pilot grant program.  It was great to walk with you, talk with you, and hear your thoughts about moving breast cancer research forward. Your support for our work makes it possible for us to not only conduct research but to get people the information they need about all aspects of breast cancer prevention, detection and treatment.  Thank you!!!!We look forward to seeing you next year!

If you missed the Third Annual Love Walk, it’s not too late to show your support for our walkers by making a donation to the Foundation!

Continue Reading »

Findings from a study published in Nature Medicine conducted by researchers at Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute attracted lots of attention after the Institute’s public relations department issued a press release that shouted, “Cleveland Clinic Researchers Develop Prototype Vaccine To Prevent Breast Cancer: Research Could Lead to First Vaccine to Prevent Breast Cancer Formation in Women over Age 40 and Women at High Risk.”

The press release pronounced that the “first-of-its-kind vaccine to prevent breast cancer has shown overwhelmingly favorable results in animal models,” and quoted Vincent Tuohy, PhD, the study’s principal investigator, saying, “We believe that this vaccine will someday be used to prevent breast cancer in adult women in the same way that vaccines prevent polio and measles in children. If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental. We could eliminate breast cancer.”

The media responded in droves, resulting in hundreds of international headlines like “Vaccine Appears to Prevent Breast Cancer in Mice” and “Experts Praise Promise of Breast Cancer Vaccine.”

It made me want to shout, “Don’t believe the hype!”
Continue Reading »

In partnership with the
Pacific Palisades Junior Women’s Club

June 6, 2010
Pacific Palisades, California
8:00 a.m. Check-in and Registration
9:00 a.m. Start of the Walk

I NEED YOU … to walk with us on June 6, 2010, in the Third Annual Love Walk to eradicate breast cancer! The Love Walk is our main fundraiser and supports our research into how the breast works, our work on creating a home test for breast cancer risk, and our efforts to find a better way to prevent breast cancer. It cannot be done without your help!
Continue Reading »

The research staff at the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation has recently completed several research studies. Although all of the data has not yet been analyzed, we have several interesting results that we believe will advance our understanding of breast cancer.

On May 4, 2010, we shared some of our findings with our research participants and other invited guests at “An Afternoon of Results,” an event held at the Main Branch of the Santa Monica Public Library, which is located near the Foundation’s offices in Santa Monica, Calif. The event was a wonderful informal review of our research collaborations. These were some of the highlights:
Continue Reading »

I want to draw your attention to an exciting study that was recently published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and that is truly deserving of the media attention it has received. (I know some of the researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, who authored this paper, and have been following their work for years.)

Why am I so excited? Well, this is the first time that scientists have discovered biomarkers that appear to predict which women with the pre-cancer ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are most likely to go on to develop invasive breast cancer and which are not.  In addition they identified a separate group that was more likely to have a local recurrence of DCIS.  Interestingly these two groups were not the same.
Continue Reading »