The time has come to “Ignite” bolder conversations and actions to bring awareness, attention and solutions that improve breast health outcomes for Black women. UChicago Medicine’s Dr. Funmi Olopade, Dr. Kirti Kulkarni, and Donna Christian NP were invited to join with local community partners to present this educational two-day event on March 31 and April 1. The event was sponsored by Sisters Working It Out (SWIO), Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF), and Gilead Sciences.
The first day of the event was “Fire Starters,” an intimate conversation about triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) attended by 40 women in leadership or who are influencers in their communities. This event was meant to activate the conversation about TNBC in Black women. The discussion was led by Shonta Chambers from PAF and Dr. Sheri Prentiss, founder of Live-Today.org. Dr. Funmi Olopade, TNBC survivor Yvette Sanders, and Deborah H. Telman from Gilead Sciences also helped to ignite the conversation.
The discussion was the perfect introduction for day two: "TNBC: It’s A Black Thing We Need To Understand." Dr. Olopade was the keynote speaker and well-received by the attendees who included breast cancer survivors, care takers, family members, and community health workers. She presented on TNBC in women of color, how genetics can play a key role in breast cancer patients, and how early detection can save lives. She encouraged the audience to go home and make a family tree, find out the history of their families--good and bad, pertaining to cancers in their families. The second presenter was Ricki Fairly from TOUCHBBCA.org, who focused on clinical trials and why it's important for Black women to participate. Breakout sessions were also implemented. Dr. Kulkarni held an educational session focusing on breast density as well as genetics. Donna Christian, NP focused on questions you should ask your provider, advocating for yourself and managing your diagnosis in her breakout session. A panel of TNBC survivors, including UCM Dr. Monica Peek gave their testimonies including how TNBC impacted their lives, how they go about living a normal everyday life as a survivor and how they want to help future Black women. Local vendors were on site providing many different resources for breast cancer survivors and their families.
Thank you to everyone who participated. Sisters Working it Out hopes to host this event annually in the future!
