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The Collaborative Summit was facilitated by the Avon Foundation and theFoundation for the National Institutes of Health, and co-funded by the AvonFoundation and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, who worked with co-organizers tocreate an event to bring together those who raise and award funds with thosewho are on the edge of new discoveries, with the goal of discussing possiblenew collaborations and cooperation to end the burden of breast cancer. Keytopics addressed by the funders, advocates, researchers, regulators, industryrepresentatives, and social scientists included the current federal governmentbudget crisis in research funding and a definition of new research fundingparadigms to optimize opportunities and reduce barriers and waste, all towardsthe goal of eradicating breast cancer.
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Attendance at the Collaborative Summit was by invitation only, and theevent was closed to the public and media to ensure open dialogue. In additionto the Avon Foundation and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, attendees includedrepresentatives from the co-organizers: The Breast Cancer Research Foundation,American Association for Cancer Research, American Cancer Society, the ASCOFoundation, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, the NationalBreast Cancer Coalition Fund, the National Cancer Institute, Polo Ralph LaurenFoundation Pink Pony, and more. Other organizations represented included theFood and Drug Administration, Eli Lilly, Inc., AstraZeneca, and academicleaders from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Dana-Farber CancerInstitute, Johns Hopkins University, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the SalkInstitute, and the University of California Los Angeles and others.
"Collaboration is at the heart of the mission of the Avon Foundation andwill be key to eradicating breast cancer. We have been committed since 1992to advancing access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer worldwide,and have facilitated collaboration among the hundreds of cancer centers andbreast health organizations we fund to maximize the efforts of all. Now, withthis unprecedented meeting, collaboration is brought into the arena of fundersand advocates," stated Carol Kurzig, Executive Director, Avon Foundation."There is a new diagnosis of breast cancer about every three minutes, andthere is still work to be done together."
Within the next 25 years, an estimated 10 million women around the worldwill die because of breast cancer. "It is going to take all of us, workingtogether united in this fight to discover and deliver the cures for thisdreaded disease. We have to commit to mobilizing people, ensuring opendialogue and maximizing funding if we are to end breast cancer. Cancer as awhole kills some 7 million people around the globe each year," said HalaModdelmog, President and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "Since ourinception 25 years ago, Susan G. Komen for the Cure has invested in breastcancer research and community outreach programs, and over the next decade, weplan to increase our investment to demonstrate the seriousness of ourcommitment."
The Collaborative Summit opened with an address by the Honorable JohnEdwards Porter, Vice Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for the NationalInstitutes of Health, followed by Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker, founder ofSusan G. Komen for the Cure, the world's largest grassroots network ofsurvivors and a
