Benign Breast Disease: A New Frontier for Prevention

工作描述(申请人提供)：在过去的二十年里，我一直从事乳腺癌和卵巢癌患者及其家人的护理工作。在那段时间里，我的研究重点逐渐从疾病的管理转向预防。人类基因组计划的工作加强了这一方向，该计划在促进我们对癌症的遗传基础的了解方面取得了巨大进展，公众和卫生保健界对疾病预防和控制的巨大潜力的认识也得到了提高。在这个框架的基础上，我开发了一个国家认可的以研究为基础的计划，以家族性癌症风险为定义，在其中探索新的教育和咨询干预措施和预防策略。我与基础科学、人口科学和行为科学的同事们建立了长期的合作关系，以促进翻译研究。我帮助培训了许多级别的科学家，他们是癌症预防和控制领域的新手。我代表的是癌症预防和控制领域的少数研究人员之一，他们将理论驱动的研究倡议与实际转化为临床环境相结合。在我职业生涯的这一点上，K05奖将使我能够将这些努力扩展到越来越多且未得到充分服务的女性群体，这些女性因被诊断为良性乳腺疾病而面临更高的乳腺癌风险。在分子医学的新时代，这一群体提供了一个理想的机会来研究癌症风险的早期分子特征，识别风险的遗传修饰因素，并根据病变的生物学特点定制预防方案。该奖项还将促进我在医学肿瘤学奖学金内正式设立一个新的临床遗传学培训轮换，并将提供更多机会指导各级培训的学生。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): For the past twenty years, I have been involved with the care of women with breast and ovarian cancer, and their families. During that time my research focus has gradually shifted from management of the disease to its prevention. This direction has been enhanced by the work of the Human Genome Project, which has made tremendous progress in advancing our understanding of the genetic basis of cancer, and by the increased awareness on the part of both the public and the health care community of the tremendous potential for disease prevention and control. Building on this framework, I have developed a nationally recognized research-based program, defined by familial cancer risk, in which to explore novel education and counseling interventions and prevention strategies. I have formed longstanding collaborations with colleagues in the basic sciences, population sciences and behavioral sciences to foster translational research. I have contributed to the training of scientists at many levels who are new to the field of cancer prevention and control. I represent one of a handful of investigators in the field of cancer prevention and control who combines theory-driven research initiatives with actual translation to the clinical setting. At this point in my career, the K05 award will allow me to extend these efforts to a growing and underserved population of women who are at increased risk for breast cancer because of a diagnosis of benign breast disease. In the new era of molecular medicine, this population provides an ideal opportunity to study early molecular signatures of cancer risk, to identify genetic modifiers of risk, and to tailor preventive options to the biology of the lesion. The award will also facilitate my efforts to formalize a novel clinical genetics training rotation within the medical oncology fellowship, and will afford more opportunities to mentor students at all levels of training.