president's message
Reviewing BCRF's evolution is an exhilarating and satisfying experience. In 2001, BCRF awarded grants totaling $8.5 million to 49 researchers in the U.S. and its first international grant to Dr. Ephrat Levy-Lahad in Israel. Since then, BCRF's grant-making has become
global. We have nearly quadrupled the research portfolio, with $36.5 million in grants in 2011-2012 to 186 investigators based in 13 countries - the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Australia, the Middle East and China. Cumulatively, BCRF has raised more than $360 million for breast cancer research to date, over $290 million of that in the last ten years. We have come a long way. To what can we attribute our success?
(Photo: Julie Skarratt)
We are united in
our shared responsibility to fund research, our shared demand that it adheres to the highest standards, and our shared responsibility to ensure that its benefits are translated to the clinic, for the patients who need it.
As we reflect on BCRF's evolution, it is the volume and variety of donors - individuals, corporations, and foundations who have contributed to BCRF - that is most remarkable. You have all helped BCRF become a widely respected organization that consistently earns top ratings from charity watchdogs. It is the combined effort of all donors, large and small, who have contributed to our success. Your generosity as Board, Advisory Board and Leaders Council members, your attendance at special events, your engagement and support of BCRF through community groups, the workplace, schools and other local programs, your determination to spread awareness of our cause, and, above all, your heartfelt donations, are what sustain this organization and fuel our growth.
Thanks to you, BCRF has also influenced the culture of biomedical research. With your support, BCRF has demonstrated that collaboration, not competition, is key to advances. Our distinctive grant-making model has fostered dialogue among scientists across disciplines and is creating more effective treatments and prevention strategies, which will ultimately eradicate breast cancer.
Synergistically, our grantees' research endeavors and your philanthropic investments translate into breakthroughs for those diagnosed with breast cancer and lay the foundation so that no one else will develop the disease. Please accept our most sincere thanks for these ten glorious years. Furthermore, thank you all for contributing to a future filled with hope for the possibility of a world without breast cancer!
Sincerely,
Myra J. Biblowit
