Olufunmilayo "Funmi" I. Olopade, MBBS, FACP, of the University of Chicago, presented with the 2009 ASCO-American Cancer Society Award

During her lecture, entitled, A Family-based Approach to Primary Prevention of Breast Cancer, Dr. Olopade said, "The beauty of personalized medicine is that a 21-year-old woman at high risk for breast and ovarian cancers today has options for prevention." In her remarks, she gave an overview of the history of breast cancer genetics and how that research is now being used for risk assessment and prevention.

Dr. Olopade is the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor in Medicine and Human Genetics, Associate Dean for Global Health, and Director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics at the University of Chicago. An oncologist for more than 25 years, she has devoted her career to shifting the focus away from the treatment of cancer to the overall prevention of it. As an internationally recognized hematologist/oncologist, she specializes in cancer risk assessment, prevention, early detection, and treatment of aggressive breast cancer that disproportionately affects young women.

Dr. Olopade began her medical career in her home country of Nigeria where she received her medical degree with distinction from the University of Ibadan. "In medical school in Nigeria, we were always taught that prevention was better than a cure," said Dr. Olopade. Before moving to the United States as a resident in internal medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Dr. Olopade’s background in training revolved around public health and the improvement of health care through prevention.

BCRF has supported Dr. Olopade’s research on breast cancer genetics, including a project that has established the first collaborative team of investigators qualified to conduct breast cancer clinical trials in Nigeria, since 2001.