Friday, April 18, 2025
4/18/2025
Breast Cancer in Young Women-Thriving After a Diagnosis - Each year, more than 270,000 individuals will be diagnosed and more than 42,000 will die from breast cancer in the US. Young women with breast cancer (YWBC) are more often diagnosed at an advanced stage, with aggressive tumor features, and suffer inferior survival outcomes. Women with metastatic breast cancer require ongoing therapy and most will succumb to their disease. Black women are disproportionately affected, tend to present at a younger age, and are more likely to die from breast cancer. Regardless of the stage, YWBC are faced with multiple challenges. Recognizing and addressing the unique needs of YWBC through coordinated support and educational awareness are crucial throughout the trajectory of care. At the Johns Hopkins Breast Cancer Program (JHBCP), the median age of patients with new breast cancer diagnoses is 55. About 25% of the women seen in our clinic are 45 or younger, compared to 11% nationally, and about 20% were Black. With generous funding from the CDC through DP-1408, we established and expanded robust clinical, educational, and research activities to support the needs of YWBC at Johns Hopkins and our community. While we enjoyed many successes that have benefited our patients, we also experienced new challenges. We recognize the need to provide multidisciplinary care to those with advanced disease, to expand our services to our community sites, and to tailor services to our minority and underserved patients who would benefit from culturally-sensitive interventions. Through 3 strategic goals, specific activities, needs and resource assessments, and priority setting, evaluation and performance measurement plan, established and new partnerships, and guidance from an expert advisory board, we will not only expand and establish new interventions to support YWBC in our catchment area, but we will also extend our successful activities to other communities around the nation. Goal 1: Expand personalized approaches for care of YWBC, and establish a new multi-disciplinary clinic for young women with advanced disease. Goal 2: Develop and implement innovative technology-assisted educational engagement and outreach tools for patients, for families and caregivers, and for healthcare professionals. Goal 3: Implement results from ongoing clinical trials. With a strong leadership and infrastructure, we are committed to execute a comprehensive program to ensure that YWBC around the nation receive optimal individualized education and quality care that will lead to improved treatment adherence, reduced symptom burden, improved quality of life, and survival outcomes, while also reducing the disparity gap.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).