Tigerlily Foundation Hosts Historic Young Women’s Metastatic Breast Cancer Disparities Fireside Chat at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

Washington, DC, December 10, 2019 --(PR.com)-- This first of its kind event is centered on understanding the gaps, misperceptions and barriers within the healthcare system that affect young women of color with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). This initiative is aimed at building bridges between women of color, scientists, advocacy groups and industry, as well as increasing engagement in clinical trials and providing a public forum for honest, and sometimes uncomfortable, conversations in a safe space.

Tigerlily Foundation’s Young Women’s MBC Disparities Fireside Chat will give young women of color a “seat at the table” by providing them a platform at the largest global scientific meeting focused on breast cancer – SABCS. This program is part of a broader program, Tigerlily Foundation’s Young Women’s MBC Disparities Initiative. The SABCS event will convene a diverse representation of people from communities of color impacted by MBC.

As part of this initiative, Tigerlily Foundation will train individuals who are new to advocacy to be effective leaders in their communities. After the MBC Disparities Fireside Chat, advocates will attend various SABCS presentations, advocacy, poster sessions and the best of SABCS meetings, providing them with additional “seats at the table” and allowing them to work side-by-side with some of the best in breast cancer research and advocacy. Advocates will also have an opportunity to participate in the pilot GRASP program (Guiding Researchers and Advocates to Scientific Partnerships) for a guided walkthrough of SABCS posters with a researcher who will provide additional scientific expertise. After leaving SABCS, the advocates will participate in a one-year cohort program that will offer education, training and immersive experiences in their local community and nationally. Advocates will share their perspectives from these various opportunities via digital content with their local communities.

“The MBC Disparities Listening Summit was absolutely amazing; it was captivating, invigorating and motivating... As someone who is African American living with MBC, this was my first time ever meeting so many women of color with this disease. I truly thought I was alone. This was a space that is needed, and I hope to see more targeted programs like this because this helped me truly realize how many disparities we face. We need to have more emphasis on understanding why African American women die at a much higher rate of breast cancer. It’s up to advocates like us to make sure we are not forgotten. Our voices matter so let’s keep using them to reach audiences that have never been reached before and that audience is the African American community.” - Shonte Drakeford, an MBC patient and advocate

Sheila McGlown, an MBC patient and advocate, says, “I am thankful to Tigerlily Foundation for organizing such an amazing event to spotlight the dire attention needed to address the disparities that African American women face as young women, and as women of color living with MBC, in a forum where we can cross share information about strategies to reach this vulnerable population.”

"Attending Tigerlily's MBC Disparities Summit this past March was a life-changing experience for. We learned about the importance of listening to women of color speak their truth about the disparities they face within the medical system. This event inspired us to make the pledge that we will not participate in any breast cancer-related campaigns that don't represent the voice of a person of color. The metastatic community also faces disparities and we are thankful to the non-metastatic advocates for following suit with this pledge, ensuring the metastatic voice is also represented." – Christine Hodgdon and Julia Maues

Maimah Karmo, President, Tigerlily Foundation, shared, “This initiative builds on the landscape-changing work that Tigerlily Foundation has accomplished to work to end disparities of age, stage and color. We look forward to building a table for young women of color at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; we are excited about launching our cohort with these young women next year, along with a national tour to create change in communities facing disparities. look forward to amplifying and elevating the conversation around young women of color, metastatic breast cancer, clinical trials and health disparities.”

The Amanda de Fiebre Legacy Travel Grant was generously established to support travel for an additional nine African American patient advocates from underserved areas to attend SABCS and participate in the GRASP program. Amanda de Fiebre, a tireless patient advocate who faithfully attended breast cancer conferences including SABCS, died of MBC this past August.

This event is hosted in partnership with the MBC Alliance; and is generously supported by independent grants from Daiichi Sankyo, Puma Biotechnology, Pfizer, Agendia, Amgen, Genentech, Lilly Oncology, Novartis, Seattle Genetics, Myriad, Paxman Scalp Cooling, Sanofi, Macrogenics, Foundation Medicine, ImmunomedicsPaxman Scalp Cooling, Sanofi Genzyme, Forward4Tobi and the Amanda de Fiebre Legacy Travel Grant; and in partnership with The Iris Collaborative.

Event Information:

Title: The SABCS Young Women’s Metastatic Breast Cancer Fireside Chat (Panel Discussion, Clinical Trials and Disparities Twitter Chat and Facebook Live)

Date/Time: December 10, 2019, 7:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Location: The Historic Menger Hotel, Minuet Room, 204 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, Texas 78205

Additional Information: Email mbc@tigerlilyfoundation.org for more information on this initiative, to interview participants at SABCS or in their local communities, or for more information on partnership or sponsorship opportunities.