Investigating Breast Cancer BCRF

What is triple-negative breast cancer and how is it identified? How can triple-negative breast cancers escape the immune system? And how can determining whether circulating tumor DNA in blood samples be used to predict metastatic breast cancer or treatment resistance in patients with aggressive disease?

BCRF investigator since 2007, Dr. Hope Rugo answers these questions and many more on the latest episode of Investigating Breast Cancer.

Many extraordinary new treatments, diagnostic tests, and procedures for breast cancer patients have been introduced in the past decade—and more are needed and sure to come. But researchers are still exploring ways to improve health disparities in cancer care delivery, quality of care, and quality of life for patients and thrivers.

In this latest episode, we spoke to BCRF Investigator since 2008, Dr. Dawn Hershman, on ways to shrink these gaps in care.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) makes up about 15 percent of all the breast cancers diagnosed. And, better therapeutic strategies are urgently needed to treat this breast cancer subtype. BCRF Investigator, Dr. Elisa Port is working to combat drug resistance in TNBC by developing a drug for the protein PRKCQ—a promising therapeutic target that may make TNBC more responsive to chemotherapy.

Can cancers resulting from lifestyle choices be preventable? What foods should you be eating to reduce your risk of breast cancer? And what non-lifestyle decisions should be considered when looking to reduce their risk?


Dr. Graham Colditz, a BCRF investigator since 2004, has spent decades diving into these questions and more. Dr. Colditz is an internationally recognized leader in cancer prevention. As an epidemiologist and public health expert, he has a longstanding interest in the preventable causes of chronic disease, particularly among women. He is also interested in strategies to speed translation of research findings to prevention strategies that work.

BCRF’s annual Boston Hot Pink Luncheon and Symposium convenes the Foundation’s dedicated New England–based supporters to honor the area’s investigators and raise additional funds for lifesaving breast cancer research.


This year’s virtual program included an outstanding expert panel of BCRF investigators, moderated by BCRF Scientific Director Dr. Judy Garber. The panelists discussed novel breast cancer therapies and what’s on the horizon in research. The symposium panelists included Dr. Melinda Irwin, Dr. Elizabeth Mittendorf, and Dr. Dennis Sgroi.


We’re proud to make their discussion available in this special episode of Investigating Breast Cancer.

Effective medicine has always relied on clear and verifiable diagnoses. Of course, for patients, the wait and uncertainty of diagnostics can be especially trying.


BCRF investigator since 2019, Dr. Connie Lehman, is among the scientists and practitioners trying to change that. And she’s doing it in myriad ways to drastically reduce wait times and detect cancers earlier. Dr. Lehman is a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, and chief of Breast Imaging and co-director of the Avon Comprehensive Breast Evaluation Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital.