The mission of the California Breast Cancer Research Program is to eliminate breast cancer by leading innovation in research, communication, and collaboration in the California scientific and lay communities.
Taxpayer Contributions Address Unique Breast Cancer Issues in California Communities
January 28, 2010—Oakland, CA—Thanks to voluntary taxpayer contributions, a researcher at the Scripps Research Institute is investigating a new target for treating brain metastasis; a postdoctoral student at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope is researching breast cancer risk factors and survival in African American and White women; and a research team at University of California, Los Angeles, is studying the relationship between patients’ abilities to understand their health information and the outcomes of their treatment.
These taxpayer contributions, known as the Tax Check-off, are on California individuals’ state income tax forms, and are fully tax deductible. The California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) receives contributions to Line 450, and the Program’s Breast Cancer Research Council applies those funds received to research projects that they feel are of special interest to California. Previous contributions have supported all or part of 51 research projects, such as:
- Reliable predictors of aggressive disease
- Better support networks for socially or geographically isolated women
- Reproductive concerns among younger breast cancer survivors
- Racial and ethnic disparities in breast cancer incidence and mortality
- Earlier detection methods, such as optical detectors or blood tests
“Tax Check-off contributions extend our ability to pursue research answers that aren’t on a federal agenda,” says Mhel Kavanaugh-Lynch, M.D., M.P.H., director of the CBCRP. “Although all of our research is focused on California, these tax check-off projects generally have a component that could advance more rapidly into clinical use, or could help inform changes in health policy or health service delivery. They’re tremendously important to the program.”
