Advocacy Spotlight

Our Advocacy Spotlights celebrate women whose support has changed the face of breast cancer. These are women to watch, trailblazers from a wide array of career paths and areas of expertise, all making their own contribution to eradicating breast cancer as we know it. 

Get to know them and keep up with their work!

Paula Schneider, President & CEO, Susan G. Komen

@SusanGKomen 

As president & CEO of Susan G. Komen, Paula Schneider is responsible for day-to-day operations, strategic direction, and is accountable for the world’s largest breast cancer organization. Komen’s mission is to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening, and treatment. Having made more than $3.5 billion in investments in breast cancer research, advocacy and patient support since its founding in 1982, Komen has helped to reduce the breast cancer mortality rate by 43%. 

As a breast cancer survivor, mother of two daughters and having lost her own mother to metastatic breast cancer, Schneider’s work is personal as she brings a unique combination of business expertise and real-world perspective to Komen’s mission.

Anne Bruinvels, OWise Founder

@OWiseBreast 

Anne Beuinvels is the founder of OWise, an app that offers a suite of tailored information and tools to support women with breast cancer. OWise includes information on disease pathology and care pathways, tailored questions to prompt discussion with healthcare practitioners, an audio-recording function for use in consultations, a symptom tracker and an appointment diary.

Brunveils was inspired to create OWise by a combination of factors: ”One big moment was in 2010 and the first iPad had now been launched. It became clear to me that digital technology could be a game-changer in supporting people with chronic diseases and cancer. Around that time, I was also leading the European Personalized Medicine Association. I was advocating for more personalized treatments rather than a one treatment for all approach and to make newly discovered personalized treatments and diagnostic tests more easily available for those who need it, particularly for cancer patients.”

Marissa Thomas, BSHCA

@ForTheBreastOfUs

Marissa Thomas is co-founder and CEO of For the Breast of Us, an online platform for women of color affected by breast cancer and their families. A devoted patient advocate, with years of experience as a medical assistant, Thomas serves as program coordinator at ExtraHop, a cybersecurity company in Seattle.  

Diagnosed in November 2015, she turned to social media as a way to connect with other women and find stories similar to hers in hopes of making the journey easier. Being a private person, it was hard to face the realities and harshness of breast cancer, all while trying to remain positive for those around her. In an interview with Savio P. Clemente, Thomas revealed it was at the urging of a close friend and fellow breast cancer survivor that she finally opened up publicly, showing not only the beauty but the rawness that comes with breast cancer.

Dr. Ann Partridge, MD, MPH

@AnnPartridgeMD 

Dr. Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, is a prominent medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer. She serves as Vice Chair of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she founded and directs the Program for Young Adults with Breast Cancer and the Adult Survivorship Program. Holding the Eric P. Winer, MD, Chair in Breast Cancer Research, she is also a Senior Physician at Dana-Farber and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Recently, Partridge has been named Interim Chair of Medical Oncology for Dana-Farber.

Her research focuses on communications with cancer survivors, risk perceptions, behavioral aspects of cancer care, race disparities in breast cancer outcomes, understanding and intervening to improve survivorship care, long-term effects of cancer and cancer treatment, and the unique disease and issues facing young women with breast cancer.