I participated in the Komen Ko-mentoring program, which matches an advocate and a young, post-doctoral Komen grantee for the three days. My post-doc was named Ruby and hails from Washington University in Kansas. She presented a poster on a new protein which spontaneously grows in mice tumors and is thought to be relevant to breast cancer growth and development. She is a delightful young woman - energetic, passionate about her science and will surely make a name for herself in the scientific community.
The highlight of the convention, for me, was the annual luncheon. Komen founder, Nancy Brinker, spoke briefly. She is truly an inspiration to us all. Former Surgeon General, and now, NYS Department of Health Commissioner, Antonia Novella, brought the house down with her right-on-the money remarks about health care, or lack of it, for the underinsured and minority populations.
There was a video presentation of all the Komen doctoral grantees and then each one received their Komen lab coat as a symbol of their achievement. It was a touching ceremony.
The entire Komen national staff did an outstanding job of pulling together this three day event. The scientific sessions were to the point; the sessions presented by former local grant recipients showed a variety of projects and how much we can all learn from each other and benefit by other projects. The panel discussions were insightful and it never ceases to amaze me - the questions that the audience comes up with.
I got a chance to visit with a scientist, from Georgetown University, whom I greatly admire. Peter is young, enthusiastic and has a brilliant scientific mind and was a former Komen post-doc. He is now a grant recipient for his present laboratory studies.
One of the newest former post-docs has started a website for the Komen fellows. I think this is important for them to be able to network with other young researchers.
Komen showed, anew, why they are the #1 breast cancer foundation. The event was classy, tasteful, information-packed, advocate-driven and exhibted the passion of all those who care about breast cancer.
Next year's conference is in Washington, D.C. and I'm already making plans to attend.
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