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Founding Organizations and Core Leadership

The Breast Health Global Initiative (BHGI) is an ongoing program, founded by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.

Leadership / Executive Committee

BHGI CO-FOUNDER, CHAIR & DIRECTOR
Benjamin O. Anderson, M.D.
Full Member, Division of Public Health Sciences at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Professor of Surgery and Joint Professor in the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington
Director of the Breast Health Clinic, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Seattle, Washington

"We have a wealth of knowledge about saving lives from breast cancer when we have all the resources in place. The Breast Health Global Initiative addresses how to put into practice optimal breast healthcare measures in countries where healthcare resources, and awareness, are limited, and where cultural barriers need to be overcome."

Dr. Anderson is Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle. He was recruited to join the University of Washington Breast Care and Cancer Research Program in 1994 and served as the breast program's Clinical Medical Director from 1998 to 2003. As the Director of the University of Washington's Breast Health Center, Dr. Anderson's has devoted his clinical practice to the care of patients with breast cancer and breast health issues. Dr. Anderson received the American Cancer Society Career Development Award for breast cancer research in 1995 and received a joint faculty appointment at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and from 1998 through 2001 served as Associate Program Head for the Hutchinson's Breast Cancer Research Program. Dr. Anderson is the President for the American Society for Breast Disease (ASBD), 2005-2007.

In 2002, Dr. Anderson founded the Breast Health Global Initiative, an international project to define guidelines for breast cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment in countries with limited health care resources. As the BGHI Chair and Director, Dr. Anderson has worked to integrate the development of practical breast health care guidelines into a research framework to promote health care outcomes analysis. He is now focusing BHGI on implementation and study of the Guidelines through international pilot projects to test and validate them, and create modular healthcare programs.

BHGI CHAIRMAN, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Eduardo L. Cazap, MD, PhD
President, Latinamerican and Caribbean Society of Medical Oncology (SLACOM), Buenos Aires, Argentina
President-Elect, International Union Against Cancer, Geneva Switzerland

“I am involved with the Breast Health Global Initiative because I have a special interest in the problem of global cancer control and, principally, in trying to solve the inequalities in the access to cancer prevention and treatment between the developed countries and the developing ones.”

Dr. Cazap is founder and present President of SLACOM. He graduated in medical oncology from the Universidad del Salvador in 1978. He obtained a fellowship from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) at Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown University in 1984; he was Principal Investigator, Collaborative Cancer Research Treatment Program (CCTRP), PAHO/NCI in 1984; he obtained a fellowship from the American Cancer Society in 1985 and the European Recertification in Medical Oncology, from ESMO in Copenhagen in 1991. He was professor of Clinical Oncology at the Universidad del Salvador in 1984-98 and professor of Medical Oncology I at the Universidad Católica Argentina in 188-2000. He was also founder of the Charter of Paris against Cancer in Paris, France in 2000. He has more than 150 papers published in the specialty.

BHGI Executive Committee Member
Joanne Manrique
Executive Director
Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Global Health Alliance 

Joanne Manrique is the Executive Director of the Susan G. Komen Global Health Alliance, where she leads global strategy for Komen. Mrs. Manrique has served as an advisor to multiple global leaders including as Maternal Health Advisor to Sarah Brown, former first Lady of the UK; as Latin America Advisor to presidential candidate John Kerry; and as a Women's Research & Education Institute fellow advising United States Representative Rosa DeLauro on FDA and international women’s health issues. Mrs. Manrique also served as Executive Director to the President of Experior Advisory, a firm run by the former Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere.  Her work at Experior included directing research and policy projects on public health programs for refugees, women and children in the Middle East and Latin America.  Mrs. Manrique has spoken widely on the effects that armed conflict has on women’s health. In Lebanon, she helped to establish an NGO to advance critical aid projects, without regard for religious affiliation. Joanne holds a master’s in international relations from the University of Maryland and her MPH coursework was done in Bogota, Colombia and George Washington University. In the spring of 2010 she will complete her doctorate in international relations.

BHGI Executive Committee Member
Joe Harford, PhD
Director, Office of International Affairs (OIA), National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Cancer recognizes neither political nor geographic boundaries. Throughout the world, cancer is becoming an increasingly serious public health issue, with malignancies now killing more people worldwide each year than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. By 2020, there are projected to be 20 million new cancer cases worldwide each year, with 70% of these occurring in developing countries. The National Cancer Institute is pleased to be a part of the Breast Health Global Initiative, which addresses the issue of breast cancer in low and middle income countries, and pleased to be a supporter of the next BHGI Global Summit on International Breast Health in Hungary in 2007."

Dr Harford has responsibility for a number of interactions involving the NCI and non-US cancer research institutions. He chairs the Strategic Advisory Group of the Ireland-Northern Ireland-NCI Cancer Consortium and is the NCI liaison to the Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC), the US-Japan Cooperative Cancer Research Program, the Afrrican Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC), and the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research (INCTR). For a number of years, he has represented the United States on the Governing Council of the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). In 2006. Dr. Harford was named the Strategic Leader for the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) in their strategic direction called Knowledge Transfer.