Website will help women learn about risk factors for breast cancer

October 7, 2014

The UNC Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program (BCERP) has announced the official launch of myBCrisk.org, an interactive website designed to increase knowledge about breast cancer risk factors, especially among young African-American women.

The UNC Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program has introduced its myBCrisk website to help women learn about their risk for breast cancer.

Melissa Troester, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, and Liza Makowski, PhD, assistant professor of nutrition, are co-principal investigators for BCERP, a five-year initiative to study how obesity and other influences may affect susceptibility to basal-like breast cancer (an aggressive subtype). The myBCrisk website, part of the BCERP and the UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (CEHS), was developed with help from the UNC School of Information and Library Science and community outreach partners Kathleen Gray and Neasha Graves, of the CEHS. The project is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, with support from the National Cancer Institute and the Avon Foundation.

The site features informational resources, a tool for assessing personal risk factors and videos of young black cancer survivors.

“It was an amazing opportunity for a bench researcher such as myself to work with outreach experts to develop this website,” Makowski said.

“The site is a valuable tool for helping women understand breast cancer risk,” added Troester.

For more information, contact Neasha Graves at neasha_graves@unc.edu or (919) 966-3746.