Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Awards $250,000 to UMDNJ

The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, held in New York City, raised $9.7 million for treatment and research - and through the Avon Foundation, has awarded $250,000 of that total to assist underserved women at the New Jersey Medical School-University Hospital (NJMS-UH) Cancer Center.

Dr. Lawrence Harrison, an oncology surgeon and associate director of the new NJMS-UH Cancer Center, accepted the award from Dr. Marc Hurlbert, senior advisor to the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade, during the closing ceremony of the Avon Walk. This was the only grant to a New Jersey research institution from Avon.

"The Avon Foundation is pleased to extend the Avon Safety Net program to UMDNJ, so they can launch the clinical research 'patient navigator' program to help minority, uninsured and underserved women in Newark and northern New Jersey navigate the healthcare system," said Dr. Hurlbert.

Avon's contribution will be used to fund two patient navigator positions to assist women with breast cancer who have economic, cultural or language barriers to quality health care. Patient navigators are registered nurses or social workers who are trained in explaining medical procedures to patients, and assisting patients with the often overwhelming paperwork for private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. Given the diversity of the Newark and northern New Jersey areas, at least one of the patient navigators to be hired will be fully bilingual in Spanish.

"The initiation of a clinical research patient navigator program will give our patients yet another resource - one that will enable them to focus on their health and getting better," said Dr. Harrison.

The patient navigator program's ultimate goal is not only to better treat women with breast cancer from underserved communities, but also to perform more culturally sensitive and comprehensive research on breast cancer that will produce better treatments for future patients.

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