Well, isn’t that cool. It seems like I’ve had a lot of surreal experiences lately– and I’m still new enough at all this to think it’s pretty cool. That’s my face on the home page for the Army CDMRP— Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. It feels like kind of a big deal to me! (Of course, I’ve been a bit of a slacker, or rather I’ve been totally overrun by my kids’ activities, so I’m now the fifth slide to load on the page. Be patient if you want to check it out!)
I’ve talked about the DOD Breast Cancer Research Program before, it’s a congressionally funded research program that is administrated by the army, the army is NOT using their budget to fund breast cancer research. This program is very forward thinking both in the design of the awards, which are created to fund high risk/high reward projects and early career investigators, and in the inclusion of “consumers” (patient advocates!) on the peer review panel.
I was asked to share my story as both an awardee and now a consumer reviewer for the BCRP. I won’t rewrite it here, but suffice it to say, I was honored to be asked. As a first time consumer reviewer, I had worried that the scientists on the panel might not value my input, but have always been impressed by the way the scientists give value to our comments and help us understand the tricky, science-y parts of the applications. I can’t say enough good things about this program, please head over and read my consumer story!
Run Lipstick Chemo 