Community Advisory Board - The Carolina Breast Cancer Study

We call our advisory board a Community Advocate Board because we embrace and acknowledge the important role that advocacy has been and continues to in the communities we work with. This remarkable collection of women have worked on all levels of breast cancer advocacy from the individual who needs advocacy reaching out for resources to the White House and the Capitol Building. They lend us their expertise, experience, and time, giving voice for the breast cancer patient and survivor communities in all its many forms, advising Dr. Troester and her team of researchers on what matters to the community.

VERNAL BRANCH

Vernal brings her 29 years’ experience as a breast cancer survivor and trained advocate in many areas. She has been reviewer and chair for the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program and the California Breast Cancer Research Program. As an African American she was able to assist in recruitment and outreach National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’s (NIEHS) The Sister Study. Presently, Vernal is serving National Cancer Institute (NCI) Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology’s Genitourinary and Prevention Committees. Vernal has helped with protocol design with several institutions, including University of Virginia, Johns Hopkins University, and now UNC as a Specialized Program in Research Excellence in Breast Cancer (SPORE) advocate.

LAURA JENSEN

Laura’s background in human resources for the American Cancer Society (18 years) exposed her to cancer patients, oncologists, cancer research, and working with volunteers. She was a caregiver for her husband during his year-long treatment for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma before she herself was diagnosed with two different breast cancers. During her recovery, Laura turned to her love of writing. She wrote and published several short stories. She is eager to take her background and writing skills to her current role as an advocate. As a UNC Breast SPORE advocate, she has helped with survey development, grant preparation and evaluation for UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, serving as a grand advocate, and assisted in training new study coordinators. She is a member of the Lineberger Board of Visitors, the Research Patient Advocacy Council (PARC), and Patients and Researchers Together (PART).

MARIAN JOHNSON-THOMPSON, PhD

Marian is professor emerita of biology from University of the District of Columbia (UDC) and adjunct professor of Maternal and Child Health at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Dr. Johnson-Thompson has over 25 years of experience in clinical trials research activities. Beginning in 1994, she served on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and was appointed chair in 2000. During her tenure as IRB Chair, she oversaw one of the NIEHS’ largest clinical trials, The Sister Study (an investigation of environmental factors on the development of breast cancer). In addition, Dr. Johnson-Thompson has over 48 years of combined academic and federal service which allowed her the unique opportunity to work directly in training and mentoring underrepresented UDC minority biomedical students and subsequently to develop NIH minority programs to support training.
As a health disparities professional, Dr. Johnson-Thompson continuously advocates for the inclusion of African Americans in clinical trials leading educational workshops and serving as a panelist and keynote speaker at professional meetings and academic organizations in local, national and international settings. Additionally, she serves as a patient advocate at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center where she’s engaged in streamlining and clarifying consent forms to ensure their comprehension by clinical trial participants and in developing community outreach.
Dr. Johnson-Thompson is active with Susan G. Komen as a Komen Scholar since 2018, a Komen Advocate in Science (AIS) for over 5 years and serves on the AIS Steering Committee. She was appointed Vice-Chair of the NC Department of Environmental Quality Secretary’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board in 2018. As a member of The Howard University (HU) Board of Trustees since 2011, she co-chairs the Academic Excellence Committee and serves on the Health Sciences Committee. Dr. Johnson-Thompson received the BS and MS degrees in microbiology from The HU and the PhD in molecular virology from Georgetown University Medical School.

MISSY VAN LOKEREN

Missy became engaged with patient advocacy when she was diagnosed with Metastatic Breast Cancer in 2018. Since her original diagnosis in 2014 she had undergone aggressive treatment including surgeries, biopsies, scans, and more. With low chance of recurrence, she was shocked to be diagnosed with metastatic disease. As a patient advocate, Missy strives to give aatients a voice. She is a member UNC Breast SPORE and a Komen Advocate in Science (AIS). She has reviewed dozens of grants and has represented Susan G. Komen on Capitol Hill. She has spoken for patient advocates on several panels discussing the importance of their involvement, and she has helped develop a patient centered tissue donation program at UNC. Metastatic Breast Cancer kills over 40,000 people a year, and her goal is to support all research, treatment, and discovery that helps these patients survive and thrive.

SARA WILLIAMS

Sara served as the Enrollment Specialist for the Carolina Breast Cancer Study: Phase 3 from 2008 until her retirement from UNC in 2016. After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, she became actively involved in breast cancer advocacy. Her contributions included participating in Project LEAD and serving as a peer reviewer for notable organizations such as the the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program and the California Breast Cancer Research Program, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Avon Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Cochrane Collaboration Breast Cancer Group. From 2000 to 2003, she served as President of the Breast Cancer Coalition of North Carolina. In 2007, Sara was honored as a Yoplait Champion of Breast Cancer by Komen and SELF magazine, an accolade given to only 25 women nationwide.

CAT ANDREWS

Cat’s journey with breast cancer began with her mother’s diagnosis in 1981 and her battle through remission, metastasis, and death two years later. After her own scare with benign lumps, she soon thereafter with a Stage III diagnosis at age 42. She battled radical mastectomies, a NIH clinical trial, 4 months of high dose chemotherapy, 3 months of radiation, another mastectomy of my right breast, 5 years of Tamoxifen, an untold number of x-rays, scans, doctor exams, plastic surgery, steroids and pain, she emerged free, a survivor. She became a volunteer, part-time breast cancer advocate while working full-time, where she learned not only patients needed resources and information for their breast cancer, but so did the medical community. She joined the National Breast Cancer Coalition, traveling annually to Washington, D.C., for fellowship, training, and lobbying on Capitol Hill. She helped found the Breast Cancer Coalition of North Carolina and offered resources, comfort and support for women diagnosed with breast cancer. In 1992, there were almost no programs in North Carolina to do this. I also performed in “Breast Taking,” a musical comedy that explores different points of view on coping with breast cancer. I made my solo comedic debut in 1997, at a symposium in the Friday Center sponsored by the Duke Cancer Center and UNC Lineberger Cancer Center called, “Humor Me, I Have Breast Cancer.” Finally, she worked with I found a paying job that allowed me to be a breast cancer advocate with The Sister Study and then with CBCS. In retirement, she is a member of the Alamance Battleground Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Alamance Historical Society, and Old Stoner’s Preservation Committee.