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9/2/2008

Newsmaker of the Day: Rose Gerber
Breast cancer survivor, advocate completes activist training

By DEBORAH STRASZHEIM
NORWICH BULLETIN - September 2, 2008

In the news: Rose Gerber, a charter member of the Uncas Health District’s Breast Health Action Council, recently completed Project LEAD Institute, a science and advocacy training program for breast cancer activists organized by the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund of Washington, D.C.

Background: Gerber, 44, grew up in New Mexico and moved to Connecticut 10 years ago. Her husband, Robert, is director of clinical research at Pfizer. They live in East Lyme.
 
Health issue: In 2003, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her daughter was 6 at the time and her son was 8. “It was so hard,” she said. “The fear of leaving my children without a mother and leaving my husband without a wife, that was the most devastating.” Gerber had six months of chemotherapy, 33 treatments of radiation and a 52-week drug treatment through a clinic trial. She has been in remission for four years.
 
Other posts: She became involved in breast cancer advocacy work three years after her diagnosis. She reviews grants for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and serves as co-founder and program manager of the Eastern Connecticut Hematology and Oncology Cancer Foundation’s One to One Breast Cancer Mentoring program, which provides cancer support to patients. In April, Gerber visited Washington with Connecticut’s delegation when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., presented the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act to the Senate.

About the program: Project LEAD is the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s science training course to help breast cancer activists influence research and public policy. Graduates review grant proposals, serve on Institutional Review Boards, work with researchers on clinical trials and help explain scientific findings. The advocacy course was July 29 to Aug. 3 in Denver.
 
Quotable: “If I could have people understand one thing, it’s that breast cancer has not been eradicated yet. It’s a very complex disease and it’s not one disease. It’s multiple diseases,” Gerber said. “As advocates, I think we have an obligation, I have an obligation, to be informed and educated.”

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