2024 SABCS Meeting Magazine - 21

baby, as well as life with breast cancer,
before she first attended the SABCS®
in 2018 as an Alamo Scholar.
According to Maués, the evolution of
the role of patient advocates at the
SABCS® during the six years she has
attended has been striking.
" Back then, the presence of patient
advocates in the SABCS®. Since her first
meeting in 2012, Brown has observed a
noticeable increase in advocate attendance
and participation at the Symposium. She
also testified to an increasing diversity of
advocates that more accurately represents
advocates was noticeable, but our role
was still emerging. Advocates mainly attended to learn
and network; now, we are more active participants in the
scientific dialogue, bringing the patient experience to
the forefront, " she said.
Fellow Program Planning Committee member Thelma
Brown, BSc, echoes Maués' view of the evolving roles of
FROM FLOOR TO SO MUCH MORE
The Alamo Breast Cancer
Foundation has run the Alamo
Advocate Program (AAP) at the
SABCS® for 27 years. Jerry Worden,
president of the organization, has
attended the meeting for 29 years
and remembers that, in the early
years, advocates were asked to sit
in the back of the room on the floor
along the wall to accommodate
everyone in a small room.
" At first, the organizers couldn't
understand why the advocates
wanted to attend, but they agreed
to let us sit on the floor in the back, "
Worden explained. " That we went
from floor seats to being
asked to run a program
for advocates is our
greatest point of pride. "
In 1997, SABCS®
leaders Drs. Charles
Coltman and C. Kent
Osborne guided Dale
Eastman, a founder of ABCF,
Thelma Brown, BSc
the real-world patient population.
" When I attended my first SABCS®, I was
struck by the fact that I did not meet
another Black advocate. However, advocates from
diverse backgrounds and experiences are now more
prominently represented at the Symposium. There are
also patient advocacy organizations focused on different
subtypes of breast cancer, as well as hereditary breast
cancer and genomic drivers, " she said.
The 2019 Alamo Advocate Program Scholars who attended SABCS®
to seek grants from pharmaceutical
companies for an advocacy
program. The first class, funded by
Dr. Coltman and the SABCS®, was
assembled in 1998 with 12 patient
advocates.
Since then, the educational
programming has evolved
over the years, but the
foundation currently
hosts a " Hot Topics
Mentor Session " after
the conclusion of
SABCS® programming
Jerry Worden
December 10-13, 2024 | San Antonio, Texas
on Wednesday, Thursday,
and Friday, in which three or
four expert scientists or clinicians
summarize the day's most
important sessions for patient
advocates. The AAP also includes
four midday Educational Sessions:
A Project LEAD® Advanced Topics
session by the National Breast
Cancer Coalition, a panel organized
by the American Association for
Cancer Research (AACR), a Q&A
panel with the FDA's Oncology
Center for Excellence, and an
Alamo Breast Cancer Foundation
panel on " Advancements in
Next Generation Sequencing. "
 CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
21
2024 SABCS Meeting Magazine

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