Rethink in Research

In 2012, Rethink Breast Cancer launched the first-ever comprehensive quantitative National Needs Assessment for Young Women with Breast Cancer with the goal of better understanding the gaps in the support and care in Canada. It was an extensive effort to understand the whole experience of young women with early-stage breast cancer and then provide an essential benchmark for healthcare workers, government and community organizations to inform and measure the impact of their work, along with our own.

A lot has changed since then, and it is time to re-assess the needs of young women with early-stage breast cancer to see just how much. This will greatly help inform our collective work to better support those with early-stage breast cancer.

In 2021, Rethink Breast Cancer partnered with Pfizer Canada to launch a joint research program to fund pioneering research in metastatic breast cancer that has the potential to advance care and improve outcomes for people living with metastatic breast cancer. The areas of interest were determined by patients, for patients, through collaboration and input from Rethink’s MBC Advisory Board, and inspired by the James Lind Alliance‘s top 10 research priorities for MBC.

This collaboration brings patients’ voices and values to the process of supporting quality improvement initiatives to make a difference in the daily lives of people living with MBC. And this initiative has been made possible by the generous support of the Rethink community—especially MBC Allies—for our MBC Fund, by the passion and determination of our MBC Advisors, and by the openness of Pfizer Canada in collaborating to respond to the needs of those living with breast cancer.