An oncology nurse for more 30 years, including more than 10 years specifically with breast cancer patients, Borsellino serves as Survivorship Coordinator for the Uniformed Service’s University’s (USU) Murtha Cancer Center Research Program (MCCRP) and works at the Murtha Cancer Center (MCC) at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. MCCRP’s research is translated into drug therapies to improve patient care at MCC.

“Breast cancer treatment is stressful for patients on many levels and our ongoing research is driven by compassion,” says Dr. Craig Shriver, M.D., COL, MC, USA (ret), who serves as Director of MCC, the main Department of Defense clinical site of USU’s MCCRP. MCC is the only DoD Cancer Center of Excellence within the Military Health System. In addition, the Breast Center at MCC has received full accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers. “Our goal is to improve the diagnosis and multidisciplinary treatment of patients through innovative clinical research, care, and education,” explains Dr. Shriver.

As part of its mission to advance military medicine, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF) supports the MCCRP of USU as well as its clinical work at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. By coordinating national and international collaboration among military and civilian researchers, HJF plays an important role in cancer research.

Breast cancer treatment involves five key areas: prevention, screening, early diagnosis, treatment, and continuing care. When a person is first diagnosed with breast cancer, she is met with a team working together to look at the biology of the patient’s tumors to determine treatment. “Your surgeon, medical/radiation oncologist, pathologist, geneticist, nursing, etc. proactively work on a treatment plan,” says Borsellino.

She emphasizes that this was not automatically done in the past. Since she first started as a nurse, Borsellino has seen numerous changes related to breast cancer treatment. “Our capabilities have advanced tremendously,” she says. “The way breast cancer today is different from even five years ago.”

“We have newer treatment options that target the subtypes of cancer beyond hormone treatments, such a targeted treatments that block certain proteins that control how cancer cells grow, multiply, and spread,” she explains. “In addition, targeted treatments for HER2-positive cancer have improved survival over the last 10 years.”

Borsellino is also encouraged by the promise of immunotherapy. “It trains your body to fight cancer by using your own immune system,” she says. “There are studies looking at immunotherapy alone or in combination with other treatments.”

According to Borsellino, a prevailing new trend focuses on avoiding over treatment but still arriving at the desired outcomes. “We now have testing that will tell you if chemotherapy would be of benefit to a patient’s tumor type, as well as new immunotherapies that will prevent reoccurrence of disease, as well as less invasive biopsies and surgeries that can prevent long-term side effects like lymphedema.”

Borsellino is also pleased about changes in breast cancer awareness, which encourages screening for early detection. “Early detection increases the chances that breast cancer can be treated and cured,” she says.

For family and friends of breast cancer patients, Borsellino says it is important not to make comparisons to other patients or cases. “Be non-judgmental, listen, and don’t ask—just do,” she says. “A thoughtful card, homecooked meals, offering rides, doing shopping, and other helpful actions would be gratefully appreciated.”

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, HJF for the past several years has partnered with Leonardo DRS to support breast cancer research through the “Stick It 2 Cancer” initiative. Donations will support MCC’s “Look Good, Feel Better” program that helps breast cancer patients take action to deal with the side effects of their treatment.

If you would like to make a donation to support breast cancer research, please visit https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=P99W8A4Y57W4A.

An oncology nurse for more 30 years, including more than 10 years specifically with breast cancer patients, Borsellino serves as Survivorship Coordinator for the Uniformed Service’s University’s (USU) Murtha Cancer Center Research Program (MCCRP) and works at the Murtha Cancer Center (MCC) at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. MCCRP’s research is translated into drug therapies to improve patient care at MCC.

“Breast cancer treatment is stressful for patients on many levels and our ongoing research is driven by compassion,” says Dr. Craig Shriver, M.D., COL, MC, USA (ret), who serves as Director of MCC, the main Department of Defense clinical site of USU’s MCCRP. MCC is the only DoD Cancer Center of Excellence within the Military Health System. In addition, the Breast Center at MCC has received full accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers. “Our goal is to improve the diagnosis and multidisciplinary treatment of patients through innovative clinical research, care, and education,” explains Dr. Shriver.

As part of its mission to advance military medicine, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF) supports the MCCRP of USU as well as its clinical work at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. By coordinating national and international collaboration among military and civilian researchers, HJF plays an important role in cancer research.

Breast cancer treatment involves five key areas: prevention, screening, early diagnosis, treatment, and continuing care. When a person is first diagnosed with breast cancer, she is met with a team working together to look at the biology of the patient’s tumors to determine treatment. “Your surgeon, medical/radiation oncologist, pathologist, geneticist, nursing, etc. proactively work on a treatment plan,” says Borsellino.

She emphasizes that this was not automatically done in the past. Since she first started as a nurse, Borsellino has seen numerous changes related to breast cancer treatment. “Our capabilities have advanced tremendously,” she says. “The way breast cancer today is different from even five years ago.”

“We have newer treatment options that target the subtypes of cancer beyond hormone treatments, such a targeted treatments that block certain proteins that control how cancer cells grow, multiply, and spread,” she explains. “In addition, targeted treatments for HER2-positive cancer have improved survival over the last 10 years.”

Borsellino is also encouraged by the promise of immunotherapy. “It trains your body to fight cancer by using your own immune system,” she says. “There are studies looking at immunotherapy alone or in combination with other treatments.”

According to Borsellino, a prevailing new trend focuses on avoiding over treatment but still arriving at the desired outcomes. “We now have testing that will tell you if chemotherapy would be of benefit to a patient’s tumor type, as well as new immunotherapies that will prevent reoccurrence of disease, as well as less invasive biopsies and surgeries that can prevent long-term side effects like lymphedema.”

Borsellino is also pleased about changes in breast cancer awareness, which encourages screening for early detection. “Early detection increases the chances that breast cancer can be treated and cured,” she says.

For family and friends of breast cancer patients, Borsellino says it is important not to make comparisons to other patients or cases. “Be non-judgmental, listen, and don’t ask—just do,” she says. “A thoughtful card, homecooked meals, offering rides, doing shopping, and other helpful actions would be gratefully appreciated.”

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, HJF for the past several years has partnered with Leonardo DRS to support breast cancer research through the “Stick It 2 Cancer” initiative. Donations will support MCC’s “Look Good, Feel Better” program that helps breast cancer patients take action to deal with the side effects of their treatment.

If you would like to make a donation to support breast cancer research, please visit https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=P99W8A4Y57W4A.

As part of its mission to advance military medicine, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF) supports the John P. Murtha Cancer Center (MCC) and its clinical work at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC). In addition, the MCC Research Program, which is located at the Uniformed Services University and supported by HJF, currently hosts three Congressionally-directed translational cancer research programs: the Center for Prostate Disease Research, the GYN Cancer Center of Excellence, and the Breast Cancer Translational Research Center.

“We are especially proud of our work with the MCC—the only DoD center of excellence for cancer care—and their commitment to reducing all cancers,” says Dr. Joseph Caravalho, HJF President and CEO. “By coordinating national and international collaboration among military and civilian researchers, HJF assists the MCC, the MCC Research Program, and the Breast Cancer Translational Research Center in innovative cancer research.”

The Breast Cancer Translational Research Center is a public-private partnership among HJF, the Windber Research Institute in Pennsylvania, and WRNMMC. It collaborates with the National Cancer Institute’s Genome Atlas and other organizations to study biomarkers in archival breast cancer tissue and houses the largest biorepository of high-quality human breast specimens.

Much of its work is related to the APOLLO (Applied Proteogenomics OrganizationaL Learning and Outcomes) consortium formed by the DoD, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Cancer Institute, which was prompted by the White House Cancer Moonshot initiative. Researchers with the MCC Research Program are rapidly identifying unique targets and pathways of cancer for detection and intervention. This state-of-the-art research, which involves combining protein and gene analyses from patient specimens, is known as proteogenomics.

Recently the MCC received a full three-year accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, which praised the Breast Cancer Translational Research Center: “This is a superlative breast center, an incredibly well-organized military-based hospital with marriage of completely patient centered approach, top-notch specialists, adherence to evidence-based guidelines, combined with on-site breast cancer research center. On top of all that, their team members are devoted, proud of their accomplishments, enthusiastic about their work, and truly delightful and personable group! 5 Star facility—the best I have surveyed to date.”

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, HJF for the past several years has partnered with Leonardo DRS to support breast cancer research through the “Stick It 2 Cancer” initiative. Donations will support the MCC and its “Look Good, Feel Better” program that helps breast cancer patients take action to deal with the side effects of their treatment.

“Breast cancer treatment is stressful for patients on so many levels,” said Dr. Caravalho. “As a link between military medicine and private industry, HJF gets Leonardo DRS’s generous donation to both help patients during such a challenging time and also to support ongoing breast cancer research.”

If you would like to make a donation to support breast cancer research, please visit hjf.org/cancer.