Dra Irma Russo to speak MONDAY March 27 at 7PM in Pittsburgh

As part of the PHOTOVOICES Exhibition by the Pittsburgh Latino Health Advocacy & Leadership (LHAL) program, Dr. Irma RUSSO MD has been invited to Pittsburgh to discuss a topic of large importance to Latino families in the USA: "Breast Cancer Prevention in Latinas – Race, Inheritance and Environment".

Dr. Irma H. Russo, a native of Argentina, is Member of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Chief of the Molecular Endocrinology Section of the Breast Cancer Research Laboratory in the Department of Pathology and Active Staff member in the Department of Surgery, Medical Science Division of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a Fox Chase Cancer Center Member of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), Adjunct Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at the Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Member of the External Advisory Board of Co-Operative Grants for Nutritional Modulation of Genetic Pathways Leading to Cancer at Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington DC, and Member of the Medical Advisory Board of the Breast Cancer Young Survival Coalition, New York, NY.

Her presentation will be at 7PM at the Pittsburgh Filmmakers located on 477 Melwood Ave in North Oakland. Refreshments and light snacks will be served. This talk will be covered by the press. Please join us.

For Dr. Russo's full bio and a complete abstract of her talk, please read more.



PRESENTER INFORMATION: Irma H. Russo, MD, FCAP, FASCP

Dr. Irma H. Russo is Member of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Chief of the Molecular Endocrinology Section of the Breast Cancer Research Laboratory in the Department of Pathology and Active Staff member in the Department of Surgery, Medical Science Division of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a Fox Chase Cancer Center Member of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), Adjunct Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at the Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Member of the External Advisory Board of Co-Operative Grants for Nutritional Modulation of Genetic Pathways Leading to Cancer at Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington DC, and Member of the Medical Advisory Board of the Breast Cancer Young Survival Coalition, New York, NY.

Dr. Russo holds an M.D. degree from the School of Medicine, University National of Cuyo (UNC), in Mendoza, Argentina and a certification in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology from the American Board of Pathology for her training in the Department of Pathology at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. She has held the positions of Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Wayne State University and Visiting Research Scientist at the Michigan Cancer Foundation, both in Detroit, Michigan from 1976 to 1982. In 1989 she was promoted to Associate Research Member and Chief of the Experimental Pathology Laboratory at the Michigan Cancer Foundation, remaining in the same institution in Detroit, Michigan until 1991, year in which she was appointed Director of Anatomic Pathology and Outpatient Hematology Laboratory at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1992 she became Director of Laboratory Services in the Department of Pathology, and in 1994 Chief of the Molecular Endocrinology Section of the Breast Cancer Research Laboratory in the same institution, position that she currently holds.

In addition to her academic appointments, Dr. Russo has held multiple advisory roles in national and international organizations and peer review committees, including the Endocrinology and the Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics Peer Review Committees of the Breast Cancer Research Program, U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, and the Metabolic Pathology Study Section, National Institute of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services. She has been member of the Breast Cancer Working Group, Organ Systems Programs of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and invited Faculty Opponent to Doctoral Thesis Dissertation in the Department of Medical Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Sweden, among others. She was also Member of the Pennsylvania Department of Health Future Search Planning Committee, and of the Pennsylvania Cancer Control Consortium (PAC 3) of the Department of Health in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She has received multiple awards pertaining to her work in breast cancer prevention, including the Gold Medal of the Department of Obstetric and Gynecology from the Institut Universitari Dexeus in Barcelona, Spain.

Her major research interests are the prevention of breast cancer, the understanding of the role of hormonally induced differentiation in the protection of the breast from cancer development, and in translating basic experimental knowledge to a clinical setting for developing novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of cancer. Her ultimate goal of defining the precise time and site of occurrence of genomic and epigenetic changes that determine the passage of the mammary gland from “susceptible” to “refractory” to neoplastic initiation under well characterized hormonal stimuli will contribute to identify intermediate biomarkers useful for evaluating breast development in response to chemopreventive agents or hormones and predicting its susceptibility to malignant transformation. These NCI funded studies have constituted the basis of clinical trials that have been or are currently planned for their performance in Europe and the United States. Dr. Russo has lectured extensively both nationally and internationally. Her research is reflected in more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, books, and book chapters.

Current Affiliation and contact information:

Member, Medical Science Division
Chief, Molecular Endocrinology Section
Breast Cancer Research Laboratory
Fox Chase Cancer Center
333 Cottman Avenue, Room C439
Philadelphia, PA 19111-2497
Phone: 215-728-4781
Fax: 215-728-2180
E-mail: Irma.Russo@fccc.edu
WebPages: "http://www.fccc.edu/research/pid/russo-i/"

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ABSTRACT: Breast Cancer Prevention in Latinas – Race, Inheritance and Environment, by Irma H. Russo and Jose Russo, Breast Cancer Research Laboratory, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA 19111, USA.

Breast cancer is the fatal disease most frequently diagnosed in American women of all ethnic groups. Although early detection and improved treatment modalities have succeeded in reducing breast cancer mortality rates in the United States, the incidence of the disease is continuously increasing in most industrialized countries. The fact that women that migrate from low to high incidence countries increase their breast cancer risk to the levels of the host country indicates that local environmental factors play a greater role than race and inheritance on the development of the disease. Latinas constitute a large and rapidly growing migrant population in the United States. The largest population, currently living in California, experiences the lowest breast cancer incidence rate among all ethnic groups. However, their breast cancer risk increases with increasing duration of residence in the United States, decreasing age at migration, and increasing acculturation. These findings suggest that important protective factors that exist among recent migrants become no longer operational in U.S.-born Latinas, who have a higher incidence of breast cancer than foreign-born Latinas. The reasons for these changes are largely unknown; only specific conditions that might predispose to breast cancer development have been identified. Well established risk factors are sex, 99% of cases occur in women, long term exposure to estrogens, nulliparity, and the inheritance of the breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 or BRCA2, which has been also detected in high-risk Hispanic families. BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations account for 5-10% of breast cancer cases, increasing the lifetime risk of affected women by 85%. Breast cancer in women carrying these mutations starts at a significantly younger age than sporadic breast cancer and the tumors typically do not express estrogen receptors, being unresponsive to endocrine therapy. Environmental factors, such as exposure to radiation, alcohol consumption, and smoking at a young age, significantly increase the risk of developing breast cancer. Changes in biological rhythms by circadian disruption induced by shift work or exposure to light at night have emerged as important breast cancer risk factors. For developing effective strategies for cancer prevention it is necessary first to understand these complex interactions. Experimental studies, validated by correlations with the pathogenesis of breast cancer, have demonstrated that the developing breast at puberty is at “high risk” for being damaged or neoplastically transformed if it is exposed to endogenous or exogenous disrupting factors. The knowledge that early pregnancy reduces the lifetime risk of developing breast cancer through the induction of full differentiation of this organ, and that this phenomenon can be reproduced by hormonal treatments, offer a hope for developing protocols for the prevention of breast cancer by protecting the breast during critical early phases of development.