Mary Kay Inc. is the world’s leading direct-selling skin care and color cosmetics brand1 . The company and its sponsored foundations, including the Mary Kay Ash Foundation in the United States, continue to fund various research programs and projects, provide grants to world-renowned scientists, and promote clinical trials. Provide unwavering support for women’s cancer research. All of this is for healing.
Mary Kay recently hosted a virtual conference that included Dr. Joyce O’shaughnessy, Women’s Chair Emeritus in Breast Cancer Research at Baylor University Medical Center and US Chair in Breast Cancer Research in Oncology, Dallas, Texas, as well as University Hospitals and HM Hospital Breast Cancer Research Dr. Eva Ciruelos, Department Coordinator and Chair of the SOLTI Breast Cancer Research Group, is a FERO Foundation grant recipient supported by Mary Kay Spain, Madrid, Spain. Both lead research teams in their respective countries focused on a rare and aggressive cancer in women: triple-negative metastatic breast cancer (TNBC). Although the two were thousands of miles apart, they had a close bond. The two have been collaborating on TNBC research for many years to find solutions and treatments for this devastating disease.
The two leading researchers and experts in their respective fields discussed the importance of global scientific collaboration, stressing the urgency for researchers around the world to share their results and advances to pool results.
“It’s not a matter of having the best ideas, but working together to get the best treatment for each patient, and this has to permeate the medical, clinical and pharmaceutical industries. Worldwide, the incidence of female breast cancer is rising Trends, today we can say that one in three women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime2 , ” said Dr. O’Shaughnessy.
Dr. Ciruelos commented: “A specific diagnosis would not be possible without continued collaboration between all specialists. It is crucial to follow each patient’s treatment in a personalized way. Only in this way can we discover why The same treatment for people with similar characteristics works for some and not for others.”
They expressed frustration at disparities and inconsistencies in access to treatments, medicines and therapies across countries and called for solidarity to provide more consistent care for all patients, regardless of where they live. Both researchers also agreed that having to deal with funding challenges makes it difficult to have time to devote fully to cancer research, and expressed gratitude to their sponsors, including the Mary Kay Ash Foundation and the Ferro Foundation, which making their life-saving work possible.
Dr. O’Shaughnessy added: “In 1985, we were very frustrated with the lack of treatment options for women with cancer. Today, we are seeing tremendous progress in this area, and I am very optimistic about the success of the next generation of researchers.”
Dr. O’Shaughnessy and Dr. Ciruelos are able to continue collaborating on their lifelong careers through funding from the Mary Kay Ashe Foundation of the United States and Mary Kay Spain’s support of the Spanish FERO Foundation’s cancer research program. Mary Kay is at the forefront of women’s cancer research, supporting groundbreaking research led by women, for women. Mary Kay is committed to helping the world by supporting translational research (research that connects laboratory research directly to patients), clinical trials designed to improve the detection, prognosis and treatment of cancer in women, and organizations that support cancer research, such as the Spanish FERO Foundation Researchers everywhere.