About Us

Our Vision:

To find a cure for Breast Cancer by 2018

A ‘cure’ is defined as making breast cancer a survivable disease through:

• Early detection
• Predictive diagnosis
• Appropriate treatment
• Prevention

Our Mission:

In partnership with the New Zealand community and the Research community, the Breast Cancer Research Trust is investing substantial funds in research to ensure women in New Zealand can look forward to a brighter future free from breast cancer.

Our purpose:

• To halt the accelerating incidence of breast cancer for this generation and future generations.
• To make breast cancer a survivable disease through early detection, appropriate treatment and prevention.
• To drive seed and translational research that will rapidly change outcomes for women
• To ensure that cutting edge treatment is readily available to women in New Zealand

Our priorities:

• Driving cutting edge research
• Fundraising to provide a stable financial platform for research initiatives
• Building a brand that will act as a flagship for the movement towards a cure by 2018.

Our Board of Trustees consists of six voluntary Board Members who are jointly responsible for corporate governance.  The Board meets once a month and is passionately committed to searching for a CURE for a breast cancer-free future for New Zealand women and to protect our next generation of young girls from what their mothers and grandmothers are going through today.

For Trustee profiles please click here »

Our Management Team:

The Breast Cancer Research Trust is a not-for-profit organisation, proud of its lean operation and 92% flow-through of funds from the public and sponsors to find a Cure for breast cancer by 2018.  We have a management team of 5 who are working hard to deliver our ambitious, yet crucial goal within a ten year countdown  :

• Chief Executive Officer - Alison Taylor
• Business Manager - Deborah Ward
• Marketing Manager - Phillipa Green
• Business Co Ordinator - Rebecca Hendl-Smith
• Administration - Jo Ramsay

For team profiles and individual contact details please click here »

---

Background:

The Breast Cancer Research Trust was founded in 1997 on the vision of Dr John Harman, MBChB, FRACS, Breast & General Surgeon who is a current Trustee & Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee.

When The Trust was set up in 1997, when there was very little breast cancer research funding available to fund researchers in areas that would give them the intellectual freedom to investigate cutting edge research and breakthrough technology.

There is now money and a process for Breast Cancer research that gives certainty to both the projects and the researchers funded by the Trust.

Since being established in 1997, The Trust has funded 10 significant research projects in NZ to a total of $3.1 million in grants, with more allocated late 2007. The total allocated to date includes $1.5 million to fund a Chair in Breast Cancer at the Auckland University School of Medicine- a huge milestone in accelerating the quality of research into diagnosis and treatment of BC in NZ. Other research projects include research into the use of hormones for controlling growth of BC cells, and work on the use of radar scanning to replace mammograms for the early detection of breast cancer.

Despite this work breast cancer in NZ continues to grow at epidemic proportions - 5 years ago 1 in 10 women would be diagnosed, now the level is 1 in 7.

The lives of over 660 of our NZ woman of all ages and from all walks of life are being needlessly lost each year.

This disease is having a devastating impact on women and their families throughout this country and the continued escalation of its incidence can only mean that the level of havoc it creates is set to increase. The age at which women are diagnosed, is not limited to older women or particular social groups.

The NZ rate of incidence is a very high rate by international standards and yet no-one knows why it is so. What is more, there is little government effort being put into understanding why we have the epidemic or what should be done about it.

The governments of today have long been unable to finance the search for solutions to the vast number of serious illnesses society is faced with in these times. It is all up to the private sector.

The Trust has attracted a high calibre of Trustees and supporters, including prominent businesswoman Alison Taylor as CEO, leading fashion designer Trelise Cooper as Patron, and its four Ambassadors: media personalities Petra Bagust and Geeling Ng, and husband and wife Karen Walker and Mikhail Gherman of internationally successful fashion brand ‘Karen Walker’.

The Breast Cancer Research Trust is New Zealand's only not-for-profit organisation established solely to support research into breast cancer and in particular a cure for it.