Army of Women

Following up to my "feel your boobies" posting from last week, I am inviting all you women out there to join the Love/Avon Army of Women.



Here's a little info that I've taken from their website:

Like many women, Dr. Susan Love was becoming increasingly frustrated by our not having made more progress in figuring out what causes breast cancer and how to prevent it. Scientists told her that they did not know how to find the women who would be interested in taking part in the studies that were needed to end this disease. Dr. Love realized the problem wasn’t that women didn’t want to participate in these studies, but that they didn’t know that they were needed. In short order, the idea was born of an Army of Women ready to serve science.


The Love/Avon Army of Women is looking for volunteers to take part in the clinical research that will help us understand what causes breast cancer — and how to stop it. Because scientists have a hard time finding women to volunteer for their studies, they typically study cell lines that have been developed in their labs, samples from tissue banks, or conduct research on animals, like mice. But what happens in cell lines or mice is not the same as what happens in women. And that’s why we need YOU to take part in this revolutionary innovative research initiative.


The Army of Women is dedicated to representing all women in research so that the research results will apply to all women. This means we need you to help us recruit women of all ages, ethnicities, sizes, and shapes. We need women who have had breast cancer and women who have not. We need African American women, Asian women, Caucasian women, and Latinas of every age and lifestyle to be involved.


How does the Army of Women work?

Women who are interested register on the Love/Avon Army of Women website, providing very basic information such as name, age, city, and state of residence. Army of Women members will receive email updates from the Love/Avon Army of Women announcing new research studies looking for volunteers just like you. The email will detail the research project and who and what the researchers need. If you fit the criteria and you’d like to participate, all you need to do is reply to the email and let us know you’ve accepted our “Call to Action.” If you accept the Call to Action, you will be contacted by an Army of Women staff member, who will make sure you meet the study criteria and answer any questions you might have about study participation. You will never be pressured to take part in any study. The decision to take part is yours — and yours alone. If you meet the study criteria and are interested in taking part, the Army of Women staff member will let you know what you need to do next.

Some examples of their research are:

• Weight loss and biological parameters in breast cancer survivors
• The Milk Study: Using Breast Milk to Screen for Breast Cancer and Assess Breast-Cancer Risk
• The development of an inexpensive and easy to use band-aid-like test strip that can assess whether a premenopausal woman is at risk of developing breast cancer
• Exploring the effect of previous pregnancy on the physiology of the breast ducts
• Investigating whether pregnancy causes permanent molecular changes in breast tissue that reduces breast cancer risk.

You don't need to have breast cancer, it doesn't even have to run in your family. Any old (or young) pair of ta-ta's will do. It takes a just a minute to join. But the impact we will have will last a lifetime.

Please Join Me in Being One in a Million! Click here to register.

PS - thanks, Mom, for introducing me to this.