Hereditary predisposition to breast cancer – a person’s own genes, passed down from parent to child – remains one of the biggest challenges – and opportunities – in the drive to prevent the disease.

Of course, women with mutations in the hereditary breast cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, have much higher risks of breast and ovarian cancers that often develop early in life.

That’s why fully understanding the process that a normal cell must take to transform into a tumor cell in BRCA mutation carriers is – among the wide range of important and potentially life saving scientific research – central not only to new insights and approaches to cancer prevention but also, quite simply, how many families may think about their futures.

One of the leaders of that research: Dr. Judy Garber. Dr. Garber is Chairman of the BCRF Scientific Advisory Board. She is also Director of the Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention at the Susan Smith Center for Women's Cancers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as well as Director of the Cancer Risk and Prevention Clinic at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. A professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, among her many honors, in 2013 Dr. Garber was elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine, now known as the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences

From our local soccer fields to store shelves to NFL stadiums every October, we see the pink, and we know what it stands for. We all also, seemingly, know someone who has suffered from the disease. But what about a cure? Once you get beyond pink, what is the right best path to help put an end to breast cancer – the most common cancer in women worldwide and second leading cause of cancer death in American women, exceeded only by lung cancer?

Talk to many people who dedicate their lives to finding a cure, and the answer you’ll hear most often: Research.

· So where are we with global scientific research into breast cancer – its causes and cures?

· Which latest findings offer the best hopes, biggest surprises, most frustrating obstacles?

· How can the research go faster – find hidden clues more quickly?

· If science is the key to a cure, what steps can we all take to help researchers open the lock?

Dr. Marc Hurlbert is Chief Mission Officer of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, overseeing the foundation's global research grants program and a nearly $50 million annual research-granting budget. Marc previously helped launch the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance, and has served as the Chairman of the Board of the International Cancer Research Partnership, the Health Research Alliance and is also the former chairman of the Cancer Committee Advisory Board for the New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Few have a more significant history or deeper relationship with Breast Cancer research and researchers than Dr. Larry Norton. Dr. Norton is Scientific Director of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. He is also one of the organization’s founders. Dr. Norton serves as Medical Director of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and among many other honors and appointments, he was a U.S. Presidential appointee to the National Cancer Advisory Board – the board of directors of the National Cancer Institute.

Few have a more significant history or deeper relationship with Breast Cancer research and researchers than Dr. Larry Norton. Dr. Norton is Scientific Director of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. He is also one of the organization’s founders. Dr. Norton serves as Medical Director of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and among many other honors and appointments, he was a U.S. Presidential appointee to the National Cancer Advisory Board – the board of directors of the National Cancer Institute.