TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Breast cancer researchers are being honored at Florida A&M University for saving lives through their extensive research while bringing positive attention to the disease and raising awareness in the community.
Dr. Syreeta Tilghman is being honored by FAMU's president and administrative staff at the Rattlers game on Saturday, along with two other breast cancer research doctors, Dr. Salina Reed and Dr. John Cooperwood.
It's in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to showcase what they are doing in the fight against breast cancer.
Dr. Tilghman says awareness about breast cancer is key. She stresses the importance of doing self breast examinations, going to the doctors on an annual basis and the importance of entering clinical trials to be tested for the new drugs coming down the pipeline.
"A lot of us are doing research that targets a specific community, specifically minority women with breast cancer," said Dr. Tilghman. "One of the major problems is breast cancer patients who are African Americans are dying at a much higher rate then their Caucasian counterparts."
She says one of the major problems with drug therapy to treat breast cancer is that it is so expensive. So in an effort to make a cheaper alternative, Dr. Tilghman and her colleagues, are working with soy-compounds.
They are trying to utilize natural products found in the diet to combine with existing drugs, making them less expensive and accessible to low-income people.
