ACAT Indigenous Women and Girls' Gathering, Nome
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women globally, and research shows that nearly half of all cancer cases are preventable. Breast cancer affects people across all backgrounds, but disparities in incidence, mortality, and access to quality care persist, particularly among communities of color and low-income populations.
Addressing these disparities requires increasing people’s awareness of risk factors and prevention strategies. This includes ensuring people have the latest information about environmental drivers of breast cancer, including chemicals used in consumer products. Directly involving community members in prevention efforts can help to identify needs and priorities, tailor strategies, and ensure relevant approaches. Collaborating with those most affected can also strengthen relationships among researchers, healthcare providers, and the people they serve.
In this webinar, speakers from organizations leading breast cancer prevention work shared how they incorporate community input to bridge the gap between scientists and community members, and how this approach fosters more effective and equitable prevention strategies.
Featured Speakers
Lianna Hartmour, MA, NBC-HWC is the Zero Breast Cancer (ZBC) Program & Communications Director at Collaborative for Health & Environment (CHE). Lianna led programs at ZBC for seven years before the organization became a project of CHE in 2024. She oversees breast cancer prevention and survivorship health and wellness programs. Lianna earned her M.A. and C.Phil. in Sociology with a concentration in Gender Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) after receiving training and certification at Emory University. Prior to joining ZBC, she had over a decade of experience as a sociological researcher and educator.
Nyisha Green-Washington is the Senior Organizing Manager of Breast Cancer Prevention Partners. Nyisha leads the new Californians Linking Action with Science for Prevention of Breast Cancer (CLASP- BC) project. They come to BCPP with several years of grassroots community organizing and activism in upstate NY and San Diego, CA, advocating for many causes, including human rights, environmental justice, and, most recently, reproductive justice. They’ve co-founded two grassroots community organizations with a focus on gender equality, sit on the boards of three non-profit organizations, and own a small business as a certified full-spectrum doula. Nyisha graduated from Stony Brook University with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health.
Samarys Seguinot Medina, DrPH, also known as Sama or by her given Siberian Yupik name, Umyuugalek, is a Boricua from the Archipelago of Borikén (Puerto Rico). She has been ACAT’s Environmental Health Director for the last 15 years. Most of her work has been leading community-based participatory research in remote areas of Alaska and other EJ&H efforts in Puerto Rico, the U.S., and Geneva, Switzerland as part of ACAT’s international work. Sama has a DrPH (Doctor in Public Health) from the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus in San Juan, and a master’s degree in Environmental Risk Assessment and Planning from Universidad Metropolitana (Metropolitan University) in SJ, Puerto Rico.