The Basser Center for BRCA at Penn Medicine recently launched the Men & BRCA Program to propel research and education focusing on men with BRCA mutations.

Patrick Sung, DPhil, of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is awarded the 2024 Basser Global Prize for his cutting-edge work in the field of DNA damage repair.

Healthy volunteers who carry BRCA gene mutations, like Philadelphia resident Sara Walker, are participating in a cancer vaccine clinical trial. If the study is successful, the work could eventually extend to more cancers or other risk factors, noted Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, director of the ACC.

A growing effort seeks to understand “precancer”—the critical period after cells have started to grow abnormally but before they’ve developed into cancer. Dr. Susan Domchek is leading a clinical trial for a cancer interception vaccine, which would help the body recognize the earliest signs of cancer and stop the disease before it develops.

Susan Domchek, MD, executive director of the Basser Center, took part in a live interview on the TODAY Show with breast cancer survivor and Basser Advisory Board member Jill Martin to share the importance of knowing your family cancer history and how it fits into genetic testing.

TODAY Show contributor and breast cancer survivor Jill Martin launched a new clothing collaboration with the NBA and WNBA to raise awareness of breast cancer and genetic testing, especially for cancers related to the BRCA gene mutation.

Dr. Susan Domchek spoke with breast cancer survivor and Basser Advisory Board member, reporter Stacey Sager, about how the future of breast cancer treatment is brighter than ever, with a wealth of new therapies and research making it into the clinic.

Basser executive director Susan Domchek, MD, explains how a class of drugs called PARP inhibitors can help treat cancers related to BRCA mutations to ABC7 news reporter Stacey Sager, a member of the Basser Center Advisory Board who shared an update on her cancer journey.

Kara Maxwell, MD, PhD, director of the Basser Center for BRCA’s Men & BRCA program, explained why clinicians should be “vigilant” about offering genetic testing to men.

Kara Maxwell, MD, PhD, director of our Men & BRCA program, worked with CureBRCA to publish a new paper that compiles various approved guidelines for men with BRCA mutations, including statistical tables that compare the risks of certain cancers for men with BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations.