Emily Lopes:
Being involved in the BCERC was an amazing experience. The disciplines of the principle investigators varied and added to the strength of the breast cancer project. At this year’s conference held in Birmingham, Alabama, researchers presented and shared in their own field of science (epidemiology, genetics or lifestyle) their individual accomplishment in Breast Cancer causation. The conference was a collaboration of their work. It allowed scientists to be critical of each other’s work and provide further evidence from different perspectives. This Center Study Research Model, BCERC encourages teamwork. Representing high schools, Commack and Walt Whitman, Zachary Rotter, Shirou Wu, and I were grateful for the opportunity to work with Drs. Jose and Irma Russo and their staff at Fox Chase Cancer Center, gaining hands-on lab experience. In the spirit of BCERC, we then compiled our results and conclusions from our individual projects. It is no doubt that this research collaboration is a step forward in the prevention of Breast Cancer.
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Zachary Rotter
This year's BCERC conference was both an interesting and exhilarating experience. To be able to see ongoing research which has yet to be published, and to begin to ascertain samples of the Center Study Research Model was a wonderful challenge, as well as thought provoking opportunity. I was able to observe scientists in their 'natural habitat', so to speak. It was great seeing both Drs. Jose and Irma Russo, Fox Chase Cancer Center and other staff that I worked with in the lab last summer, and to spend professional and personal time with them. In addition, the opportunity to be able to present my own research was a major accomplishment, as I was presenting alongside many respected MD's and PhD's. I was able to reconnect with Emily and Shirou, my fellow students and intern participants at the Fox Chase Center, and also meet Carolina and Regina, two students affiliated with the Great Neck Breast Cancer Action Coalition.
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Shirou Wu:
The BCERC conference emphasized the concept that the understanding of environmental influences on health is indisposably crucial to the medical community. As mere high school students at a professional and informative research conference, the more esoteric research was sometimes difficult to sift through. However, it was clear that the general idea was that many research studies, epidemiological, biochemical, or not, point towards the need for increased awareness. Most of all, I was awakened to the idea that breast cancer risk starts accumulating even in our childhood, which to me, most clearly illustrated the kind of hidden dangers that surround us and future generations.
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