Berkeley UC logoThe University of California, Berkeley, is believed to be one of six UC campuses, who are taking part in a unique initiative to study and drive innovations in breast cancer prevention, screening, and treatment. The large-scale demonstration project is known as the ATHENA Breast Health Network.

At first, about 150,000 women throughout California may be screened for breast cancer and will be apparently followed for decades through the five UC medical centers i.e. UC San Francisco as the host campus for the plan, UC Davis, UC Los Angeles, UC San Diego and UC Irvine. The study could have the possibility to considerably affect breast cancer treatment and prevention for subsequently numerous decades.

Dr. John D. Stobo, UC senior vice president for health sciences and services, commented, “This initiative will demonstrate that the total of what can be accomplished by UC functioning as an integrated system can far exceed the sum of contributions by the individual campuses. ATHENA represents an unprecedented opportunity to play a leadership role in driving critical changes in health care. The public nature of the UC institutions make them uniquely positioned to study the appropriateness and effectiveness of treatment. It also allows for the applied use of new scientific evidence, much of which has been developed in the UC medical centers, to truly change the delivery of care.”

Experts at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health may add to the project by developing a method for evidence-based management in the care of breast cancer patients.

Stephen Shortell, dean of the School of Public Health and professor of health policy and management, mentioned, “We want to be able to learn from every patient being cared for, not just those that participate in clinical trials. This effort will provide the infrastructure to construct and validate new measures of quality that will be needed with the evolution of new diagnostic strategies and therapeutic approaches.”

UC is working in collaboration with scientists at the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. Investigators at UC Berkeley may trail patient preferences, physician preference, treatment choices and clinical outcomes.

They could also gather information concerning key quality measures for every specialty and offer continuous pointers to them.