Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research

Discovering innovative therapies for hard-to-treat breast cancers

Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research

The Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research at Indiana University School of Medicine is focused on dramatically improving therapies for some of the most difficult-to-treat types of breast cancer. Each year, breast cancer claims more than 40,000 lives in the United States.

The Vera Bradley Foundation Center is home to a multi-disciplinary team of more than 30 breast cancer physicians and scientists who are engaged in basic, translational and clinical research. They are capitalizing on new technologies to develop highly customized therapies and to help women avoid the life-altering side effects that often result from standard treatment.

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Donor support is crucial to advancing discoveries that will have the most meaningful impact on women’s lives. Find out how you can make a philanthropic gift to breast cancer research at the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research.

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Find out what investigators at the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research are doing to make new discoveries for treating and enhancing quality of life for breast cancer patients in Indiana and beyond.

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A Focus on Aggressive Tumors

While the center conducts research related to all types of breast cancer, it is especially focused on triple negative breast cancer. Triple negative breast cancer tends to be more aggressive, spreads more rapidly and has a higher recurrence rate than other forms of breast cancer. Through the Precision Health Initiative, Indiana University has made extraordinary investments in talent and infrastructure necessary to understand what drives this complex disease. IU School of Medicine has set the ambitious goals of developing new targeted therapies for triple negative breast cancer and curing at least one sub-type of the disease.

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Video

The Future of Research on Breast Cancer

IU School of Medicine establishes the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research

Image. IU Simon Cancer Center

IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center

The Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of the leading academic cancer research centers in the United States and consists of more than 150 scientists conducting research within five different programs. As Indiana’s only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center that provides patient care, physician-researchers at IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center lead more than 600 active clinical trials for pediatric and adult cancers. Members of the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research collaborate with experts at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and tap into the center’s exceptional research infrastructure.

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About the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer

The breast cancer research center at IU School of Medicine is named in recognition of the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer. Vera Bradley, a company based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a leading designer of women’s handbags and accessories. The company’s co-founders, Barbara Baekgaard and Patricia Miller, began raising money for breast cancer research in 1993, shortly after the death of a friend and colleague. The Vera Bradley Foundation has since committed $37.5 million to IU School of Medicine to advance breast cancer research and treatment in Indiana and around the world.
Image. The World's Only Healthy Tissue Bank

The World’s Only Healthy Breast Tissue Bank

Indiana University School of Medicine is home to the world’s only biorepository – or bank – of healthy breast tissue. Through the generosity of selfless women without breast cancer, this bank allows investigators from Indiana and beyond to compare healthy breast tissue to cancerous tissue in order to determine how and why breast cancer develops. This opens the door for the potential identification of cancerous cells at an earlier stage, as well as the opportunity for the development of new treatments and therapies for breast cancer patients.

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Breast Cancer Research News

Researcher

IU School of Medicine researchers predict which triple negative breast cancer patients may avoid recurrence and those who are at high-risk of relapse

IU School of Medicine  |  Dec 13, 2019

Blogs

'Whac-a-Mole' clinical trial participant experiences remission of Stage 4 triple negative breast cancer

Dr. Marino, others demonstrate the importance of studying the “normal breast”

Genomic medicine key to treating aggressive breast cancers disproportionately affecting African American women

Indiana-native researcher is the 2020 Vera Bradley Foundation Scholar

In the Margins: Shifting our view of health care