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1997 SESSION


SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 363
Commending Mary Jo Ellis Kahn.

Agreed to by the Senate, January 23, 1997
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, January 31, 1997

WHEREAS, through a new, unprecedented program begun in 1996 by Avon Products, Inc., and Avon's Breast Cancer Awareness Crusade, a total of one million dollars was granted to ten outstanding leaders in the national breast cancer community; and

WHEREAS, Mary Jo Ellis Kahn, co-founder and first president of the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation, was one of the ten national leaders to receive an inaugural Avon Breast Cancer Leadership Award at a presentation in New York City in October 1996; and

WHEREAS, on October 2, 1996, the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation received the $100,000 Avon Breast Cancer Leadership Award bestowed upon Mary Jo Ellis Kahn; and

WHEREAS, the Award will help the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation to fulfill its mission to make the epidemic of breast cancer a state and national health care priority; and

WHEREAS, the Award recognizes the outstanding individual contributions that Mary Jo Ellis Kahn has made toward educating Virginians about the prevention, detection, causes, treatments, and cure of breast cancer; and

WHEREAS, the Award also recognizes Mary Jo Ellis Kahn's outstanding individual contributions toward patient advocacy and encouraging women with breast cancer to work for improved disease outcomes through high quality, accessible medical research, especially among underserved women; and

WHEREAS, Mary Jo Ellis Kahn was one of a small group of women who founded the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation in 1991 and envisioned it as a grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting research into the prevention, detection, causes, treatments, and cure of breast cancer; to improving access to screening, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer; and to educating the public and policymakers about breast cancer; and

WHEREAS, in the five years since its founding, the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation has grown to over 800 members, which includes women with breast cancer, family members, friends, health care professionals, and other interested people; and

WHEREAS, in addition to her advocacy and recruiting work on behalf of the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation, Mary Jo Ellis Kahn co-chairs the Hereditary Susceptibility Working Group of the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer, whose mission is to advance research in cancer genetics without putting women at risk for genetic discrimination or other misuses of this powerful, personal information; and

WHEREAS, as a breast cancer survivor herself, Mary Jo Ellis Kahn stands as an inspiration to all Virginians to dedicate themselves in service for the betterment of our communities, our state, our country, and our world; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly congratulate Mary Jo Ellis Kahn on her most well-deserved 1996 Avon Breast Cancer Leadership Award; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Mary Jo Ellis Kahn as an expression of the General Assembly's admiration for her outstanding individual contributions toward educating Virginians about the prevention, detection, causes, treatments, and cure of breast cancer and for her national leadership on the issue of genetic testing for hereditary susceptibility to breast cancer.