Prevent Breast Cancer

Prevent Breast Cancer is the UK's sole charity dedicated exclusively to predicting and preventing breast cancer, driven by a mission to eradicate the disease before it starts through groundbreaking research, education, and outreach. Its core values emphasize scientific innovation, public benefit, and a preventive ethos that prioritizes risk prediction over treatment, believing lasting impact arises from understanding genetic vulnerabilities, enhancing early detection, pioneering chemoprevention, and promoting lifestyle changes to save lives and reduce disease burden for future generations. Funding decisions center on peer-reviewed projects with rapid translation to NHS services, fostering partnerships with clinical and academic teams for equitable, evidence-based prevention.

It funds gene research identifying BRCA1, BRCA2 mutations and molecular risk factors in high-risk women with family history or genetic predispositions, improved breast screening and early diagnosis via imaging innovations, technological advancements, and protocol revolutions for NHS populations, preventative drug development including chemoprevention trials and pharmaceutical interventions halting cancer onset, and studies on diet, lifestyle, exercise impacts reducing breast cancer risk through modifiable behaviors. Supported activities encompass laboratory investigations, clinical trials, translational genomics at breast centres, family history risk clinics providing genetic counseling and risk assessment for at-risk women, patient education resources empowering informed choices, professional training like national breast imaging academies enhancing early detection skills, and public awareness campaigns such as BreastFest promoting screening uptake and risk awareness among general populations, with emphasis on preventative interventions, early intervention strategies, and community outreach addressing underserved high-risk groups.

Exclusions encompass non-preventive work, general cancer support unrelated to breast cancer risk reduction or early detection, treatment-focused projects, or unrelated health initiatives. Priorities target high-risk women facing genetic, familial, or lifestyle vulnerabilities, NHS screening beneficiaries, and northern communities via Manchester hub collaborations. Distinctive as the only full-spectrum prevention charity embedded in an NHS breast facility, it demands scientific excellence, public benefit, multidisciplinary steering, and swift research-to-practice translation, uniquely bridging bench science, clinics, and policy for high-impact breast cancer prevention.