May 2022
The Annie Parker Foundation recently announced that we have embarked on a new strategic vision and organization brand. With a recently recruited Board of Directors in place, the Foundation is looking forward to this exciting journey ahead as we transition from our original vision, which was supporting breast cancer survivors and previvors through specially curated programs and services to our new strategic direction, which includes providing urgently needed programs and support, promoting ground-breaking research and innovation, supporting health and educational initiatives and advocating for policy and practice changes, all with respect to BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 cancers.
In order to promote our Foundation’s new strategic direction to our current stakeholders and to introduce it to our new stakeholders, a video was compiled where our CEO, Annie Parker speaks on the need to increase our advocacy initiatives. Please click here to hear Annie deliver the APF’s latest position statement.
National Cancer Wellness Awareness Day President and CEO’s Message
A message from our CEO, Annie Parker on National Cancer Wellness Awareness Day:
The Annie Parker Foundation is committed to improving health and health equity for BRCA gene mutation female and male hereditary cancer families in Canada.
As a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, I understand how important it is for Canadians who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene to know their family history. After losing both my mother and sister to breast cancer, I recognized that there had to be a genetic link and my gut instinct was confirmed in 1980, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Back then, medical research in this area was not as developed as it is today. I was fortunate enough to come into contact with Dr. Mary-Claire King, a University of California, Berkeley Geneticist, and brainchild of the both the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Her clinical trials proved that breast and ovarian cancers are hereditary. This research also paved the way for clinicians, scientists and other researchers who came after her in diagnosing and treating cancer. My story resulted in creating the multi-award winning Hollywood movie, ‘Decoding Annie Parker,” which would be followed up by my autobiography “Annie Parker Decoded.”
Today, I continue to advocate for BRCA gene mutation female and male hereditary cancer families with a special emphasis on the City of Toronto and Canada in general.
Since then, many medical advancements have been made and continue to be made in areas such as prevention, early detection, diagnosing and treating the four cancers – breast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic – associated with the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.
However, while these advancements continue to be made, there are still many obstacles that prevent people with this deadly gene from accessing things like clinical trials and other ground-breaking applied research. These include IRER populations and those living in Northern parts of the province and the country among others.
Supported by a dedicated group of Directors, our aim is to reduce these health inequalities by tackling the social determinants of health (SDH) that these communities encounter within the Canadian healthcare system.
We will accomplish this goal by partnering with the new Toronto Mayor, Olivia Chow; other mayors; and policy makers at the municipal, provincial and federal levels; hospitals; social services; community-based organizations; non-profits; the media; and other public, private and NGO stakeholders to improve the survival rates for these carriers and their future generations.
On this National Cancer Wellness Awareness Day, I extend an invitation to all of the aforementioned stakeholders to partner with us in saving the lives of thousands of Canadians. Together we can work together in “Striving to Empower All Canadians.”
Thank you.
Yours fondly,
Annie Parker,
President and CEO, Annie Parker Foundation
Media Kit
The Annie Parker Foundation (APF) launches our media kit. Get to know our CEO, Annie Parker; learn more about our mission; vision; brand building strategy and initiatives; and partner organizations; and meet our media relations team.
Check it out here!
In this episode of Inside the Genome, Dr. Slavin is joined by three-time cancer survivor, Annie Parker. They discuss how early genetic testing had an impact on her journey through survivorship.
In this interview, Claire Paxman welcomes Annie Parker, Founder of the Annie Parker Foundation. They talk about how the Foundation was born from Annie’s experience of cancer, how the foundation continues to educate, empower, advocate for and support patients throughout treatment and the importance of scalp cooling as a treatment option.
When cancer first entered Annie Parker’s life, she had no idea of the role she would play in a major medical breakthrough. Annie was one of the first women to be tested for the BRCA 1 gene mutation, helping esblish the link between genetics and certain cancers.
A Day of Caring for Breast Cancer Awareness sponsored by Miami Cancer Institute features 3 cancer survivors.
Decoding Annie Parker Focuses on Women, Breast Cancer and Changing Science. Decoding Annie Parker tells a remarkable story for anyone affected by cancer. This movie offers a rare window into the world of cancer treatment and being a female patient in the 1970s and 1980s.
What survival looks like is told in Decoding Annie Parker. It tells the improbable story of an Ontario woman who helps find link between family history and the cancer disease. Annie Parker lost her mother and sister to cancer. She herself was diagnosed with the disease three times. The doctors said it was bad luck. Then she met a brilliant geneticist.
Check out this live Q&A with Annie Parker, the woman and three-time cancer survivor who inspired the film Decoding Annie Parker, starring Samantha Morton and Helen Hunt.
‘Decoding Annie Parker’ Features A Real-Life Superhero Whose Discovery Has Impacted Countless Women.
What survival looks like is told in Decoding Annie Parker. It tells the improbable story of an Ontario woman who helps find link between family history and the cancer disease. Annie Parker lost her mother and sister to cancer. She herself was diagnosed with the disease three times. The doctors said it was bad luck. Then she met a brilliant geneticist.
‘Decoding Annie Parker’ Features A Real-Life Superhero Whose Discovery Has Impacted Countless Women.
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