Dr. Nikki Salmond hopes to deliver a one-two knockout punch to triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive subtype of the disease that currently has limited treatment options.
“Late stage and aggressive breast cancers have poor survival outcomes,” says Dr. Salmond, a BC Women’s Health Foundation Fellowship Award recipient whose current research focuses on developing new ways of diagnosing and treating breast cancer. “I hope my research will make significant strides to increasing our knowledge on how to treat this aggressive subtype of breast cancer so that we can improve treatment options and, therefore, quality of life, and ultimately improve survival rates.”
One in eight Canadian women will develop breast cancer.
To change this outcome, Dr. Salmond, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia, is studying nanomedicine, the realm of medical research where scientists create and engineer tiny medical tools to develop new treatment options. Mentorship is vital for up-and-coming researchers like Dr. Salmond, as is research funding.
Unfortunately, a lack of funding options can curtail important growth opportunities for promising scientists – especially for women. Women’s health researchers are funded less often, for shorter terms and for lower funding amounts than men in BC. Only with donor support can BC Women’s Health Foundation reverse this inequity.
Our 2022 Spring Impact Report, INVISIBLE TO INVINCIBLE, highlights a handful of ways that your investments are amplifying the voices of women, bridging the gender gap in women’s health research, and helping to fund vital equipment and upgrades at the province’s dedicated women’s hospital.
