Breast Cancer Prevention Programme

Programme Leader: Associate Professor Mikael Hartman

The Breast Cancer Prevention Programme (BCPP) was officially established in July 2015 under the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and is supported by the SSHSPH Research Programme Fund. This programme focuses on different stages of breast cancer, breast screening, genomics, personalised medicine, as well as improving quality of life of breast cancer survivors.

The programme has active collaborations with local, regional and international partners to assemble two large multi-ethnic cohorts to study risk factors for Asian breast cancer. These are the Singapore–Malaysia Hospital-based Breast Cancer Registry and the Singapore Breast Cancer Cohort. Our collaboration includes being a member of the largest international breast cancer consortium, the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC), a member of the International Consortium on Mammographic Density and a member of the Asian Breast Cancer Consortium.

Programme Objectives

  • To decrease breast cancer mortality rates, without increasing burden of breast cancer to the healthcare system
  • To dedicate our research in the prevention of breast cancer by understanding causes and genetics of the disease

Research Aspects

Our research aspects are structured in parallel with SSHSPH’s vision: Integrating knowledge across disciplines to develop solutions that will improve the health of populations in Singapore and beyond.

Breast Cancer Meanings

The ‘Breast Cancer Meanings’ Symposium and Fundraising Gala Dinner held on 16 March 2018 marked the completion of the first phase of a research and intervention programme on Asian breast cancers. The three-phase programme is the first Pan-Asian anthropology work for breast cancer led by Singaporeans across eight countries to scientifically address a disease of epidemic proportion.

Findings from Phase One, which focused on better understanding Asian women’s health-seeking behaviours towards breast cancer, were shared at the Symposium as well as in the book titled ‘Breast Cancer Meanings: Journeys across Asia’. Contributing authors of the book flew in from around the world to present their research at the symposium.

From left: Prof Lee Chuen Neng, The Abu Rauff Professor in Surgery at NUS Medicine; State President Halimah Yacob; Prof Cynthia Chou, C. Maxwell and Elizabeth M. Stanley Family Chair Professor of Asian Studies & Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iowa; A/Prof Mikael Hartman (MCI Photo by Betty Chua)
From left: Prof Lee Chuen Neng, The Abu Rauff Professor in Surgery at NUS Medicine; State President Halimah Yacob; Prof Cynthia Chou, C. Maxwell and Elizabeth M. Stanley Family Chair Professor of Asian Studies & Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iowa; A/Prof Mikael Hartman (MCI Photo by Betty Chua)
Professor Downing Thomas, Associate Provost and Dean, International Programs, University of Iowa (seated 1st from left), Dr Martin Platt, A/Prof Hartman and Clinical Associate Professor Philip Iau, NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, with the speakers and organisers of the Breast Cancer Meanings Symposium.

The book was unveiled at the Fundraising Gala Dinner and presented to the evening’s Guest of Honour, Madam Halimah Yacob, President of the Republic of Singapore. The dinner was held in support of the NUS Asian Breast Cancer Research Fund and all funds raised went towards supporting the next two phases of the programme.

Published by NUS Press in Asia and NIAS Press in Europe and North America, the book is available at major book stores in Singapore and may also be purchased online here.