why attend

Overview

The Joining FORCEs Conference is organized to meet the needs of people who have been affected by hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. The conference has sessions and activities designed for all levels of learning and sharing. Whether you are a cancer survivor, previvor, health care provider, someone who is a caretaker, spouse, parent of a high-risk person, this conference has something for you. This international program offers general sessions and workshops on topics of interest to any individual or family with a BRCA mutation or hereditary breast and ovarian cancer and to health care providers who serve this community. The conference covers a wide range of topics which encompass all aspects of the hereditary cancer experience.

Who attends the Joining FORCEs Conference?

Attendees of the Joining FORCEs conference include:

• People with a BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 mutation
• People with a strong family history of breast, ovarian, or other cancers
• Women who are at high risk for breast or ovarian cancer
• Breast cancer survivors and ovarian cancer survivors
• Women considering prophylactic mastectomy or oophorectomy to lower their risk for cancer
• Women who have undergone prophylactic mastectomy or oophorectomy
• Women interested in learning about reconstruction options after mastectomy
• Relatives of people with a BRCA mutation or family history of cancer
• Health care providers who care for high-risk individuals or people who carry a BRCA mutation
• Mental health care providers whose practice includes high-risk individuals or people who carry a BRCA mutation
• Patient advocates

Reasons to attend

• Hear updates from leading researchers on BRCA and hereditary cancer
• Learn about standard-of-care and cutting-edge options available for lowering cancer risk or for detecting cancer early
• Learn about all the options available for breast reconstruction after mastectomy and tips on insurance coverage for out-of-state procedures
• Learn strategies for coping with being high-risk and/or a carrier of a BRCA mutation and strategies for sharing risk information with family members
• Learn about ways to improve your quality of life while living with hereditary cancer or hereditary cancer risk
• Learn about clinical trials available for high-risk individuals or cancer survivors with hereditary cancer
• Meet and share experiences with other individuals who have faced hereditary cancer risk
• Learn about advocating and improving lives of people with BRCA or hereditary cancer risk

Suggestions for which sessions to attend

We’ve compiled a list of different sessions that people may want to attend based on their individual circumstances. Please click on the categories below for our session suggestions (remember these are just suggestions: we encourage you to review all the sessions to determine which best suit your needs).

• If you are a high-risk woman age 35 or younger
• If you are a breast cancer survivor
• If you are an ovarian cancer survivor
• If you are high risk and you are trying to make risk-management decisions
• If you are interested in high-risk surveillance
• If you are a previvor who has had mastectomy and oophorectomy
• If you are a health care provider working with the hereditary cancer community
• If you are a patient advocate, support group facilitator, or patient navigator
• If you are a spouse, relative, or caretaker
• If you are a man with a BRCA mutation
• If you have cancer in your family but tested negative for a BRCA mutation
  

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