Charleston, SC, (March 15, 2007) – The MUSC Hollings Cancer Center will honor Zora Brown’s contributions to the fight against cancer and the Mayor will proclaim Zora Brown Day at a reception in her honor on Wednesday, March 21 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. The reception will take place in the Welcome Pavilion lobby of the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, 86 Jonathan Lucas Street. Zora Brown always knew the odds...based on her family history, she was at risk of getting breast cancer. Her great-grandmother, her grandmother and her mother had the disease. One of her three sisters and a niece died from breast cancer. So when Ms. Brown was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1981, it came as no surprise to her. But what Ms. Brown did next might surprise others. She didn’t just fight for her life, she fought to save the lives of others – especially African American women who are twice as likely as Caucasian women to die from breast cancer. After Ms. Brown’s sister Belva’s third breast cancer diagnosis, they jointly founded the Breast Cancer Resource Committee (BCRC), a nonprofit group with a mission of educating and supporting African American women in their battle with the disease. An outgrowth of the BCRC was “Rise Sister Rise” a support group for African American women. Ms. Brown is also founder and chairperson of Cancer Awareness Program Services (CAPS) and the Breast Cancer Resource Committee (BCRC). CAPS was organized on January 1, 1992 as a way to institute a comprehensive cancer prevention program focusing on awareness and education targeting women, particularly women of color. Ms. Brown subsequently organized Men in Action Against Breast Cancer and along with her nieces established SASSI (Sisters Accessing Skills for Survival and Intervention.) In 1991 Ms. Brown was appointed by President Bush to the National Cancer Advisory Board, National Cancer Institute, where she served until March 1998. She is a past member of the board, MUSC Hollings Cancer Center Advisory Board, appointed by U.S. Senator Ernest Hollings. On November 1, 1995 she received a special citation in the Congressional Record by Senator Hollings. Ms. Brown, along with Oprah Winfrey, was named one of the 1997 ten Women’s Health Heroes, American Health for Women (a Readers Digest publication). Ms. Brown who had two battles with breast cancer, was diagnosed in 2005 with ovarian cancer. Again she turned to one of her sisters for inspiration – that sister is a 20-year ovarian cancer survivor. Currently Ms. Brown is Special Assistant to the CEO and Director of Health and Cultural Affairs at INTEGRIS Health, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She is responsible for coordinating the Business Health Leadership Institute; the Oklahoma Chronic Disease Initiative; developing an agenda for the CEO to deal with diversity in the workplace; and expanding relationships with relevant community groups, among other issues With Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr. she recently co-authored a book, 100 Questions and Answers About Breast Cancer. She is currently working on a book with Dr. Harold Freeman. She co-produced a CD-ROM utilizing the breast cancer risk assessment tool set to original jazz music. The MUSC Hollings Cancer Center will honor Ms. Brown’s contributions to the fight against cancer and the Mayor will proclaim Zora Brown Day at a reception in her honor on Wednesday, March 21 from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. at the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, 86 Jonathan Lucas Street. | 
