Join our medical experts along with Kristen Dahlgren, award winning journalist and former NBC News correspondent, for an informative and empowering discussion about the progress of breast cancer vaccines.

For questions, please contact Stephanie Siegel, MSW at [email protected].

Register here.

Speaker Bios

Kristen Dahlgren is an award winning journalist turned Breast Cancer advocate and founder of the nonprofit Cancer Vaccine Coalition.  For the first 30 years of her career, Kristen traveled the world, documenting some of the biggest news stories of our time.  She reported for NBC Nightly News and NBC’s Today show, was nominated for an Emmy award for leading the network’s coverage of the Parkland School shooting, served as a backup anchor for Lester Holt, and won an Edward R. Murrow award for her feature reporting.  In 2019, she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and immediately decided to share her story to help other women to recognize the different ways their own cancers could present. Through her reporting, Kristen also learned about the research that was happening on Breast Cancer vaccines. After a conversation with UW Cancer Vaccine Institute’s Dr. Nora Disis, Kristen realized that vaccines for breast cancer were no longer a “Pie in the sky” idea but something that was close and achievable. She couldn’t stand by and watch anyone else suffer. CVC is partnered with the nation’s top vaccine and cancer researchers with a goal of getting a safe, effective breast cancer vaccine to market in 5 to 10 years.  CVC has one mission: to move science forward faster. To do so, CVC works to fund trials, streamline the process, remove barriers to success and ensure ALL breast cancer patients are represented in trials. 

Dr. Kiran Dhillon has a PhD in Genetics from the University of Washington and then studied chemotherapy resistance in BRCA1/2-associated breast and ovarian cancers at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. She then joined the Rivkin Center as Director of Scientific Programs, where she oversaw an international ovarian cancer research grants program, scientific symposia, and content for a breast and ovarian cancer education program. Currently, Dr. Dhillon is the Executive Director at the Cancer Vaccine Institute at the University of Washington, the largest academic institution devoted to the development of cancer vaccines. As ED she directs the overall strategic program goals and general administration of the Institute to accelerate the development of therapeutic and preventative vaccines for some of the most common and deadly cancers, including breast and ovarian cancers.

Susan M. Domchek, MD is the Basser Professor in Oncology at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. She serves as Executive Director of the Basser Center for BRCA at the Abramson Cancer Center and Director of the Mariann and Robert MacDonald Cancer Risk Evaluation Program.

Her work focuses on the genetic evaluation and medical management of individuals with inherited risk factors for cancer. Dr. Domchek is particularly interested in developing new cancer therapies, such as PARP inhibitors, for breast cancer due to genetic risk factors.

An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the Association of American Physicians, Dr. Domchek is also a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (FASCO).  A significant contributor to the oncology literature, she has authored/co-authored more than 350 articles appearing in scholarly journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Domchek also serves on a number of editorial review boards as well as on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the PA Breast Cancer Coalition.