CT BHI Announces Recipients of 2025 Breast Cancer Research and Education Grants

The Connecticut Breast Health Initiative has announced the recipients of the 2025 Research and Education Grants, and recognized individuals receiving CTBHI Awards of Distinction for their efforts in support of the organization and their work raising funds to support breast cancer research.

The keynote speaker at a well-attended event in West Hartford on October 16, during which the grant recipients were announced, was Claudia Weicker, former Connecticut First Lady and a breast cancer survivor.

The six grant recipients, who together will receive a total of $250,000 to support their individual research, were:

• Yueming Chang, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Medical Oncology; UConn Health Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center – Affordable CRISPR-Based ctDNA Surveillance of ESR l Mutations in Patients with HR+/HER2 – Breast Cancer on Aromatase Inhibitors
• Linda Hodgkins, MS OTR/L CLT-LANA, Lymphedema Clinical Program Manager – The Hospital of Central Connecticut – Breast Health Program seeks to provide awareness, educational programming and equitable access to rehabilitation therapy and compression garments to breast cancer patients with lymphedema
• Elizabeth R. Berger, MD, MS, FACS, Assistant Professor of Surgery; Rachel A. Greenup, MD, MPH, Professor of Surgery, Chief of Breast Surgery – Yale University School of Medicine – The EMPOWER Me Study: Evaluating Emotional and Psychosocial Readiness for Women Preparing for Mastectomy
• Samuel Katz, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, School of Medicine – Yale University – Development of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T Cells for Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer
• Timothy Robinson, MD, PhD, Associate Professor Therapeutic Radiology – Yale Cancer Center – Investigate the Underlying Causes of Lethal Triple Negative Breast Cancer in Women in Connecticut
• Qin Yan, PhD, Professor of Pathology, Department of Pathology, Yale School of Medicine – Yale University – Targeting an Epigenetic Regulator CECR2 With EP 31670 to Treat Breast Cancer Metastasis

Since its formation in 2004, CTBHI has previously awarded 121 grants to Connecticut researchers across the state, totaling $4.7 million.

The organization’s annual RACE IN THE PARK, held on Mother’s Day weekend annually, has become a popular gathering place for renewed commitment, and additional events through the year add to the legacy of the state’s leading breast cancer research advocacy and fundraising organization. 100% of the money raised stays in Connecticut.

“This was so much more than just an event,” said Joyce Bray, President of CTBHI. “It was an inspiring celebration of what happens when hope meets action. It was a very special evening, reflecting the commitment, expertise, and passion of researchers and those who unwaveringly support their work and the families impacted by breast cancer.”

October is recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Recent statistics underscore the importance of the research being conducted, including here in Connecticut.

• A 2025 Columbia University analysis of U.S. Cancer Statistics data showed that Connecticut had the highest observed rate of early onset breast cancer in the nation among women ages 25–39 from 2001–2020. Nationally, breast cancer is rising fastest among women under 50.
• The rate of female breast cancer in Connecticut’s population is the second highest in the United States. It is estimated that more than 3,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in Connecticut women this year.
• Breast cancer rates rose by 1 percent per year from 2012-2021 for all U.S. women combined, with steeper increases for women under 50, according to the American Cancer Society, in a report release last fall.

The individuals honored this year by CT BHI “are the researchers, donors, volunteers, and survivors who are changing the story of breast cancer in Connecticut, one act of courage at a time,” Bray added.

In her remarks, Claudia Weicker shared her perspective on breast cancer research, and the difference it makes in the lives of women and their families across the nation. She stressed the life-changing and life-saving efforts of federal health agencies, and the critical nature of healthcare research in the United States, currently being assailed by federal leaders.

During her career, she worked on the professional staff the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and then the Appropriations Committee, where she became the first woman in either house of Congress to head the staff of an Appropriations Subcommittee. As staff director of the Subcommittee on Labor, Education, Health and Human Services she oversaw the budgets of key executive departments and agencies including the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control.