We would like to introduce ourselves.  

Eileen Cantarella and Ronni Loundy have led a Making Strides team for the last 4 years benefitting the American Cancer Society with an emphasis on breast cancer research.  We have teamed up with Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and their major fundraiser event, which is held each October at Benderson Park, Sarasota, Florida. 

This year we have been asked to directly fund a research grant due to the past generosity of our supporters.  The grant we have selected will explore the relationship between aging and breast cancer metastasis and will take place at Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida.  This $400k grant extends for 4 years and our intent is to fund this project in full at a minimum cost of $100k each year.

The grant researcher, Dr. Ana Patricia da Silva Gomes, received her PhD at Harvard Medical School and did her postdoc at Weill Cornell, New York City. 

We are looking for additional partners to help us fund this important research project.  We appreciate your consideration.

Major Sponsorships available.

Rated 14th fundraising team by ACS nationally 2020-2022 | Rated 1st fundraiser in Sarasota/Manatee counties 2020-20223 | Rated 5th fundraiser in Southeast Region 2022 | Recipient of the American Cancer Society's "Spirit of Strides Award" for Southwest Florida

All the funds that our team Answer to Cancer SRQ raise will be directed towards our on-going research project at Moffitt Cancer Center.

We have committed to supporting this $100,000 a year grant for the next 4 years in hopes that we can make a real impact in finding a cure for breast cancer. 

The Researcher- Dr. Gomes 

Dr. Ana Patricia da Silva Gomes is an Assistant Member in the Department of Molecular Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center. She is a cell and molecular biologist with formal training in both aging and cancer biology. She is originally from Portugal, where she obtained her BS in Biology at the University of Coimbra. Subsequently, she did her PhD with Dr. David Sinclair at Harvard Medical School, focusing on the molecular mechanisms of aging.  Following her PhD, she did a postdoc at Weill Cornell Medicine with Dr. John Blenis where she explored the role of aging as a determinant of cancer progression and metastasis formation.   She has had a long- interest in the parallels of aging and cancer with a desire to understand how the aged host environment affects tumorigenesis.

The Research 

In her ACS Research Scholar Grant, Dr. Gomes is building on her expertise on epigenetic (the reversible process of turning genes on and off) and metabolic mechanisms that are used by cancer cells to enable the rewiring necessary for them to progress into metastatic disease. 

Her work with aging in cancer is testing the concept that aggressive hard-to-treat cancers hijack age-induced mechanisms to enable their progression and aggressiveness, with a particular emphasis on breast cancer

The Impact  

The American Cancer Society is currently investing more than $78 million in breast cancer-specific research through 160 grants. (as of 1/24/23)

In 2023, more than 297,000 women in the US will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

Female breast cancer death rate has declined 42% as of 2019, mainly because of earlier detection and improved treatment.

Answer to Cancer SRQ - Join Team	Raised
Ronni Loundy	$91,662.75
Barbara Brooks	$2,539.50
Team Gifts	$0.00