Joy Simha, Young Survival Coalition, Consumer Reviewer:

The Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program is one of the most innovative programs I have ever encountered. Participating as a consumer in the peer review process has been an eye opening experience for me. I have the utmost respect for the researchers who apply for the grants and the researchers who sit on the peer review board. The way we all work together as a team to try to fund quality, innovative research. Research that goes beyond what so many institutions are already funding. Research that really tries to look at a new way of finding a cure for breast cancer and better understanding of what actually causes this disease.

As a consumer participating in the peer review process, it's really a great payback when I see researchers around the table have an "a-ha" moment based upon what something that a consumer says. The consumers are very, very good at pointing out how much weight needs to be put on the outcomes of certain research and how relevant it is in our everyday lives.

I think that the consumers and the scientists work very, very well together to try to figure out which science is the best science and which needs to be funded based upon the criteria that's been set by the Integration Panel.

Sitting in on the process, being a part of the scientific process just simply enables me to feel like I am still fighting cancer even though I'm not undergoing surgery, I'm not undergoing chemotherapy. Breast cancer as a survivor is always a lurking threat and so continuing to work with this process helps me to feel like I am fighting the disease in a much grander scale, in a much bigger way.