Let’s support women in cancer research!
International Women's Day 2024 For a third year, a digital fundraiser was held to mark International Women's Day. The aim of this initiative was to further support women in cancer research and highlight their considerable contribution. Their passion, dedication and perseverance have led to significant advances in cancer research.
In concrete terms, the donations collected will be used to enable female undergraduate students to undertake a research internship with the top-ranked female researchers from our 2024 Operating Grants competition.
Although there are more and more women working in cancer research, they face extra career challenges due to stereotypes and various economic and social factors.
Amélie Fradet-Turcotte, an accomplished researcher and recipient of several grants from the Cancer Research Society (CRS), can attest to this. “I wanted to open my lab and start a family. Most funding organizations offer to pause grants while a researcher takes maternity leave, but behind that there is a whole team and research projects.”
With a young family, meeting all the expectations for successful researchers, such as attendance at international conferences and involvement in multiple research committees, can be difficult. Nevertheless, despite the pandemic and the arrival of a second child, she managed to lead her research team and publish her research in renowned scientific journals.
But things are changing! The key is mentoring.
This scholarship is an extraordinary opportunity for a female student, who will be able to make her first steps into cancer research, and also for the female researcher who will supervise her. Funding is one of the main challenges in research, and this grant sends a clear message that we are here to help and that we encourage women to continue their research for the benefit of patients and their families.
Since 2022, our initiative has enabled three brilliant female students, including Jessie Zhang, to complete research internships with exceptional women cancer researchers.
“I would like to thank the donors. Thanks to their generosity, I had the opportunity to complete a research internship that transformed my career and strengthened my commitment. Indeed, thanks to this scholarship, I was able to acquire knowledge and new techniques to better understand breast cancer. I aspire to continue making meaningful strides in research.”
– Jessie Zhang
We would like to thank all the donors who contributed to this initiative.
Your support is essential to advancing cancer research and inspiring the next generation of women scientists.