Since the inception of this component, PALS for Health has also been an active member of various local and statewide women’s health committees. PALS for Health co-chaired the API Task Force of Partnered for Progress Los Angeles Regional Cancer Partnership and was also a member of their Board of Directors from 1997 to 2000. We’re currently members of the API Advisory Committee of California Department of Health Services, Cancer Detection Section, Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program, and are also active in the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training (AANCART).

Of the various community collaborations we’ve been a part of, one of the highlights took place on May 13, 1999 when the API Task Force of Partnered for Progress Los Angeles Regional Cancer Partnership played an instrumental role in facilitating the first-ever convening of a multiethnic API breast cancer survivor speakers panel (see picture above). Appropriately named “Equally at Risk: API Women Speak Out on Breast Cancer” the panel was aimed at debunking the dangerous myth that API women are at low risk for breast cancer and also to encourage API women to access early detection. This standing room event was held at the Los Angeles Public Library in conjunction with Art.Rage.Us, an exhibit of creative works by women with breast cancer. We consequently teamed up with the API National Cancer Survivors Network a project of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, and The Breast Cancer Fund to convene a similar panel in Oakland in conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The development and consequent achievements of our women’s health component would not have been possible without support from the Office of Minority Health, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, CDC Foundation, and Partnered for Progress Los Angeles Regional Cancer Partnership.

For more information on the Women's Health component, please call Mireya Muñoz at 213.627.4850.