Jane Perlmutter’s Advocacy Activities

Jane was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1985 at the age of 36 and with no family history.  Three years later, breast cancer was diagnosed in her other breast.  Since these experiences, Jane has been involved in a number of organizations committed to educating the public about breast cancer, supporting people affected by it, and eradicating the disease.  

Jane has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and Masters Degrees in Educational Psychology, Computer and Information Science as well as an MBA.  She started her career as an experimental cognitive psychologist at the University of Texas in Austin, spent most of her career at Bell Labs, and currently runs her own consulting company—Gemini Group.  Her consulting focuses on process improvement and accreditation, primarily for institutions of higher learning.  She has been an examiner for the Baldrige and Lincoln quality award programs.  Jane also serves as a scientific review administrator for peer review panels for the Departments of Education and Defense external research programs.

As a volunteer, Jane has run breast health awareness workshops for adults and teens and provided peer counseling to women diagnosed with breast cancer.  She has been on boards, volunteered and consulted to many non-profit groups involved with cancer.  She has also been an invited speaker and author on a variety of topics and venues related to cancer research and advocacy and has developed and delivered training to a number of cancer advocate groups. In 2008 she received an American Association of Cancer Researcher’s Distinguished Advocate Mentor Award.  She is particularly interested in innovative clinical trial design and improving patients’ involvement in treatment decisions and their experiences in clinical trials.

Given her scientific training, albeit not related to cancer, Jane is especially interested in research advocacy.  She is a member of the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiation (CTTI), Clinical Trials Summit’s Informed Consent Steering Committee, Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) Breast Cancer Committee , and the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC) Patient Advocacy Working Group. She has been a stakeholder reviewer for the American Cancer Society’s (ACS), the US Department of Defense’s external research program, and the California Breast Cancer Research Program, and a member of the ACS’s External Research Council.  She has also been an advocate consultant on a number of academic cancer research projects, and a Survivor-Advocate representative and presenter at a number of scientific meetings, and regular faculty member at the Vail Methods in Clinical Research Workshop.

Jane is committed to increasing her effectiveness as an advocate and stays current with the scientific progress.  In addition to attending scientific meetings, she is a graduate of the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s Project LEAD training programs in basic science, clinical trials, and quality, care and has participated in the AACR’s Scientist <----> Survivor  Programs and the Rocky Mountain Evidence-Based Health Care Workshop.