S06 E02 LBBC: Silent Voices No Longer

Our MBC Life

Our guest today is Jean Sachs, Chief Executive Officer of Living Beyond Breast Cancer, who’s overseen and grown the impact of LBBC for nearly three decades. She joined LBBC in 1996 as its first Executive Director and was named CEO in 2008. During that time, LBBC has become a national force in breast cancer patient support and action. Jean’s focus on inclusivity, whether by race, age, geographic location, gender, has meant that LBBC is among the most welcoming patient-focused nonprofit organizations in the United States.

And for people living with metastatic breast cancer, LBBC has become synonymous with that most-important quality: Community. That’s because LBBC’s annual Conference on Metastatic Breast Cancer is one of the largest, if not the largest, gatherings for women and men living with MBC. This year’s attendance expectations are for 500 in-person and 1500 virtual! The conference began in 2006 and this year LBBC breaks the rules again by making the conference fully hybrid, with one full day of only virtual workshops and gatherings, followed by a weekend of simultaneous fully virtual and in-person conversations, lectures, exhibitor booths, and opportunities to connect both online and in-person.

Happening from April 26 to the 30th, LBBC’s annual conference on metastatic breast cancer brings in experts like Nancy Lin, Don Dizon, Kelly Grosklags, Kimberly Curseen, and more. But, as Jean herself shares, the connections formed in virtual chat rooms and in-person are also part of its history. The LBBC MBC Conference is the birthplace of MetUp, the site of Hear My Voice advocacy training (alums include Julia Maues, Janice Cowden, and Terlisa Sheppard), and where lasting connections that shape how we talk about MBC are formed.

We are so delighted to have Jean with us to talk about Living Beyond Breast Cancer and this year’s conference.

Sprinkled throughout the episode are the voices of our patient advocate friends Stephanie Walker, Terlisa Sheppard, and Kate Pfitzer.

Look for more information about LBBC here
To register for the 2023 LBBC MBC Conference click here
More info about the show and past episodes is available on our website: www.ourmbclife.org
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