Celebrate Research Gains on World Breast Cancer Research Day

August 1, 2026

By Tammy McCausland

Breast cancer research gets the spotlight on August 18, designated as World Breast Cancer Research Day as a way to underscore progress in the fight against the most common cancer among women and the smaller percentage of men who develop the disease.¹ The 18th day of the 8th month—a reminder of the 1 in 8 women who will develop breast cancer in their lifetime—also serves to highlight recent advances in prevention, diagnostics and treatment.

For more than a century, researchers have been developing tools to increase the number of survivors and enhance patients’ quality of life, including the adoption of radiation treatment, the introduction of mammography, and the identification of genetic markers for some types of breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, the breast cancer mortality rate in the United States dropped 44 percent between 1989 and 2022, largely thanks to improvements in early detection and treatment.²

Yet while the overall death rate from breast cancer has declined along with improved survival figures for older women, the number of women under the age of 50 developing breast cancer is rising at a troubling rate, with correspondingly higher mortality rates especially among Black, Asian-American and Hispanic women. Researchers at Houston Methodist combed through nearly 50 years of US breast cancer data and found significant shifts over that period in risks and outcomes among different age, racial, and ethnic groups.³

These trends showcase the need for fine-tuning the ability to predict risk and for developing more personalized treatments. Harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) in those efforts is one recent development, including Clairity Breast, an AI-based platform that analyzes a patient’s screening mammogram to deliver a five-year risk prediction derived from aspects in the imaging. In April 2026, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network added this tool to its clinical practice guidelines.⁴

Another AI model in the works analyzes screening mammograms to triage high-risk patients for immediate imaging interpretation, with suspicious areas scheduled for additional same-day imaging or even biopsies. Researchers at the University of California Berkeley and University of California San Francisco were able to drastically slash their study participants’ waiting time for diagnostic evaluations from weeks to one hour, and cut the average wait for biopsy results from more than two months to less than 10 days.⁵ In a recent article, Maggie Chung, assistant professor of radiology at the University of California, San Francisco, and one of the study’s authors, said, “This moves us closer to personalized care, where we can tailor a plan so that each patient gets the right intervention at the right time.” She added, “AI risk assessment gives us the chance to identify the women most likely to benefit from expedited care and get them what they need.”⁶

Along with AI tools and personalized care, preventive actions such as weight loss to counter the known risk factor of obesity are getting research attention, with a new focus on the GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs for diabetes and weight loss. Recent studies have found a potential association between use of these drugs and lowered risk of breast cancer, as well as improved outcomes for breast cancer patients.^7,8

But researchers’ holy grail—a cure—is still far out on the horizon. In the meantime, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which together have awarded more than $2 billion in research funding since their inception, call every achievement a step closer to that goal.

“The treatments we rely on today were once only a dream,” said Jennifer A. Pietenpol, a chief scientific advisor for Komen, in a news release. “By continuing to invest in bold, promising ideas, and in the passionate researchers who pursue them, we have the potential to drive the next generation of lifesaving breakthroughs in breast cancer.”⁹

Research will continue to bring advances in detection and treatment to reduce the risk of and improve the odds against the disease.

References

1. Breast Cancer Research Foundation. “Breast Cancer Statistics and Resources.” Accessed July 30, 2026.
2. American Cancer Society. “Breast Cancer Incidence Still Rises and Death Rate Still Declines.” October 2, 2024.
3. Wang L, Wan Z, Dhillon V, et al. “Disparities in breast cancer incidence and survival by age, race, and molecular subtype in US women.” npj Breast Cancer. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41523-026-00935-y
4. Breast Cancer Research Foundation Blog. “A Revolution in Breast Cancer Prevention Is Underway—With AI Mammogram-Based Risk Assessment Starting at 35.” April 14, 2026.
5. Chung M, Davis E, Greenwood H, et al. “Prospective deployment of AI-based risk stratification to enable expedited mammography workflow in a safety-net setting.” npj Digit. Med. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-02743-x
6. University of California San Francisco Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, “How New AI Cuts Breast Cancer Screening Time for High-Risk Women.” June 2, 2026.
7. McDonald ES, Gillis LB, Gabriel PE, et al. “GLP-1 Agonists Are Associated With a Significant Reduction in Breast Cancer Incidence in Women.” JCO Oncol Pract. 2026 Jul;22(7)1341–1348. doi: 10.1200/OP-26-00485.
8. Tatum KL, Dahman B, Stevenson A, et al. “Survival and Recurrence With GLP-1 Receptor Agonists in Breast Cancer.” JAMA Netw Open. 2026;9(5):e2612133. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.12133
9. Susan G. Komen Newsroom. “Susan G. Komen Awards $15.4 Million In Research Grants to Accelerate Breakthroughs in Breast Cancer Care.” June 23, 2026.