Dealing with a diagnosis or a health imbalance can be overwhelming. In this panel of experts, we present information on becoming an empowered patient and getting the answers you need from your doctor, navigating through information data overwhelm to make informed decisions, and identifying diet, lifestyle, and mind-body approaches to support your best well-being.

Beverly Canin is a breast cancer survivor with more than 17 years experience as a patient advocate. Her advocacy experience ranges from support of individual patients to community education programs, public policy and legislative change. She has served continuously as volunteer on the Board of Directors of national, regional and statewide breast cancer service and advocacy organizations. She attends or has attended numerous scientific meetings and symposia sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), the American Cancer Society (ACS), the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO), New York Alcohol Policy Alliance (NYAPA) and more. She is a graduate of the National Breast Cancer Coalition Project LEAD, a course for advocates on the basic science of breast cancer as well as advocacy. She has experience as a stakeholder member of research teams, as a patient advocate reviewer of research proposals in federal and state programs, and as been a member of federal and state cancer advisory committees.

Hope Nemiroff is Executive Director and founder of Breast Cancer Options, an organization providing breast cancer support, advocacy, and education in the Hudson Valley. She discovered that not all physicians in the rapidly growing field of breast cancer treatment were practicing according to a consistent set of guidelines, that patients were overwhelmed and frightened and often had neither the experiences or the resources to seek good care, much less receive the support that would sustain them. Because of her breast cancer experiences she founded Breast Cancer Options.
She coordinates free support programs and educational services for Breast Cancer Options in six counties. These services include: Support groups led by trained peer survivors; Camp Lightheart for the children of breast cancer survivors; Annual Metastatic Retreat for women living with advanced breast cancer; Integrative Medicine Programs provides information from experts on how to remain healthy and reduce the risk of cancer after treatment ends; Healthy Lifestyles Calendar is a nationally distributed informational digest that educates consumers about topics relevant to breast cancer; She researches and publishes Breast Cancer News, a weekly e-mail newsletter and the annual Healthy Lifestyles Calendar which is sent out all over the US and coordinates integrative programs and conference on breast health, with workshops on environmental and lifestyle factors that may reduce the risk of cancer. Breast Cancer Options was one of the founding members of the New York State Breast Cancer Network and Hope was a board member.

www.breastcanceroptions.org