For the second year, Clinical Associate Professor Colleen Boraca participated in the Susan G. Komen Advocacy Summit on April 27. Professor Boraca was part of a group of advocates who met with the offices of Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth as well as Representatives Lauren Underwood, Darin LaHood and Cheri Bustos.
During the meeting, the group encouraged the lawmakers to fund the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program to ensure all women have access to potentially lifesaving breast cancer screening and diagnostic services; to support the Access to Breast Care Diagnosis Act (H.R. 5769/S.1067) to reduce out-of-pocket costs for patients and increase access to medically necessary diagnostic breast imaging; and to co-sponsor the Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Access to Care Act (H.R.3183/S.1312) which would waive the five-month waiting period for Social Security Disability Insurance and 24-month waiting period for Medicare to improve access to care and quality of life for people living with MBC.
Professor Boraca has been a passionate advocate for promoting research and treatment for breast cancer since losing her own mother to the illness in 2002. This advocacy also is related to Professor Boraca’s work at the College of Law. The NIU College of Law Health Advocacy Clinic, which she directs, aims to help those impacted by poverty, homelessness, and disabling health conditions. In 2021, Professor Boraca was the recipient of the Chicago Bar Foundation’s Jay Leonard Schrager Award of Excellence. The Award was established to recognize exemplary attorneys in academia who, in the spirit of Schrager’s legacy, have made significant and lasting contributions to improving access to justice.
