Dr. Lovell Jones HOUSTON- Positive Image Productions, Inc., a local non profit media organization, presents “African- Americans Battle Against Breast Cancer,” a new television program designed to raise a red flag about the effect of breast cancer on the African-American community. The 30-minute program will air throughout the month of October on two different stations: October 14 at 10 a.m. and October 25 at 11 a.m. on KHOU’s new digital channel 11.2 (seen on Comcast and DirecTV on Channel 310) and October 17 at 9 a.m. on Independent station KNWS-Channel 51 (Comcast Channel 2). In the program, local medical experts, including Dr. Lovell Jones, director of U.T. M.D. Anderson’s Center for Research on Minority Health, discuss the increasing incidence of aggressive tumors discovered in African-American breast cancer patients and the disparity between the mortality rates of Blacks and Caucasian breast cancer patients.

“We originally thought the primary cause of advanced disease was access, but that is not the whole story. We now know that in certain African American women, it may be a different disease,” Dr. Jones said, referring to “the triple negative” tumors, which researchers have found do not have estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors or a certain gene found in many breast tumors. This means these aggressive tumors do not respond to anti-estrogen therapies, a common breast cancer treatment.

Lovell’s achievements include creating and co-chairing the Intercultural Cancer Council, which is the largest multicultural health policy group in the U.S. that focuses on cancer in minorities and underserved groups. Covenant Glen UMC, 401 Present St, in Missouri City, will show the program several times during its 2009 Women’s Health Festival on October 17.