About BBHI

The Biden Breast Health Initiative (BBHI) was formed in the early 1990s after Jill Biden had several friends diagnosed with breast cancer. She realized that too often, breast self-examination (BSE) was usually not taught to young women, as breast cancer was thought to be an older woman's disease. As an educator of high school and college age students, Jill gathered breast cancer survivors, community leaders, and medical professionals together to help provide crucial information to female students in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. Today, BBHI's program focuses on BSE and the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. Our long-range goal is to decrease breast cancer incidence and mortality in Delaware through breast health awareness and education. We now serve approximately 90% of all high schools in Delaware. 

Board of Directors

Tonya Baker
Secretary
Sue Zimmerman
Treasurer
Marge Lang LCSW, OSW-C
President
Shauna McIntosh, M.D.
Vice-President

Maureen Lauterbach
Karen Nestor Marshall
Karen Miller
Charlotte H. Passwaters
Nicole J.W. Requena
Joan Rosenthal
Lisa Sevier
Sonia S. Sloan
M. Cecilia Stoeckicht
Cynthia Church
Vicky Cooke
Maureen Corrigan
Karen Dorsey
Sherry Dorsey
Brenda James-Roberts, Esq.
Caroline Geise
Nanci Hoffman
Jacqueline Ivy
Melinda Jasani, M.D.


Marsha Silver Evantash, Executive Director

Jill Biden, Ed.D., Founder & Immediate Past President

To contact Mrs. Biden, please write to her:
Office of Dr. Jill Biden
The White House, 1600 Penna. Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Messages sent via this site cannot be forwarded.

Program Implementation

Currently, the BBHI is reaching over 2,500 female students per year in both public and private high schools throughout the state of Delaware. We have reached a total of nearly 13,000 students through class presentations. Thousands more have been reached through our participation in health fairs. We've also increased the number of high schools offering our program.

Here's an overview of our progress over the past four years:

School Year Number of Students Number of Schools
2005-06 1,005 20
2006-07 1,787 28
2007-08 1,916 36
2008-09 2,698 43