Emory Winship Cancer Institute and Emory Healthcare will host a Town Hall on breast health issues for African American women May 15 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Emory Crawford Long Hospital's Glenn Auditorium.

The meeting is free and open to the public.

In addition to a range of breast health issues, the meeting will include information on triple negative disease, a fast moving form of breast cancer that is resistant to targeted therapies, leaving few options for treatment other than chemotherapy. This breast cancer strikes pre-menopausal African American women at nearly twice the rate of young white women.

In a recent population study, Emory researchers found that almost 47 percent of breast cancers in African-American women under the age of 55 were triple negative.

"This promises to be an exceptional outreach and education opportunity for women in our community," says Ruth O'Regan, MD, director of translational breast cancer research at Emory Winship and one of the town hall panelists. "The goal of this event is to deliver a message about the importance of breast cancer awareness and early detection."

For more information call 404-778-2000.