Judy Perkins was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2013. A retired engineer, she became involved with patient advocacy at first to learn more about her own diagnosis and attended conferences offered by the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network and the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC). She remains involved with the metastatic community as a volunteer with the SHARE Metastatic Breast Cancer Helpline. Since 2014, she has continued to attend NBCC Summits and lobby for increased federal funding for breast cancer research and legislation for metastatic breast cancer patients. She now serves as a Florida Team Leader when lobbying on Capitol Hill. She is an alternate NBCC board member representing the Florida Breast Cancer Foundation.
Ms. Perkins attended Project LEAD in 2015, and has served multiple times as a consumer reviewer for the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program. In January 2019, she joined the National Cancer Institute Central Institutional Review Board, which provides oversight for clinical trials, as a patient advocate.
As a patient with metastatic cancer, Ms. Perkins participated in two clinical trials. The first trial was at the University of Miami for an FGFR1 inhibitor. After the first trial failed, Ms. Perkins learned about the second trial at the National Institutes of Health while attending Project LEAD. In December, 2015, Ms. Perkins became the first breast cancer patient to be treated with immunotherapy using tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. Since May of 2016, she has been cancer free.
After news of the clinical trial was published in Nature Medicine in June, 2018, Ms. Perkins has been featured in a variety of news reports worldwide. As a cancer veteran, she continues to use this platform to educate people about clinical trials and patient advocacy.