The Staggering Incidence of Breast Cancer in the Bay Area

Check out this piece in Tuesday’s edition of my hometown paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, discussing research by the Public Health Institute on the bizarrely high incidence of breast cancer in Bay Area counties. It’s fascinating. Marin County has for years been considered a hotbed for this disease, without much explanation as to why, but now it seems that multiple Bay Area counties – with the exception of San Francisco County itself – are showing similar rates. No research was undertaken in this project to determine why, but getting a handle on which regions have the highest incidence rates is a good first step for further exploration.

This image shows the counties and regions in which invasive breast cancer is 10%-20% higher than in other parts of the state – two other regions were seen with similar incidence rates in Southern California:

Author: Larkin Callaghan

I'm a born and bred San Franciscan, with previous residences, postings, and assignments in NYC, LA, and Eastern and Southern Africa. Runner, global health and international development expert, health communication and strategic partnerships professional, implementation science investigator, reproductive health advocate. Previously seen working at the UN, professor-ing at Stanford University, implementing in sub-Saharan Africa, SE Asia, and Latin America with the CDC, PEPFAR, and ICAP at Columbia, and managing research at UCSF. View all posts by Larkin Callaghan