Michele Bennett had no intention of going into breast education. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology at Cal State Fresno and a master’s degree at the University of San Francisco in molecular biology and education, she applied to medical school.

“I wanted to be a gynecologist or oncologist; I wanted to work in women’s medicine,” says Bennett, 33. “Not getting into medical school was a turning point for me. I started to try out different things and head in a new directions professionally.”

Her work for Myriad Genetics, a company conducting gene sequencing for breast and ovarian cancer, led to her position as the breast education coordinator for the Scripps Polster Breast Care Center, a screening and diagnostic center at Scripps Memorial Hospital, La Jolla. In that position, she has had a lasting and critical impact on the San Diego health community.

She created the Young Women’s Breast Awareness Program, the first of its kind in California, which reaches more than 5,000 women and 1,000 physicians a year with the information that breast cancer is a major killer in the 20 to 39 age group. She also established a Young Women’s Breast Cancer Forum, the only under-40 breast cancer support group in Southern California, and the Young Women’s Advisory Board as well as the Young Women’s Program Planning Committee.

“Most women don’t know that breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths for women under 40,” says this Ocean Beach resident. “So we outreach universities, young professionals and women’s groups to help them become their own health advocate, teaching them about early detection. It’s a big job because perception is often seen as reality and I’m hoping to change reality.”

Bennett also is a speaker for the American Cancer Society, president-elect of the Society of Public Health Educators and a member of the San Diego Board for Cancer Survivorship. She is organizing a “Breastival,” an educational outreach event, Oct. 28 at USD.

“I love creating programs that make a difference,” she says. “It’s an amazing thing to bring to the table something that changes a person’s life.”

— Patricia Morris Buckley