Reducing inequalities in breast cancer prevention & treatment

IHPE Masterclass Series 2025

Brought to you by the Institute of Health Promotion & Education (IHPE) in collaboration with the University of Nottingham, UK.

Join us for a series of 5 Masterclasses in 2025, providing continuing professional development in key topic areas outlined in the IHPE Manifesto.

The series is hosted by Professor Holly Blake, Trustee of IHPE, health psychologist, and professor of behavioural medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham,UK.

Our sessions focus on advocating for positive health, preventing ill health, and reducing inequalities. This year, our topics include physical activity engagement, mental health promotion, obesity prevention, brief interventions for health promotion relating to alcohol misuse, and breast cancer prevention, treatment and care. We focus on ways in which we can promote health to people of all ages, through community initiatives, or by promoting health through ‘healthy settings’ such as workplaces and hospitals.

MASTERCLASS 5: Reducing inequalities in breast cancer prevention, treatment and care.

Speakers: Professor Emma Wilson, Professor of Public Health & Course Director for the Master of Public Health and Master of Public Health (Global Health), University of Nottingham, UK.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women globally. However, advances in screening, treatments and care have led to breast cancer being one of the most highly treatable cancers. 5- and 10-year survival rates are high even with stage 4 metastatic disease. The earlier breast cancer is detected, the higher the chances of survival. National Breast Screening Programmes and breast self-examination are the two most common ways breast cancer is detected.

There are significant inequalities which exist in the care pathway for breast cancer, which mean that women who are from ethnic minority backgrounds, have lower socioeconomic status, have learning or physical disabilities are much less likely to attend screening or present to their GP with a breast complaint. This means these women do not have the same overall health outcomes as other women in the population, and we think this is unfair. In addition to screening, the same inequalities in these groups also exist in relation to genetic testing for breast cancer, treatment decision-making, surgical decision-making, and reconstructive surgery.

This masterclass will explore some of these inequalities and look at the barriers and facilitators to better breast cancer care for all women in the population irrespective of their background.

The session will conclude with attendee comments and questions.

Speaker biography:

Professor Emma Wilson is a Professor of Public Health at the University of Nottingham, UK, and Principal Fellow of AdvanceHE. She is an experienced health research methodologist, specialising in qualitative and mixed-methods public health research, and has published a series of systematic reviews focusing on exploring the barriers, facilitators, and experiences to different aspects of breast health education and treatment pathways globally. She is a highly motivated public health educator with a specific interest in pedagogies to improve public health education. As an active public health researcher, she has an international focus on breast cancer inequalities, health promotion and health improvement interventions and social inequalities. She works in close collaboration with local communities to improve health inequalities from a grass-roots level through community engagement. This includes work with partnership organisations including Local Authority, UKHSA / OHID, NHS, and the Environment Agency to develop inter-connected, collaborative research which benefits people locally. Emma is the Course Director for the Master of Public Health at the University of Nottingham, an IHPE-recognised programme.