A Portland breast cancer surgeon who became a patient is hosting a free discussion Saturday, Oct. 3, on why Black women die from the disease at higher rates.

Dr. Nathalie Johnson, senior medical director of Legacy Cancer Institute, organized "Changing the Odds: Black Women, Breast Cancer and the Power of Participation." The event runs from 10 a.m. to noon at the Lorenzen Conference Center inside Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, 2801 N. Gantenbein Ave. in North Portland.

Johnson, 67, watched her mother fight breast cancer when Johnson was 12. Her mother survived. Decades later, Johnson received her own diagnosis.

"I remember her saying, 'I'm not going to die today,'" Johnson said of her mother in an interview with The Oregonian published Friday, Oct. 2.

Black women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than other women with the same diagnosis, Johnson said. The 2026 American Cancer Society Cancer Statistics report puts the mortality rate at 26.5 per 100,000 for non-Hispanic Black women, compared with 19.3 for non-Hispanic White women.

That gap persists even though Black women now have the highest screening rate for breast cancer, according to Johnson.

Johnson identified two paths to closing it: increasing Black women's participation in clinical trials and expanding access to genomic testing, which shows how aggressive a cancer could be. The American Cancer Society report noted that a lack of diversity in clinical trials contributes to racial disparities in treatment.

The National Breast Cancer Foundation reports that one in five Black women with breast cancer are diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, a harder-to-treat form. That rate is higher than any other racial or ethnic group.

Johnson told The Oregonian that awareness matters on both sides of the exam room. Providers need to check unconscious bias, she said, and patients need to advocate for themselves.

The event was organized in partnership with the Pink Lemonade Project, a Portland-area nonprofit founded in 2010 that supports people affected by breast cancer, according to KOIN. Johnson will be joined by a panel of experts, though Legacy Health has not publicly named the other panelists.

U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum said on X on Saturday, Oct. 3, that closing the breast cancer gap for Black women "can't wait" and urged people to attend the free event.

The event is free and open to the public during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It runs until noon at Legacy Emanuel in the Eliot neighborhood.