Collaborative Work Groups (CWG):
Member Highlight
Transdisciplinary Collaboration: Changing Lives
Minerva Cornejo
A community-organizer at her core, Minerva Cornejo is motivated by a passion for serving others and working to create collaborative solutions. It is this drive that attracted Minerva to the Collaborative Work Group (CWG) initiative. “I felt like there was something special and innovative about the Collaborative Work Group approach,” stated Minerva, “I was excited about learning from different people with different perspectives.”
Minerva credits her life experiences to her role as an advocate and her ability to see the silver lining. “Cancer has impacted my family significantly. My grandmother, my father, and three aunts died from cancer,” Minerva reflected.
“They didn’t have access to some of the things I did when I was diagnosed. I think about how fortunate I was to be diagnosed when screening and diagnostic technology had advanced, and where I had relatively easy access to treatment. My family members didn’t have that same chance. Since then, I have wanted to help others get the screening and treatment they need. And that is the silver lining – I was fortunate and now I want to help others have the same.”
Minerva has called Milwaukee home since she was only a year old, moving here from Jalisco, Mexico. “Milwaukee is home! I left for college – at UW Whitewater but after graduation, I came back. This is where I wanted to be and where I wanted to make a difference!”
Minerva is tireless in her efforts in working to help others. She has volunteered with numerous organizations including ABCD After Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Komen Foundations – Conversations for the Cure. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Minerva scaled back her volunteering but never stopped. “I needed to focus my time; I was spread thin. Today, I volunteer mostly with Carol Cameron and the Pink Shawl Initiative, and I am on part of Cynthia’s Giving Circle Advisory.” (Fun Fact: Cynthia’s Giving Circle CEO & Founder is Cynthia Hooker, a cohort 3 Scholar in the CCSN Research and Community Scholars Program)
“When I became involved in CCSN, it all grew out of conversation,” Minerva remembers. “I saw all these people who wanted to make a difference in breast cancer disparities in our community.”
Once in the group, Minerva met many new people from the community and from within MCW who were deeply invested in addressing disparities. “Everyone had something to share and all of our voices were heard,” she reflected. “We were able to weave all of our perspectives together to create something tangible. But what was most important was that all of our voices were equal. Everyone shared and everyone listened. It was truly beautiful.”
[Excerpt from The Hub, CCSN Community & Cancer Science Network, August 2024]