By IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center
June 6, 2025
Countdown is on for the All-Star Cure: Q&A with Jill Henry
For Jill Henry, operations manager of the Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, it’s déjà vu all over again. Back in 2012, Henry was deeply involved in Indy’s Super Cure, a bold initiative between the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee and the Komen Tissue Bank. Nearly 700 women donated healthy breast tissue the weekend before Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, which enabled the tissue bank to significantly increase minority participation among its donors during that two-day event. Fast forward to present day and the upcoming All-Star Cure, another bold effort. This time, the WNBA All-Star 2025 Host Committee and the Komen Tissue Bank are partnering for the two-day event (July 12 & 13).
Indy’s Super Cure was such a milestone event as it elevated the Komen Tissue Bank. How much of a role did Indy’s Super Cure play in the idea for All-Star Cure becoming a reality?
Indy’s Super Cure played a huge role in the concept for All-Star Cure. Indy’s Super Cure was a huge, somewhat overwhelming event. But it brought great benefit to the Komen Tissue Bank, and we often think back on it fondly. We initially proposed a similar event to the Pacers Sports & Entertainment team to go along with the NBA All-Star Game (initially scheduled for 2021 but due to the pandemic, it was held in Indy in 2024). One of the key players in Indy’s Super Cure, Dianna Boyce, was also involved with the WNBA All-Star game and she reached out to us in late 2024 to inquire about our interest. Needless to say, we jumped on the opportunity!
You and your colleagues are in the thick of it with All-Star Cure just weeks away. What are the goals of All-Star Cure?
The goals of All-Star Cure are to increase participation in the Komen Tissue Bank by women younger than 40 and women of color of any age. These are the cohorts of samples that are most requested by researchers when they reach out to the Komen Tissue Bank to inquire about samples. Each of these cohorts has its own challenges in regard to donor recruitment, but we are hopeful that the excitement of All-Star Cure will help these women consider participating in our clinical trial.
Already, hundreds of women have signed up to donate tissue. What does it mean to you to see hundreds of women come together to donate for a common cause?
The response from the women of the Indianapolis community to this event has been amazing. Every time we are out in the community, women are interested in learning more about the Komen Tissue Bank and what role it serves in the breast cancer research ecosystem. Event weekend will be exhausting but also exhilarating seeing so many donors and volunteers come together to support breast cancer research in a unique way.
If a woman can’t donate breast tissue, are there other ways that she can contribute to this effort?
What we really need right now is to recruit more donors. If you have a connection to a group of young women or women of color, let us know. Personal connection is one of the most important ways we get connected with potential donors. Follow the Komen Tissue Bank on social media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok. Like, comment and share our posts so that we can get the word out to people who might not know about this event. Visit the All-Star Cure page of the KTB’s website for more information.
What would you say to someone who is interested but nervous about donating breast tissue?
It is totally understandable to be nervous about donating breast tissue. It’s not something that people do every day. We have a lot of resources on our website, including videos, that explain and show what the process is like. We do everything we can to make it a pleasant experience including using lidocaine to numb the area and the actual tissue donation portion of the appointment is less than a minute long.
Why is healthy breast tissue so critical to advancing breast cancer research?
With the caveat that I am not a scientist, there are important tenets to conducting research, one of which is that it is important to use a normal control to compare to your sample of interest. Using normal tissue in research is helping scientists to understand what normal looks like and how and why does it become cancerous tissue. Dr. Hari Nakshatri has been doing some amazing work with single cell sequencing on samples from the KTB. His work has led to important insights about normal tissue, in particular the differences between women of different race and ethnicity.
Shifting gears a bit. You’ve been a diehard Fever fan way before women’s basketball captured so much of the nation’s attention. How long have you been a season ticket holder and what does it mean to you that women’s basketball and the important work of the Komen Tissue Bank are coming together?
I was a season ticket holder for the original season in 2000 and have been pretty much every year since. I missed a couple of years when my daughter was little and when the Fieldhouse was under construction. It is a huge thrill for me to be able to connect my love of the Fever and women’s basketball to the Komen Tissue Bank, both of which have a special place in my heart. I love that the WNBA and women’s basketball have been getting more attention recently. It’s great when the Fieldhouse is packed with excited fans who can support our hometown Fever!
