Women Helping women is an afternoon luncheon fundraiser hosted by the Canadian Shaare Zedek Hospital Foundation. is support of breast cancer. Featuring Lisa Ray, an internationally acclaimed performer, model philanthropist, former host of Top Chef Canada and cancer survivor, as well as Dr. Adena Scheer, a surgical oncologist who specializes in breast cancer surgery and oncoplastic breast reconstruction.

Breast cancer will be diagnosed in over 1.2 million women worldwide this year and the disease affects women more than any other type of cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, one in every 33 women will die as a result of the disease. Statistics tell us that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. This is especially concerning to Israeli women where the specific changes, or mutations, in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes occur more frequently in Ashkenazi Jews than in the general population. About one out of every 40 individuals of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry have a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, as compared to one out of every 800 members of the general population, according to the Centers for Disease Control.