About Us

The Carolina Mammography Registry (CMR) was first funded in 1994 by the Department of Defense to create the infrastructure for a population-based mammography registry, and to serve as a resource for researchers interested in studying the outcomes of community-based breast cancer screening in North Carolina. Since 1995, CMR has received funding from the National Cancer Institute to study community-based mammography practice, and to function as a member site for the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC). The BCSC is a national registry that combines data from mammography registries in California, Colorado, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Vermont, Washington, and North Carolina to form a national database. This database creates the opportunity for researchers to study community based mammography on a national level.

Active BCSC Registries

• Carolina Mammography Registry
• Metro Chicago Breast Cancer Registry
• Kaiser Permanente Washington Registry
• New Hampshire Mammography Network
• Vermont Breast Cancer Surveillance System
• San Francisco Mammography Registry

The founding director of CMR was Dr. Bonnie Yankaskas, who led the registry from 1994 through 2011, at which point Dr. Louise Henderson assumed leadership. Since 1994, CMR has grown tremendously. Through our collaboration with over 50 practices during the last 18 years, we have over 3.0 million records in our database for approximately 700,000 women in North Carolina. The data we collect from mammography practices are linked with the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry and the State Center for Health Statistics Vital Status information. This enables mammography and other breast imaging studies to be followed for subsequent cancer outcomes.

The data we collect allows us to create studies designed to improve the practice of mammography, to help us better understand risk factors for breast cancer, to provide feedback to radiologists, to guide future research and interventions, and to inform the public.