Breast Cancer Registry Launches Following JHF Investment
Type: News
Focus Area: Patient Safety
Over 100 breast cancer cases are already available on the World Tumor Registry site to help with diagnosis and education.
Nearly two years after receiving early-stage support from the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) and the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI), the World Tumor Registry (WTR) has launched its second major project, the Breast Cancer Registry.
Founded in 2021 and based in Pittsburgh, WTR is a global nonprofit dedicated to improving cancer outcomes by building a continuously updated catalog of tumor types and subtypes from diverse populations worldwide.
The newly launched Breast Cancer Registry is a significant step in expanding WTR’s vision by providing clinicians, researchers, and trainees with curated tumor cases, including high-resolution whole slide images and detailed medical data about the tumor.
“I am thrilled to announce that the Breast Cancer Registry is now live. The first 100 fully annotated breast tumor cases are already available to view and study, and our goal is to have 500 cases in the Registry by the end of the year, with examples of essentially every breast tumor and subtype,” said Dr. Edi Brogi of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, chairperson of WTR’s Breast Cancer Registry.
She continued, “I invite pathologists and pathology trainees from all over the world to contribute common and rare cases to this open-access, unique, worldwide educational resource. Working together, we will directly improve cancer diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes globally.”
With the new breast cancer registry launch, WTR now offers a comprehensive collection of both thyroid and breast tumor cases from diverse geographic and environmental settings, marking an accelerated growth phase for WTR. Additional registries for lung cancer and skin cancer/melanoma are also planned for 2026, with expansion to all major organ systems planned for 2028.
From left to right: Dr. Yuri Nikiforov, WTR Administrative Director Dr. Alyaksandr Nikitski, and Dr. Edi Brogi.
WTR’s work advances efforts to address cancer misdiagnosis, a persistent patient safety challenge which can lead to delayed or incorrect treatment. By offering free access to high-quality diagnostic resources and global expertise, WTR strives to close gaps in care, particularly in community and underserved settings, while also supporting faster, more accurate diagnoses at scale.
“I know from my practice that 10 to 20 percent of pathology diagnosis are incorrect, or at least partially incorrect, and if we step out to the into the world into underdeveloped countries it’s higher,” said Yuri E. Nikiforov, MD, PhD, a national and international consultant on thyroid pathology, co-director of the Multidisciplinary Thyroid Center at UPMC, vice chair for molecular pathology at the University of Pittsburgh, and president and founder of WTR.
“For cancer patients, everything starts with correct and targeted diagnosis. We want to help patients with cancer by building this international atlas of cancer cases with images and an explanation of how to diagnose them, so people everywhere in the world will have a free resource to help them to learn more and to better diagnose patients.”
WTR’s progress has been supported in part by JHF through a seed grant program launched in 2023 to advance technologies that reduce medical errors and improve patient safety. As part of a $225,000 cohort of awards distributed in 2024, WTR received a $50,000 grant, which supported early work on the WTR website, digital slide management, and search functionality.
By supporting efforts like WTR, JHF is helping advance solutions that reduce diagnostic errors, enhance clinical decision-making, and improve outcomes worldwide.
“We are so grateful for the support we received from the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, which was critical and enabled us to complete this work and launch the Breast Cancer Registry,” Dr. Nikiforov said.
