The Cherry Blossom Breast Cancer Foundation of Middleburg has announced that the students of Foxcroft School, a girls college prep in Middleburg, and Susan T. Carroll of Ashburn have been named Cherry Blossom Champions for 2011 for their achievements in the local fight against breast cancer.

Ms. Carroll was recognized for her creation of the Bosom Buddies Program at Inova Loudoun Hospital and for working with the Cherry Blossom Foundation to install a new biopsy technology in Loudoun County. After discovering the surprisingly low percentage of hospital women monitoring their breast health, Ms. Carroll also created Bosom Buddies to pair women to remind each of due dates and needed checks.

Ms. Carroll, who was at the time the hospital's chief operating officer, was also the stimulus and the leader for the acquisition by the Lansdowne hospital of its first Stereo-Tactic Breast Biopsy System, a device that increases the effectiveness of biopsies while reducing its collateral impacts.

She is currently the vice president of the Comprehensive Cancer and Research Institute for the entire Inova Health System of Northern Virginia.

The 156 girls of Foxcroft School were selected as 2012 Cherry Blossom Champions for their five years of fundraising for, and their local participation in, the Cherry Blossom Foundation's efforts for local detection, treatment, education, and elimination of breast cancer.

The high school women, with the strong support of Foxcroft's leaders, raised $10,000 between this past October and February for the Foundation's work, by a large turn-out for the Middleburg Cherry Blossom Nanette's Walk and 5K Run for Breast Cancer, by soliciting funds from the college prep school's friends and parents, and from the third annual Think Pink Tournament, a 12-team high school and middle school basketball tournament.

Foxcroft student leaders Maeve Couzens, Alexis Hall, Mary Motion and Sam Nelson, accompanied by Head of School Mary Lou Leipheimer, Assistant Head of School Sheila McKibbin, Athletic Director Michelle Woodruff, and Athletic Assistant Jessi Coil will accept the award on Sunday, April 29th.

The Cherry Blossom Breast Cancer Foundation, a 501(C)3 Public Charity, began its work in 2007 and concentrates about 90% its granted monies to help local women with breast cancer detection and treatment and with education on the need for early and regular breast screenings; approximately 10% of granted funds have gone to regional research on the disease. With no fulltime staff or facilities, the Middleburgbased group has helped an estimated 500 women since 2007 receive mammograms and treatment. For more information, please visit www.cherryblossombreastcancerfoundation.org.