In Memory of Dr. Leon Ashford

PECaD would like to remember and celebrate the life of Leon E. Ashford, PhD, a prostate cancer survivor and longtime member of the Disparities Elimination Advisory Committee, the Prostate Cancer Community Partnership, and the Prostate Cancer Coalition, who passed away in March at the age of 90. Dr. Ashford was a fierce champion of prostate […]

COVID-19 and Cancer Disparities Virtual Town Hall

On Thursday, May 14th, PECaD held a Virtual Town Hall to address COVID-19 and Cancer Disparities. The event was a great success, with over 100 people in attendance and many important questions asked and answered, like: “question,” “question,” and “question.” For answers to these questions and more, you can view the event in full below. […]

Breaking Barriers: Inaugural Physician Education Event Was a Success

On Friday, February 28th, PECaD hosted “Breaking Barriers: Reducing Disparities, Increasing Access,” an education event for doctors, nurses, and other care providers focused on reducing breast cancer disparities. The event emphasized the role providers can play in reducing breast cancer disparities in the St. Louis region. Participants provided an overview of the barriers to breast […]

PECaD Working with Mammography Van

PECaD has started working with the Siteman Mammography Van at screening sites to provide breast cancer education to women. Through this partnership, PECaD staff are able to reach women who have not scheduled a mammogram to answer their questions, help dispel any concern they have around cancer screening, and assist them with getting a mammogram […]

New Research – Breast Cancer Screening: Priorities and Attitudes of Diverse Women under 50

In December, Ashley Housten, OTD, MSCI, assistant professor of surgery in the Division of Public Health Sciences and Siteman Cancer Center, presented her research project, Breast Cancer Screening: Priorities and Attitudes of Diverse Women under 50, to the Breast Cancer Community Partnership (BCaP). Her project compares the intersections and differences between how racially and ethnically […]

Breaking Barriers: Upcoming Provider Education Event

PECaD, The Breakfast Club Inc., Hatz4Hearts, and the Pink Angels Foundation will be hosting a healthcare provider education event on February 28 from 2:00-5:00 pm in the Paul Detrick Atrium of Christian Hospital. The event is titled “Breaking Barriers: Reducing Disparities, Increasing Access,” and will focus on the role providers can play in reducing breast […]

PECaD Faculty and Staff Present at 2019 International Cancer Education Conference

PECaD faculty and staff attended the 2019 International Cancer Education Conference in Salt Lake City from September 18-20. In a panel discussion, Dr. Bettina Drake presented “Community-based Prostate Cancer Education and Screening,” Dr. Vetta Sanders Thompson presented “Education to Support Community-based Participatory Cancer Research,” Marilyn Wilson presented “Community Outreach and Education Strategies: The Effectiveness of […]

Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Advocacy Video

In our last newsletter, we reported that PECaD staff and community partners were filmed for a Susan G. Komen Center for Public Policy advocacy video about barriers to care during breast cancer treatment. The video, featuring PECaD coordinator Marilyn Wilson and two of our community partners, Dr. Nicole Robinson and Chantelle Nickson-Clark, is now available. […]

Successful 5th Annual East St. Louis Smart Health Event!

The Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) at Washington University in St. Louis and Siteman Cancer Center held their fifth annual Smart Health Community Education Event in East St. Louis, IL on Saturday, August 24th. More than 40 participants, volunteers, health experts, and health fair vendors took part in the event. Smart Health […]

Community Research Fellows Training Program Graduation

Congratulations to the 27 graduates of the fifth cohort of the Community Research Fellows Training (CRFT) program, a community training program offered through the Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD). A certificate ceremony was held on August 22nd for the trainees and their families. The event included a silent auction of photos taken […]

New Breast Cancer Resource Guide

In development with our community partners, PECaD has created a new guide to the resources available to breast cancer patients and healthcare providers in the St. Louis area. The guide was created in response to concerns among Breast Cancer Community Partnership members that many patients and providers were unaware of all the resources available and […]

Politi Awarded Three-Year, $1.2 million AHRQ R18 Grant

Mary C. Politi, PhD, was awarded a three-year, $1.2 million Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) R18 grant titled “Implementing a Breast Reconstruction Decision Support Tool in Diverse Practice Settings.” The project is a multi-site study using an evidence-based tool called BREASTChoice that was previously developed and tested at Siteman Cancer Center and implementing […]

PECaD Welcomes New Staff

PECaD would like to welcome two new staff members to the team! Krystal Johnson, MSW is a Public Health Research Coordinator with PECaD. Krystal was born and raised in Saint Louis, Missouri and attended Southeast Missouri State University where she attained her Bachelor’s of Social Work. After Graduation, Krystal began working at Amanda Luckett Hopewell […]

CRFT Alumni ENGAGE in New Project

Two alumni of the Community Research Fellows Training (CRFT) program have recently started working on a project called ENGAGE with researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and the University of Pittsburgh. ENGAGE is a pilot project that will focus on community-based methods of promoting self-management and community participation among adults […]

PECaD Held Two Town Hall Meetings in North County, Will Hold Three More Town Halls in East St. Louis and North County

PECaD recently held two town hall meetings in north St. Louis County to give the public a chance to discuss their hopes, concerns, and questions with Washington University physicians and researchers at Siteman regarding the new facility under construction at Christian Hospital’s Northwest HealthCare campus (anticipated to open in early November). More than 25 people […]

Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Advocacy Video

Representatives from the Susan G. Komen Center for Public Policy visited St. Louis the week of July 7th to film an advocacy video about barriers to care during breast cancer treatment. The video featured PECaD coordinator Marilyn Wilson and two of our community partners and breast cancer survivors, Dr. Nicole Robinson and Chantelle Nickson-Clark. The […]

Another Successful Smart Health Event!

The Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) at Washington University in St. Louis and Siteman Cancer Center held their second annual Smart Health Community Education Event in north St. Louis County on Saturday, June 29th. More than 140 participants, volunteers, health experts, and health fair vendors took part in the event. Smart Health […]

Park Appointed to NIH Study Section

Yikyung Park, ScD, was appointed to the NIH Cancer, Heart, and Sleep Epidemiology Panel A (CHSA) study section. As a member of the study section she will help review grant applications submitted to the NIH focused on epidemiological research on environmental, behavioral, genetic, epigenetic, and molecular risk factors in cancer, cardiovascular disease, and sleep in […]

New Faculty Ashley Housten, OTD, OTR, MSCI, MPA and Michelle Silver, PhD, ScM

The Division of Public Health Sciences is excited to welcome two more new faculty! Ashley Housten, OTD, OTR, MSCI, MPA and Michelle Silver, PhD, ScM both begin as assistant professors of surgery on July 1st. Dr. Housten comes to us from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where she has served […]

Cao and Colditz Study on Sedentary Behavior Published in JAMA

Researchers in the Division of Public Health Sciences, including Yin Cao, ScD; Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH; Chao Cao, MPH; and Yikyung Park, ScD, have published a new study in JAMA that elucidates “Trends in Sedentary Behavior Among the US Population, 2001-2016.” Sitting for long periods of time, especially while watching television, has been associated with multiple […]

New Faculty Fei Wan, PhD and Shu (Joy) Jiang, PhD

The Division of Public Health Sciences welcomes new faculty member Fei Wan, PhD, as Assistant Professor. He will work with our biostatistics shared resource to collaborate on projects in the Siteman Cancer Center. Dr. Wan comes to us from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Department of Biostatistics, where he has served as Assistant […]

29th Annual Spring Pow Wow A Success

The 29th Annual Washington University in St. Louis Pow Wow took place on Saturday, April 20. This year’s event, hosted by the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies, was themed “Keep Them Sacred: Honoring Generations of Indigenous Women.” The Pow Wow is an inter-tribal gather of American Indians to dance, sing, drum, share […]

5th Community Research Fellows Training Program Cohort Begins in May

The fifth cohort of the Community Research Fellows Training (CRFT) program, a community training program offered through the Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD), begins in May. This 17-week program, based on a Master of Public Health curriculum, provides community members interested in reducing health and cancer disparities with education and hands-on experience to take […]

Congratulations to BCaP Community Partner Valeda Keys

PECaD would like to congratulate our BCaP community partner Valeda Keys on receiving the Woman of Achievement Award in Health Advocacy. She will receive the award in a ceremony on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at the Ritz Carlton along with nine other women. She is being honored for her volunteer work as executive director for […]

North County Town Halls

Community town halls will be held on May 6 and June 10 by PECaD and Siteman Cancer Center to help address community questions about the new Siteman facility under construction at Christian Hospital’s Northwest HealthCare campus, slated to open in December 2019. These town halls, leading up to our Smart Health event on June 29th […]

Drake Receives DOD Prostate Cancer Research Program Grant

  Bettina Drake, PhD, MPH, associate professor of surgery, has been awarded a U.S. Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program grant to study “Treatment Options and Survival of Metastatic Prostate Cancer Patients.” The project will look at a prostate cancer cohort from VA hospitals to explore the survival benefit among men diagnosed with metastatic prostate […]

DPHS Welcomes New Faculty Member Lisa Klesges, PhD

The Division of Public Health Sciences welcomes new faculty member Lisa Klesges, PhD, who will join us at the level of Professor on April 1. Over the past ten years, Dr. Klesges has served as Professor of Epidemiology, Director, and Founding Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Memphis. Previously, she […]

TV Watching a Risk Factor for Early-onset Colorectal Cancer

In an article out this week in JNCI Cancer Spectrum, Yin Cao, ScD, MPH, assistant professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, et.al. found that prolonged sedentary TV viewing time was associated with increased risk of young-onset colorectal cancer (CRC), or CRC diagnosed before the age of 50. This study […]

PECaD Welcomes New Staff: Kelly Oman

The Division of Public Health Sciences and PECaD welcome a new staff member to their team. Kelly Oman, PhD, joined us in December as the new full time media and marketing administrator. In this position she will be coordinating PECaD media campaigns, including our 8 Ways series, and compiling the PECaD Annual Report. Kelly has […]

Community Research Fellows Training Program Seeking Applicants

Applications are now being accepted for the 5th Community Research Fellows Training Program! If you currently work in community health or if you’re interested in reducing health disparities in your community, consider this 17-week program based on the Master of Public Health curriculum at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The program will […]

North St. Louis Co Smart Health Day – Christian Hospital June 29

PECaD is excited to announce our next Smart Health Cancer Community Education Day in North St. Louis County will be held on Saturday, June 29 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Make sure to save the date for this free, educational and community-based event. The event will be held in the Paul F. Detrick Building […]

Breast Cancer Community Partnership Update

For the past several months the Breast Cancer Community Partnership (BCaP) has been working with various community members and organizations to address breast cancer disparities in the region, specifically in North County. St. Louis was recently reported to have the second highest rates of late-stage breast cancer diagnoses of any city in the United States. […]

North St. Louis Co Smart Health Day – Christian Hospital June 29

PECaD is excited to announce our next Smart Health Cancer Community Education Day in North St. Louis County will be held on Saturday, June 29 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Make sure to save the date for this free, educational and community-based event. The event will be held in the Paul F. Detrick Building […]

Successful North St. Louis County Community Town Halls

Community town halls were held in late August and early September by PECaD and Siteman Cancer Center to help address community questions surrounding the new Siteman at Christian Hospital. Slated to open in December 2019, these town halls were designed to give community members the opportunity to ask Siteman physicians and researchers about the next phase […]

2018 East St. Louis Smart Health

PECaD is excited to announce our fourth East St. Louis, Il Smart Health Cancer Community Education Day event on Saturday, Oct. 13 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Make sure to save the date for this free, educational and community-based event. The event will be held at the Jackie Joyner Kersee Foundation (101 Jackie Joyner […]

Reducing American Indian Health Disparities

PECaD is proud of our partnership with the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies, and providing education and outreach for the American Indian population in the St. Louis region. Through this relationship, PECaD is able to work towards our overall goal of increasing awareness of cancer disparities in our region, and providing resources […]

Save the Date for the 28th Annual Pow Wow

The 28th Annual Washington University in St. Louis Pow Wow will take place on Saturday, April 21st. This year’s event, hosted by the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies, will be themed “Balancing Two Worlds-Indigenous Teachings, Traditions, and Truths.” The Pow Wow is an inter-tribal gathering of American Indians to dance, sing, drum, […]

PECaD Welcomes New Staff

PECaD welcomed Amy Ayala, MPH, a Public Health Research Coordinator, in February who will be working for PECaD part time. Amy’s past work experience has been focused on community nutrition education and public health programming. Amy moved to Arkansas after being born in Los Angeles, where she’s spent time working for University of Arkansas extension […]

New HPV campaign from PECaD

As one of PECaD’s goal is to increase community education to help reduce cancer disparities in our region and beyond, a new campaign in winter 2018 was launched to address cervical cancer prevention. This campaign highlights the risks of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), and the benefits of the preventative HPV vaccine. Unfortunately, at least two […]

North St Louis County Updates

With the launch of Siteman Cancer Center at Christian Hospital in July 2017, PECaD has been busy expanding our presence in the community. Throughout the fall and early winter, PECaD has attended many community events, offering free cancer education resources and prevention information, as well as conducted multiple free PSA testing to men in the […]

Buder Center 8 Ways Brochure Series

This past fall, PECaD dedicated resources to creating and updating the 8 Ways to Reduce Cancer brochure series for the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Studies. PECaD’s partnership with the Buder Center has grown tremendously within the past few years. In feedback PECaD received from community members was a lack of educational information for […]

2018 Smart Health Save the Dates

PECaD is excited to announce the first Smart Health Cancer Community Education Day event in North St. Louis County. This event will be held June 30, 2018 at Christian Hospital. Make sure to save the date for this free, educational and community-based event. This signature PECaD event provides our community residents and partners with deeper […]

September 2017 Smart Health event

On Saturday, September 9, 2017, The Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) in collaboration with Restoration Christian Community Church, hosted “Smart Health: Cancer Community Education Day” at Restoration Christian Community Church in East St. Louis, IL, led by Pastor Charlie Blackmon. Smart Health was created to provide our community members with deeper learning […]

Community Research Fellows Training Program Graduation

The fourth cohort of the Community Research Fellows Training (CRFT) program, a community training program offered through the Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD), graduated in August with 24 trainees. A certificate ceremony was held on August 17 for the trainees and their families. The 2017 CRFT cohort is the fourth training program […]

Faculty Spotlight – Vetta Sanders Thompson

Vetta Sanders Thompson, PhD, is a professor at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. She is also heavily involved with The Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) and sits on the Disparities Elimination Advisory Committee as a voting institution member. Dr. Sanders Thompson is also the program […]

2017 Smart Health Events Summary

The Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine and Siteman Cancer Center hosted the 5th and 3rd “Smart Health: Cancer Community Education Day” on April 22, 2017 at Washington University School of Medicine and on  June 17, 2017 at Southern Mission Missionary Baptist Church in East […]

New 8ight Ways brochures in Large Print and Vietnamese

In spring 2017, the Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) expanded the 8ight Ways brochure series to include large print versions and Vietnamese editions of each brochure. With these two projects, PECaD hopes to provide cancer prevention education and information to new subgroups in the St. Louis region. PECaD recognizes the need to be […]