Department of Surgery
Beryne Odeny, MD, MPH, PhD, is a physician-implementation scientist and a passionate health equity advocate in global health. She recently joined the Division of Public Health Sciences as an assistant professor of surgery this July. Odeny earned her medical degree from the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and both her MPH and PhD in Implementation Science from […]
A new brief from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) adds further momentum to movements recommending a single dose of the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine. Originally recommended as a three-dose series when first approved and made widely available, the CDC currently recommends two doses of the HPV vaccine for 9 – 14 year […]
July 5, 2022 It’s likely no surprise to read that what we choose to eat and drink can have a large impact on our health, including our risk of cancer. Practically from the time we can sit up at the kitchen table, we’re reminded of the importance of eating our vegetables. And although some of the messages […]
If you’ve finally reached that age when you’re officially an adult and starting to branch out on your own for work, school or another adventure, you’ve likely received a lot of advice from the older adults in your life. Some of it you may have sought out. Most of it, probably not. And, yes, as […]
With the surprise and tragic news that the actor Chadwick Boseman had passed away of colon cancer at age 43, there’s been a spotlight on the disease as people look for information and answers. While colon cancer is a disease that many people have heard of, they may not know a great deal about it. […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
Osteoporosis drug investigated in premenopausal women to see if it reduces breast density
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control will benefit from researchers on Danforth and Medical campuses
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Yikyung Park, ScD was appointed as a Visiting Professor for 2019-2021 at the National Cancer Center Graduate School of Cancer Science and Policy in South Korea. The National Cancer Center in Korea is equivalent to the NCI in the U.S. The Graduate School of Cancer Science and Policy focuses on educating future leaders and researchers in […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
A large new study has found that regularly eating whole grains may significantly lower the risk of liver cancer. The study, published online in JAMA Oncology, followed 125,000 men and women for an average of 24 years, gathering information on participants’ diet at regular intervals over that time. The researchers found that those who ate […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
Yikyung Park, ScD, associate professor of surgery, has received a three-year, $969,000 R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute. The project, Temporal Dietary Patterns: Development and Evaluation against Adiposity and Metabolic Biomarkers, will identify dietary patterns based on when and how often people eat during a day and will evaluate if those patterns are […]
Jean Hunleth, PhD, MPH, instructor of surgery and anthropology, has been awarded the 2018 Elliott P. Skinner Book Award from the Association of Africanist Anthropology for her book Children as Caregivers: The Global Fight against Tuberculosis and HIV in Zambia (2017, Rutgers University Press). This annual award recognizes exemplary work in advancing African Studies […]
The holidays are here, and that means a calendar filled with family, friends and festivities. And as wonderful as that can be, it can also make it challenging to stick to the regular routines that help keep us healthy. To help you have the physical and mental freshness to fully enjoy the season, try these […]
A new analysis out this week found that people with type 2 diabetes who eat a largely plant-based diet can experience a boost in quality of life and well being, in addition to improvements in other diabetes-related factors. The analysis, which appears in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, reviewed the results of 11 separate dietary […]
A new study led by Yin Cao, ScD, MPH, assistant professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, shows a link between weight gain and increased risk of young-onset colorectal cancer. Rates of colorectal cancer diagnosed in people under age 50 are going up and researchers are searching for possible reasons […]
Ying Liu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of surgery, has received a three-year, $1,075,887 grant from the National Institutes of Health. The project, Residential Mobility, Treatment Quality and Survival in Low-Income Women with Breast Cancer, will study how relocation after a cancer diagnosis impacts follow-up care for low-income patients, and thus, effects their treatment. Dr. Liu […]
Erika Waters, PhD, MPH, associate professor of surgery in the Division of Public Health Sciences, has received a three year, nine month R01 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The $2,584,000 project, Child asthma exacerbation: Role of caregiver risk beliefs, aims to lay the groundwork for improving interventions for caregivers of children with asthma. […]
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 […]