July 28, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Deep South Network for Cancer Control, a program of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Comprehensive Cancer Center, will host its annual Deep South Network Institute July 29-31 at the Renaissance® Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa in Hoover.
The institute is the annual meeting of UAB researchers, volunteers and Deep South Network-trained Community Health Advisors Research Partners (CHARPs). Hundreds of participants will gather to update each other on projects that tie community leaders, researchers and medical professionals together to boost cancer awareness, cancer-screening programs and healthy lifestyle choices - all to reduce or eliminate cancer health disparities.
The Deep South Network for Cancer Control is a National Cancer Institute-funded project focused on training, data gathering and educational outreach in 22 counties of the Alabama Black Belt and the Mississippi Delta plus the urban areas of Birmingham and Hattiesburg and Laurel, Miss.
Speakers at the institute will include UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Edward Partridge, M.D.,who will highlight the network's advances and talk about ongoing efforts to vaccinate against the human papilloma virus (HPV), a proven cancer precursor. The keynote speaker will be Leslie Cooper, Ph.D., an extramural program official at NCI's Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities in Bethesda.
Other speakers will include Monica Baskin, Ph.D., an assistant professor of health behavior in the UAB School of Public Health and a researcher at UAB's Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center and Clinical Nutrition Research Center; and Vafa Kamali, Ph.D., director of University Research Centers and Institutes at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Institute participants will discuss existing and proposed community-based participatory research and training projects that could lead to increased cancer screening, early-stage detection and improved treatment outcomes, organizers said. The event includes fitness demonstrations, stress-management techniques and healthy cooking sessions. For more information on the network, contact Claudia Hardy at 205-975-5454 or e-mail Claudia.Hardy@ccc.uab.edu.
About the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only one in a five-state region to have the National Cancer Institute's comprehensive designation. The center is a leader in groundbreaking research and leading-edge patient care.