Blog

Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

By: Michele West, PhD; Kristin Weeks, MD/PhD candidate; Bridget Toomey, MS, CPC; and Mary Charlton, PhD It’s September, which also means it is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month! Help us spread the word about ovarian cancer by wearing teal, the ovarian cancer awareness color, throughout the month of September and by sharing the signs and symptoms…

Cancer Clinical Trials in Iowa

By: Sneha Phadke, DO In the last 30-40 years, mortality and morbidity from cancer has decreased substantially. Improvement in curative intent therapies is a large reason for this shift. Prior to being used in regular clinical care, these therapies were tested in clinical trials. Our ability to continue offering the best cancer care is dependent…

Abigail McCarthy’s Cancer Journey

By: Abigail McCarthy My name is Abigail McCarthy. I am a senior at The University of Iowa College of Public Health. I am from Sioux City, Iowa, and am 21 years old. Currently, I am an intern at the Iowa Cancer Consortium and am loving every minute of it. In this blog post, I will…

A Public Health Professionals Guide to Evidence-Based Cancer Control Interventions (EBIs)

Written by Rachel Schramm, Program Manager, Iowa Cancer Consortium Updated Feb. 22, 2024 As public health practitioners, we are constantly assessing community needs and staying up-to-date with lessons learned from our peers. Especially in times of outbreaks or emergencies, this allows practitioners to start along a path and have others follow them – adapting and…

Meet Our Intern: Introducing Abigail McCarthy

Hello, I am Abigail McCarthy, a fourth-year student at the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. I am grateful to be interning at the Iowa Cancer Consortium this summer. Here, I plan to grow my experience and knowledge within the cancer world. Diagnosed with thyroid cancer my freshmen year of college, I…

Adapting Colorectal Cancer Screening to a Post-COVID-19 World

By: Rob Marko-Franks COVID-19 has upended projects, conferences, and strategic plans for healthcare providers all over the country. As staff are redirected toward COVID-related work like testing and contact tracing, patients with other conditions could be left behind. For those with chronic conditions, this could be disastrous. COVID-19 also distracts from preventive work that providers,…

“Emerging” Public Health Threat: Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

By: Audrey E. Tran Lam, MPH During all of the downtime I’ve recently discovered in the face of this global pandemic, I’ve finally finished the book Our Stolen Future, written by Theo Colburn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers back in 1997. The topic of endocrine disrupting (or, hormonally active) chemicals has been on my…

All of Me: Prioritizing Sexual Health for Iowans Impacted by Cancer

By: Erin Sullivan Wagner, Cancer Survivor In 2016, After Cancer, Solutions for Sexual Health, received a grant for a project called “All of Me: Prioritizing Sexual Health in Iowans Impacted by Cancer,” funded through the Iowa Cancer Consortium and Iowa Department of Public Health. In short, the project’s goal is to develop and implement self-sustaining…

Mourning the Passing of Gail Orcutt

With extreme gratitude, the Iowa Cancer Consortium Board of Directors and staff remember our longtime friend and colleague, Gail Orcutt. We also recognize her extraordinary contribution to radon-control advocacy and cancer control in Iowa. Gail was a member of the Iowa Cancer Consortium for nearly ten years. Additionally, she was a founding member of the…

Announcing: COVID-19 Cancer Patient Transportation and Lodging Initiative

A few weeks ago, we asked our partners to share their needs related to cancer and the emerging threat of coronavirus. We listened, and heard transportation support for cancer patients undergoing treatment during this time was a big need. In alignment with the Consortium’s mission and contract with the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH),…