When the UIC Flames women’s basketball team won in overtime January 21, Cancer Center members and staff, along with volunteers from the UI Health Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, were there sharing information about cervical cancer and the importance of HPV vaccination.
January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, and the outreach was part of a new partnership the Cancer Center has with the Flames. Goodie bags with information cards and cervical cancer awareness ribbon pins and temporary tattos were handed out to fans, players and coaches. Cancer Center member Shannon MacLaughlan, MD, MS, a UI Health gynecologic oncologist, also talked about cervical cancer during a halftime interview streamed live on ESPN+ during the game against the Illinois State Redbirds.
The partnership with the Flames is an opportunity to share information about cancer awareness, prevention, screening and clinical trials with our community of students, faculty, staff, their friends and families, and sports fans at games.
The Cancer Center thanks its members MacLaughlan, Hunter Holt, MD, MAS, and Caryn Peterson, PhD, MS, for attending and helping plan the event. In addition, the Cancer Center thanks volunteers Lopa K. Pandya, MD, MS, FACOG, UI Health urogynecologist and reconstructive surgeon; Rebecca Commito, MD, UI Health gynecologist; Erica Hinz, MD, MPH, UI Health gynecologist; Andrea Williams, RN, MSN, UI Health Clinic Nurse Gynecologic Oncology; and Leticia Orozco, BSN, RNC-MNN, UI Health Cervical Nurse Navigator, for engaging with fans.
Other upcoming basketball games featuring Cancer Center outreach and education are:
- Wednesday, January 24 @ 7 p.m., men’s basketball, focus is on oral cancer awareness and prostate cancer.
- Thursday, March 7 @ 7 p.m., women’s basketball, focus is colon cancer awareness with #CECIL, the giant inflatable colon.
- Saturday, March 9 @ 1 p.m., women’s basketball, focus is colon cancer awareness with #CECIL, the giant colon.