A new video highlights the All Cancers Matter Cancer Prevention Family Fest in Altgeld Gardens, a resilient but underresourced community on Chicago’s far southeast side that is part of the larger community area of Riverdale, where some cancer diagnosis and mortality rates outpace those of the city.
Altgeld Gardens residents turned out for the September 9 event organized by the environmental justice group People for Community Recovery (PCR) with the Universlty of Illinois Cancer Center and the Chicago Family Health Center (CFHC).
Cancer Center members and others listened to community members and shared information about cervical, breast, prostate, lung and colon cancers plus cancer nutrition and cancer survivorship/genetics. Visitors to the fest also toured #CECIL, the Cancer Center’s giant inflatable colon, and were treated to music, yoga and lunch from a food truck.
Featured presenters at the event included:
Cervical Cancer: Hunter Holt, MD, MAS, part of the Cancer Center’s Cancer Prevention and Control research program and a UI Health family physician.
Lung Cancer: Ryan Nguyen, DO, part of our Cancer Prevention and Control reaseach program and a UI Health medical oncologist.
Breast Cancer: Chinwe Ewenighi-Amankwah, PhD, supported by a postdoctoral fellowship grant through the Illinois Cancer Health Equity Research (I-CHER) Center at the Cancer Center, is leading a research project to evaluate a predictive and prognostic indicator to improve outcomes in Black patients with triple-negative breast cancer.
Colon Cancer: Keith Naylor, MD, part of our Cancer Prevention and Control research program, and a UI Health gastroenterologist.
Prostate Cancer: Ikenna Madueke, MD, PhD, who practices in the UI Health Department of Urology and specializes in the diagnosis and surgical management of urologic malignancies including prostate, bladder, kidney, penile and testicular cancers.
Cancer Genetics and Survivorship: Pamela Ganschow, MD, part of our Cancer Prevention and Control research program.