CAMPUS CURRENT
The Truth About Breast Cancer Disparity SOJOURNER TRUTH LECTURER ADVOCATES KNOWLEDGE SHARING
Lack of knowledge about breast cancer affects everyone, not just women. In fact, what we don’t know is hurting us, said physician
and scientist Dr. Olufunmilayo Olopade, who delivered the 27th annual Sojourner Truth Lecture Feb. 28 on campus. Olopade, the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Pro-
fessor of Medicine and Human Genetics and associate dean of Global Health at the University of Chicago, directs the university’s Cancer Risk Clinic. Her research focuses on the genetic, social and environmental factors of breast cancer and the knowledge disparity gap that can hinder its treatment. When she began her research, Olopade had assumed
women would embrace risk-assessment tests and drugs that could prevent them from developing breast cancer. She soon discovered, however, that unless at-risk patients were well- informed, they did not see the need for preventive care until it was too late. Paradoxically, the more advances made in medicine and
technology, the wider the disparity gap grows. Breast cancer mortality rates in white women have been decreasing since the 1990s, when more funding became available for breast cancer and women’s health research, but the mortality rate for black women has remained constant. In an income disparity and breast cancer mortality study done in Chicago, Olopade found that lower income cor-
responds to higher mortality rates. She showed a map of household incomes beside a map of breast cancer mortality, and the boundar- ies of poorer neighborhoods and high breast cancer mortality closely matched. Access to care is also an issue. Doctors
who treat breast cancer live in the upper- class neighborhoods, so people in poorer neighborhoods must travel to get treatment. In another study, she noticed that the people with the best knowledge and the funds needed to access the best care had the best outcomes. Olopade stressed the importance of risk assessment and
Dr. Olufunmilayo Olopade
College News
personalized treatment. Women from high-risk populations or with a family history of breast cancer should be vigilant about mammograms and self-exams. She encouraged women to talk to their doctors about their mammogram results, since mam- mography is ineffective at detecting the fast-growing, deadliest cancers. For these, patients need MRIs. “We need to get treatments, drugs and knowledge to
the entire population to share and democratize knowledge if we are to eradicate breast cancer and close the knowledge disparity gap,” she said.
–Tamara Savage ’15
New Building to Feature Latest Multimedia Learning Tools
Transformation continues throughout the new teaching and learning building, which received a generous grant from the Ahmanson Foun- dation in November. Metal, “wart”-colored tiles now grace the exterior, blending the structure beautifully with the rest of the HMC campus. When the building offi cially opens in July 2013, its classrooms will
boast multimedia tools to enhance learning and instruction. All class- rooms will have LCD screens or video projection capabilities, including control systems that will allow faculty and students to project from multiple devices, including laptops and DVD players. “There also will be three technology-rich classrooms where we
will install interactive whiteboards and lecture capture systems,” said Elizabeth Hodas, director of educational technology and media services. “The lecture capture system will support faculty in
implementing new pedagogy, such as the ‘fl ipped classroom,’ where students view lectures online outside of class so that they can focus on more interactive activities during class time.”
69,977 45 6 Har vey Mudd College SPRING 2013
BY THE NUMBERS square feet of fl oor space
19,763 8,523 86 metal shingles
cubic yards of concrete (building and site) percent of construction waste recycled
feet of the building above ground (grade) level
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