What’s called a "mini-medical school" on how cancer impacts women will be held over three nights this month in Omaha/Council Bluffs. Dr. Ken Cowan, director of the Eppley Cancer Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, says no women want to face a cancer diagnosis, but the odds are against them.
Cowan says: "One out of every three women in America will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Having a whole mini-medical school focused on women and cancer allows women to understand the risk and the things they can do to screen for different types of cancers." He says the free course will focus on care.
Cowan says, "It’s very appropriate for us to have an entire mini-medical school on women and cancer, which covers not only breast cancer, but other types of cancers that are important for women to understand." He says treatment has come a long way since the 1970s and it’s important to get that information to the public.
"There are many new therapies being developed today that are much more targeted, specific, what we call personalized approaches to treatment and cancer management," Cowan says. During the series, he says participants will learn about improvements in cancer diagnosis, treatment and symptom management, as well as the latest research and advances in women’s cancers.
For the last decade, Cowan says there’s been an improvement of more than 12-percent in the survival of patients with cancer. Cowan says, "Today there are over 14 million Americans alive as cancer survivors. And that’s over four times more than the number of cancer survivors alive in 1971."
The mini-medical school will be held October 14, 21 and 28 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at the U-N-M-C campus in Omaha. For more information, visit UNMC’s website or call (877) 852-0013.