UWF awarded $895,905.60 for innovative research and to improve access to early breast cancer screenings

"We will be out in the community and our region working to raise awareness, increase breast cancer screenings and promote early entry into treatment," said Dr. Justice Mbizo, principal investigator and professor in UWF's Department of Public Health in the Usha Kundu, MD College of Health. "We look forward to advancing the health and well-being of women in our state. The work we are doing is living out our University values, vision and mission."

As part of the project, breast cancer screening and tobacco smoking cessation health literacy information will be developed and disseminated, targeting at-risk women in the region. Health and wellness community workshops will be offered in rural communities of the Florida Panhandle. Community-based breast cancer screenings will be made available through mobile mammogram vans. The Northwest Florida Public Health Collaborative to Reduce Breast Cancer Disparities project is in collaboration with Florida A&M University, University of Miami and University of Florida.

Researchers hope long-term outcomes will include a decrease in breast cancer morbidity and mortality, an increase in breast cancer screenings, increased survivorship from breast cancer, reduction in the proportion of women in the catchment area who smoke and improved life expectancy among breast cancer survivors.

For more information about UWF's Usha Kundu, MD College of Health, visit uwf.edu/ukcoh.