The University of the Virgin Islands will
release the results of a study on breast cancer risk at a Community
Empowerment Forum scheduled for 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct.
25. The forum will be presented in the Teacher Education Building
room 101 (TED-101) on UVI's St. Thomas campus with a video link to
Evans Center room 713 (EVC-713) on UVI's St. Croix
campus.
"Results and Implications of a Focused Study of Breast Cancer Risk Among Women in the US Virgin Islands," will be presented by Dr. Sandra Underwood of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Nursing. The event is sponsored by the UVI Division of Nursing Education's Caribbean Exploratory Research Center.
Between 2006 and 2007 Dr. Underwood, UVI Nursing Professor Dr. Edith Ramsay-Johnson, 18 UVI nursing students and others conducted risk assessment research on 176 women in St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John. Results of that study, along with recommendations will be discussed at the forum.
"Breast cancer is one of those diseases that black women and women in the Caribbean suffer disproportionately," said UVI Nursing Professor Dr. Gloria Callwood, who also conducted the research. "Our primary goal is to get information about the results to the public," Dr. Callwood said. She invites women, health care providers and the public to attend the forum.
Funding for the forum and other related activities is supported by a $6.1 million National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHHD) grant awarded in October 2007 to establish the Research Center. Funding for the research came from a $1.1 million grant UVI received in 2004 from the NIH-NCMHHD.
For more information call UVI's Division of Nursing Education at 693-1178.