Browse Hierarchy SUM501R: Cancer Prevention

This summer school course will be a collaborative academic offering by Queen Mary University London, Barts and The London Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry and Arizona State University. The course will provide clear understanding of the different types of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that are related to the pathogenesis of cancer. The first section will review the principles of cancer initiation, promotion and progression. The second section will focus on the individual, controllable factors that can affect cancer risk: 1) smoking; 2) body mass index; 3) physical exercise; 4) alcohol consumption; 5) diet (pro-carcinogenic and anti-carcinogenic dietary substances); 6) UV radiation; and 7) vaccination against oncogenic viruses. The third section will focus on principles of cancer screening and the limitations of cancer screening test development . The benefits and harms of current cancer screening tests will be reviewed. The fourth section will review the essential roles of education, motivation, incentivization, and psychosocial environment (mental health, stress, socialization, education, financial status) on compliance with cancer-lowering behaviors of individuals and the larger impact of compliance on the public health, nationally and globally. It will showcase the value of multidisciplinary approaches in achieving the compliance needed to change health outcomes around the world.