THE BARBARA ANN KARMANOS CANCER INSTITUTE was honored by the Michigan Cancer Consortium with the 2014 Spirit of Collaboration Award for its Jewish Women’s Health Project; and also received an Honorable Mention for its Harley Men’s Health Event.
The Spirit of Collaboration Award is the highest honor the Michigan Cancer Consortium presents to member organizations, recognizing outstanding collaborative work that significantly moves cancer prevention and control activities forward in Michigan. The award presentation took place this month during the Michigan Cancer Consortium’s annual meeting in Lansing.
Karmanos Cancer Institute’s Jewish Women’s Health Project is a collaboration of the Council of Orthodox Rabbis, the Women’s Orthodox League, The Jewish Fund, Jewish Family Service, The Jewish Community Center of Oak Park, and Kids Kicking Cancer. The purpose of the program is to better understand and help prevent the genetic risk factor of the BRCA I and II genes among Orthodox Jews.
Genetic research documents a high prevalence of the BRCA I and II and anedomatous polyposis coli genes among Ashkenazi (i.e. European) Jewish women. Mutations in these genes place carriers at a significantly greater risk for breast, ovarian, pancreatic, colorectal, and other cancers.
The Harley Men’s Health Event is a collaborative project with Wolverine Harley Davidson that has for the past three years helped to increase awareness and access to recommended cancer screenings for an underserved population in Michigan. In the past three years, the event has reached 530 community members.
