Beyond the Game: Funding Innovative Technology around the Globe
This year’s panel at AGDQ spotlights a new portable breast screening device in Nigeria, cervical cancer screening devices in Peru and lung cancer screening innovations in Poland – showing how your dollars make a difference in cancer prevention and early detection.
It is only with the help of Games Done Quick Community that we can fund these innovative research and community projects. Your support is truly saving lives.
Panelists:
- James L. Mulshine, MD – Emeritus Professor, Rush Medical College, Rush University and Associate Director, Institute for Translational Medicine, Rush University
- Ricardo Avila, MS – Chief Executive Officer, Accumetra, LLC
- Nimmi Ramanujam, PhD – Director, Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies, Duke University
- T. Peter Kingham, MD – Director of Global Cancer Disparity Initiatives, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
More on these lifesaving projects:
Increasing breast and colorectal cancer screening in Nigeria
T. Peter Kingham, MD, Director of Global Cancer Disparity Initiatives at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, explains how Prevent Cancer Foundation funding is helping increase colorectal and breast cancer screening in Nigeria. Funding in 2019 allowed high-risk or symptomatic Nigerian women to be evaluated with a new hand-held portable device called the iBreast Exam. Funding in 2020 examines the accuracy and feasibility of a commonly used, inexpensive stool-based screening test to help develop colorectal cancer screening programs in Nigeria and perhaps the rest of Africa.
Adopting new technologies for cervical cancer screening in Peru
Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam oversees the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies at Duke University. Prevent Cancer Foundation funding awarded this year increases cervical cancer screening in Peru. The project implements an innovative model of healthcare delivery that is community-based, relying on women empowering women to be active agents of change in their own health care. This model gives women privacy and agency over cervical cancer screening, allowing 98 out of every 100 women to complete care at home.
Using technology to detect lung cancer early in Poland
Ricardo Avila, MS, is a computer scientist developing computer-aided methods to detect cancer early, specifically lung cancer. 
In the U.S., lung cancer accounts for more deaths per year than the next three cancers combined. Avila’s work brings cost-effective, high quality phantoms to countries around the world, optimizing CT scanners and making it easier to detect lung cancer early. Prevent Cancer Foundation funding awarded in 2019 brought these phantoms to 16 lung cancer screening sites in Poland.
Panel Moderator: Dr. James L. Mulshine
Dr. James L. Mulshine is Vice President and Associate Provost for Research at Rush University Medical Center, responsible for all aspects of the research enterprise. Internationally recognized in lung cancer research, he previously served as head of the Intervention Section of the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). He is currently the principal investigator on seven studies, has been awarded eight patents and has been honored with numerous academic awards.
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