Thursday, July 18, 2013

Starting my participation in The American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study

A month or so ago, I signed up to participate in a American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study.

From the Participate in Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) American Cancer Society website:

The American Cancer Society's Epidemiology Research Program is inviting men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 years who have no personal history of cancer to join this historic research study. The ultimate goal is to enroll at least 300,000 adults from various racial and ethnic backgrounds from across the US. CPS-3 is a grassroots effort where local communities from across the country can support cancer research not just through fundraising efforts, but also by participating actively in this historic research study.

The study is open to anyone in the United States and Puerto Rico who is willing to commit to the study long-term which means completing follow up surveys at home for the next 20-30 years, is between 30 and 65 tears old, and has never been diagnosed with Cancer. I realized it's a very small and easy thing that I can do to help in cancer prevention research.

The enrollment process involves two steps. One step is at home, where you complete a detailed survey that asks information on lifestyle, behavioral, and other factors related to your health.

The next step takes place at a local enrollment event, where you will be asked to read and sign an informed consent form, complete a brief written survey, provide a waist circumference measurement and a small blood sample (7 teaspoons total).

Periodically, you will receive a survey at home to update information.

I signed up a few weeks ago, took the detailed survey earlier this week, and had my appointment yesterday at an enrollment event which was held at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center.

It was all pretty straight forward, and took about 30 minutes.

I think this is a very important study, and one that I am happy to participate in. I spoke with a representative from the American Cancer Society, and she told me that they've been enrolling participants around the country for a while, but they are still low on participants in California. They have enrollment events happening all around the Bay Area including: Alameda County, Marin County, San Francisco County, San Mateo County and Santa Clara County. They are especially low on Asian participants and Males.

If you meet the criteria and have just a little bit of spare time needed to complete the enrollment, I urge you to look into participating in this study.

I was told from a volunteer that the first of these studies by the American Cancer Society was done in the 50s. That was when it was determined that there was a connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. Imagine what they kind of information they can find from this study.

Here's the link to the website to register in the Bay Area: http://cps3bayarea.org/


the enrollment center at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center


inside the enrollment event. You can see how quiet it was - they need more participants!

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