WGHI symposium to spotlight breast cancer research

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Some of the newest research on breast cancer screening methods, including AI-based risk prediction, will be featured at the annual symposium of Purdue University’s Women’s Global Health Institute (WGHI), Sept. 6, in the south ballroom of the Purdue Memorial Union. The symposium theme is women’s cancers and their prevention.

Christiane Kuhl, a renowned authority on breast imaging and chair of diagnostic and interventional radiology at RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany, will give the keynote address. Titled “Breast Cancer Screening: New Ways of Thinking,” it will address where breast cancer screening stands today and where it’s headed, looking at candidate methods for screening and the evidence for their possible use, including risk stratification using AI with screening mammograms.

The event, which will feature a poster session and graduate student poster award competition from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., will feature these talks from 1-3:30 p.m.:

• “Broadening Clinical Care Models for Breast Cancer Interception,” Tarah Ballinger, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine and the Vera Bradley Foundation Scholar in Breast Cancer Research, Indiana University School of Medicine.
• “The Komen Tissue Bank: A Valuable Research Resource,” Jill Henry, chief operating officer, Komen Tissue Bank.
• “HPV Vaccination: Overcoming Challenges in Cancer Prevention,” Monica Kasting, assistant professor of public health, Purdue University.
• “Advances in Breast Radiofrequency Coils for MRI,” Joseph Rispoli, associate professor of biomedical engineering, Purdue University.

The event also will feature remarks from Dr. YingKei Hui, Purdue’s First Lady, and Dan DeLaurentis, vice president for Discovery Park District at Purdue institutes.

Registration for the symposium, which is required by Aug. 31, is available here.

Co-sponsoring the event with WGHI are the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease; the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, IU School of Medicine; the Purdue College of Health and Human Sciences; the Purdue Institute for Cancer Research; Discovery Park District at Purdue; the Purdue College of Engineering; and the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering.

The WGHI serves as a nexus of interdisciplinary research to create partnerships, promote research and develop training opportunities to improve the health of women globally. The institute promotes research on the prevention and early detection of diseases, rather than the classic medical model focusing on treatment, and research to understand sex differences in health across the life span. 

Writer/Media contact: Amy Raley, araley@purdue.edu

Sources: Luanne Bermel, lmi@purdue.edu

Ulrike Dydak, udydak@purdue.edu