On Tuesday, October 28th Dr. Steve Whitman, Director of SUHI, was a recipient of the Avon Foundation's Medical Advancement in Breast Cancer Award for his work in the identification of the Black:White disparity in breast cancer mortality in Chicago and the development of solutions to eliminate this disparity.  Dr. Whitman, along with award co-recipient Dr. David Ansell, have been instrumental in spearheading efforts such as the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force which has brought together stakeholders from goverment, healthcare institutions, community organizations, and women from across the Chicagoland area to work towards eliminating this disparity.

For more information about the Avon Foundation and the 2008 Avon Foundation Awards Celebration: The Hope Honors, click here

Dr. Steve Whitman, Director of SUHI, was recently interviewed by the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times about the Black:White disparity in breast cancer mortality in Chicago.  To read these articles, click on the link to each paper above.

The School-Based Wellness Project recently received $160,000 from the Michael Reese Health Trust and $100,000 from the Polk Bros. Foundation to continue their efforts to improve student health in the Jewish community. The intervention now includes five schools from the Associated Talmud Torahs school system, which translates into over 2000 students in grades K-8 participating. To date, the Michael Reese Health Trust has contributed $360,000 over three years for this project, while the Polk Bros. Foundation has contributed $300,000 during the same time frame.

The Breathing Freedom project has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the

American Lung Association of Illinois-Greater Chicago to promote smoking cessation in North Lawndale community.

The American Lung Association is dedicated to preventing lung disease and improving lung health. This grant money will be used to help change social norms through media campaigns, Illinois Quitline promotion, and outreach regarding smoking behavior.

On Sunday, June 1st Sinai Health System was awarded $1 million dollars from the Avon Foundation to continue the patient navigation program and to purchase new mammography equipment.  Sinai was one of eight recipients of initial grants from the Avon Walk Chicago that totaled $4,750,000.

This year the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Chicago had 4,000 participants that raised $9.1 million dollars.  Each year participants of the walk raise at least $1,800 dollars each and walk up to 39.3 miles over two days to promote awareness and raise money to combat breast cancer.

Dr. Maureen Benjamins, Senior Epidemiologist and Project Director at SUHI, recently received the Early Investigator Award for Spirituality and Health Research from the Society of Behavioral Medicine.  The award was presented at the group's annual meeting in March.  Dr. Benjamins has been invited to present her research at next year's annual meeting in Montreal.

Three colleagues at SUHI recently examined childhood obesity rates in 6 Chicago communities.  The article is titled Prevalence of obesity among children in six Chicago communities: Findings from a health survey and was recently published in Public Health Reports.

Steve Whitman, Director of SUHI, was interviewed as spokesperson for an examination of black-white disparities in breast cancer mortality among Houston area women.  The media interest coincided with the Avon Foundation's Annual Breast Cancer Forum in which Dr. Whitman presented on racial disparities in breast cancer mortality. 

To view the newspaper article, click here.

To access Dr. Whitman's presentation, click here.

Dr. Whitman and the SUHI team have published their work on black-white disparities in Chicago and they were asked to do a similar study in Houston.  SUHI’s work was also pivotal in the organization of the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force.

Dr. Joseph West, Project Director of Breathing Freedom: Working Together to Live Tobacco Free, was recently highlighted in a Chicago Tribune article titled, "African-American Smoking Rates Tied to Menthol, Research Finds."  To read this article, click here.