Huntsman Cancer Institute
Friday, February 12, 2016
7:00 p.m.
Free to the public - All are welcome
Wallace Akerley, MD,
is a professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology at
the University of Utah School of Medicine, and the Senior Director of
Community Oncology Research at the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) in Salt Lake
City, Utah.
Before coming to Utah in 2002 he was previously
Director of Medical Oncology and Associate Director of the Boston University Cancer
Center. He treats patients with many types of cancer, focusing on lung cancer and melanoma. He believes that over 100 people per year
in Utah (including many otherwise very healthy young adults) are needlessly dying
from lung cancer caused by radon a radioactive gas which is the leading cause of lung cancer after smoking, killing approximately 21,000 people in the United States each year.
In view of a religious culture that discourages smoking, Dr.
Akerley is interested in why Utah’s lung cancer rate is not decreasing like it is in other states. Part of the explanation may be that many houses in Utah have radon levels equivalent to a
person smoking one or two packs of cigarettes a day including homes in Cache
County where approximately 53% (among the highest in Utah) of the 2,207 dwellings tested
for radon had levels high enough to be considered potentially dangerous to health. Dr. Akerley has a passion for preventing this cancer and states
it is one of the few cancers almost 100% preventable.
He will present a lecture, free to the public about his research concerning radon induced lung cancer and steps everyone should take in their homes to detect and correct any radon problems they may have. This lecture is sponsored by the Bear River Health Department and Cache Community Connections.
THE CONCERT AND LECTURE SERIES IS SPONSORED BY CACHE COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS AN INTERFAITH AND CIVIC ORGANIZATION, AND IS ALSO SPONSORED IN PART BY THE RAPZ TAX. THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS ALLOWS FREE USE OF THE HISTORIC LOGAN TABERNACLE, AS WELL AS PROVIDING FINANCIAL SUPPORT.
