Executive Committee Nominations
There are three open positions on the ASPO Executive Committee starting in April 2021 – President-Elect, Secretary-Treasurer, Director-at-Large. Nominate a qualified candidate or yourself by November 30.
News
Health Equity, Culture, and Cancer – ASPO’s 2021 Annual Meeting
Health inequities are not new. However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and recent death of George Floyd among many other people of color has brought the issues of systemic structural racism and discrimination and health inequity into the forefront of American consciousness. Communities of color, and people who are low income, rural, LGBTQ+, immigrants, and Indigenous, among others, face disproportionate and inequitable cancer burden. While advances in prevention and control research have led to improvements in cancer incidence and better survival from cancer overall, U.S. cancer inequities persist, and for some populations, gaps have widened over time.
Meet the New ASPO Team
In all the craziness of the COVID pandemic, ASPO Week, and adjusting to working from home, you may have missed President Karen Basen-Engquist’s announcement about the change in leadership at ASPO.
HollandParlette was selected as the new management company for ASPO at the beginning of 2020 and came on board just before the Annual Conference in March. Our whole team is so excited to be a part of ASPO and to support all of your important work!
You may have already noticed that all ASPO communications are now coming from [email protected]. If you could, please take a moment to do a few things to help ensure you are receiving ASPO emails:
- Add [email protected] to your email contact list
- If you are using a .org, .edu, or .gov email address, email your IT department and ask them to add [email protected] to the safe sender list
- Check your spam folder periodically to be sure you haven’t missed anything
- Consider updating your email address to a personal account
- Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, where we will always important ASPO information
If you don’t think you’re on the list, or getting the emails, send us message at [email protected] or give us a call at 317-268-2552 and we’ll help troubleshoot.
Meet Your ASPO Team:
ASPO Commitment to Anti-Racism
Dear ASPO Colleagues,
The continued senseless killings of people of color, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have been emotionally overwhelming and traumatic. These events bring to the forefront the significant and inexcusable racism that is an epidemic in our country. We stand with our ASPO members from the Black community, and all Black communities, against racial injustice and support protests and other efforts against racial injustice and systemic racism.
Strange Days Indeed: a note from ASPO President Karen Basen-Engquist
Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Strange days indeed…
–John Lennon
Most of us are now living and working in ways that we could not have imagined a few weeks ago. As I write this my wish for you is that you and your family stay healthy, both physically and mentally. These are stressful times, and we all need to take care of ourselves and each other.
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Microbiome Research in Cancer Prevention Webinar
ASPO Lifestyle Behaviors, Energy Balance, and Chemoprevention SIG Webinar
Microbiome research in cancer prevention
Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020, 3-4 p.m. EST
To view the webinar visit, https://cwru.zoom.us/rec/share/35NHEauhrn5OG5XQxAbNWeknJaPsX6a80HUZ-vUEmEq2NMsOBC4TVt1G2KBjDye8
Research into the microbiome has the potential to expand our understanding of the link between diet, lifestyle and chronic disease. In this webinar, the group explored sample collection, data analysis, and the rationale for studying the microbiome and cancer risk and discussed recent findings in this area.
Relationship of diet and lifestyle factors to the human microbiome
Johanna Lampe, PhD, RD, Associate Director, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutch, Research Professor, Epidemiology, University of Washington
Collection and analysis of microbiome samples
Emily Vogtmann, PhD, MPH, Earl Stadtman Investigator, Metabolic Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epi & Genetics, National Cancer Institute
The microbiome and cancer risk: recent findings
Jiyoung Ahn, PhD, Associate Professor, NYU School of Medicine, Associate Director of Population Science, NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center
Happy New Year!
I hope the holidays provided you with a break from your work and time to spend with friends and family. Our work is vital, but everyone needs a break from the action from time to time!
The fall and winter have been busy for ASPO. Kate Weaver and Tim Rebbeck, along with the rest of the program committee and abstract reviewers, have been diligently scoring abstracts. We received 267 abstracts this year, the second highest number in ASPO history. The program that the committee has planned is packed with great programming – check out the latest version. I look forward to seeing you in Tucson!
One new feature in the program is a Community & Science program for the Community Outreach and Engagement staff from the cancer centers. Applications for this program are due on Jan 31, and the application is on the ASPO annual meeting page. Participants in the Community & Science program will have dedicated programming on Sunday afternoon and at a Monday breakfast session, and they will be participating in the rest of the meeting as well – including a special lunch session on Tuesday that will provide early stage investigators an opportunity to get feedback on their research from Community & Science participants. We also will be asking for investigators to serve as partners for the Community & Science participants, to facilitate bi-directional learning between community-engaged staff and cancer prevention researchers. Watch your email and the website for an invitation to apply for this opportunity.
We have also been busy recruiting a new management company for ASPO. Our RFP was made public in November, and we had quite a robust response – 24 applications. I am confident that we will be able to find a great company to help ASPO move forward. I expect we will have a company selected and starting the transition process by the time of the annual meeting. I want to thank our executive committee (Elena Martinez, Peter Kanetsky, Sandi Pruitt, Li Li, and Shine Chang) and members of the ad hoc selection committee (Carolyn Fang, Les Robison, Amy Trentham-Dietz, Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, and Hedi Sahel) for the wisdom and time they have provided to this critical project.
Finally, I want to add my voice of thanks to Heidi Sahel for her years of service and dedication to ASPO. She has ably served our organization, not just with efficiency, organization, and expertise, but with warmth and friendship that has been so important to the culture of ASPO and the sense of belonging expressed by members. Heidi, we will miss you greatly, but are happy for you as you start this next chapter. We wish you fun and relaxation, and more winters spent under warm sunny skies!