Cancer Prevention

Overview

The first section will review the principles of cancer initiation, promotion and progression. The second section will focus on the individual, controllable  factors that can affect cancer risk: 

• smoking;  
• body mass index;
• physical exercise; 
• alcohol consumption;
• diet (pro-carcinogenic and anti-carcinogenic dietary substances);
• UV radiation
• vaccination against oncogenic viruses. 

The third section will focus on principles of cancer screening and the limitations of cancer screening test development . The benefits and harms of current cancer screening tests will be reviewed. The fourth section will review the essential roles of education, motivation, incentivization, and psychosocial environment (mental health, stress, socialization, education,  financial status) on compliance with cancer-lowering behaviors of individuals and the larger impact of compliance  on the public health, nationally and globally.  It will  showcase the  value of multidisciplinary approaches in achieving the compliance needed to change health outcomes around the world.

This Cancer Prevention course from Queen Mary University of London is a collaborative academic offering by Queen Mary University London, Barts and The London Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry and Arizona State University.

Course aims

The  purpose of this course is to educate students preparing for careers in medicine, allied health professions and research about the controllable factors that have the greatest potential for lowering cancer risk in all patients, no matter what their genetic background. The module reviews  the  scientific evidence on non-heritable factors that modulate cancer risk  in populations and individuals as well as their mechanisms of action.  The module further explores the principles of human psychology that play roles in abetting or compromising patient compliance with the risk-lowering behaviors that are the focus of this module. Ultimately, through this new knowledge, the module aims to empower the students to reinforce cancer risk-lowering behavior.