Yale Pathology and Yale Pathology Labs (YPL) teamed with doctors from Yale Otolaryngology (ENT) at the Beverly Levy Walk and Block Party on May 4 in Orange to offer free head and neck cancer screenings to attendees. The event, now in its 12th year, raises funds for research of gynecologic cancers.
Yale physicians were busy throughout the four-hour event, performing the non-invasive screenings on dozens of people who took advantage of the free five-minute check-up from the neck up. Yale doctors, including Saral Mehra, MD, MBA, FACS, associate professor of surgery (otolaryngology), Ansley Roche, MD, BA, assistant professor of surgery (otolaryngology), and Avanti Verma, MD, assistant professor of surgery (otolaryngology), performed the screenings in a Yale Mobile Health Clinic van. They were assisted by Jacqueline Dibble, MS, a board-certified family nurse practitioner. They performed 43 screenings, the most successful head-and-neck screening event to date.
“We are educating people about head and neck cancers, which are mainly mouth and throat cancers but also skin cancers, thyroid cancers, nose cancers, and ear cancers,” Dr. Mehra says. “We’re talking about the main causes of head and neck cancers, things like smoking and drinking. But also the HPV virus.”
He says the reason doctors were offering the free service at an event dedicated to raising awareness and funds for gynecologic cancers is because throat cancer is now the most common HPV-associated cancer in the U.S., recently surpassing cervical cancer. Doctors recommend that women receive the HPV vaccine to prevent infections that can lead to several cancers.
“So, we’re talking to people about head and neck cancers, having an HPV vaccination, and then we’re checking them out,” Dr. Mehra says. “People are loving it. They’re learning a lot and they seem to be very appreciative.”
YPL set up a booth in front of the mobile van and provided information on Yale Pathology diagnostic services and cancer-related testing while supporting their Yale ENT colleagues. Representing YPL were Stephanie Weirsman, director, Reference Services Business Development, Kyle Preston, coordinator, Reference Services Laboratory Program, Tong Sun, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pathology, and Angelique W. Levi, MD, associate professor of pathology, vice chair clinical operations and Pathology Reference Services, and medical director, CLIA Laboratory. The InStride team, which provided the mobile unit, was instrumental in the day's success.