survivors teaching students
Helping to save women's lives
To address the issue of early detection, the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance (OCNA) conducts the Survivors Teaching Students: Saving Women's Lives program at over 50 hospitals across the country (see list).
The goal of this program is to enhance medical students' understanding of ovarian cancer symptoms and risk factors in order to facilitate earlier diagnosis and detection.
The Survivors Teaching Students program brings ovarian cancer survivors into the classroom to share their stories and to discuss key information about the disease. The presentation, which lasts an hour, typically includes three women with diverse backgrounds whose disease was diagnosed at an advanced stage. The women's stories illustrate how difficult it is to obtain an early diagnosis. Additionally, survivors relate how ovarian cancer has impacted their lives.
The presentation is given to medical students and healthcare professionals. All of the women presenters have participated in training sponsored by OCNA. After the presentation, a dialogue is opened between the survivors and the students to enable direct and substantive interaction. Students are also given a brief survey to assess their understanding of the disease and the value of the presentation.
Local ovarian cancer survivors coordinate all aspects of the free presentations in partnership with OCNA. The Colorado Ovarian Cancer Alliance oversees this program locally.
- List of national hospitals participating in the program >>
- If you are an ovarian cancer survivor interested in participating in this program, please call 1-800-428-0642 or email info@colo-ovariancancer.org.