OCF In The News

In Memoriam: Jimmie C. Holland, MD

The Oral Cancer Foundation is deeply saddened by the passing of OCF Science Advisory Board member, Dr. Jimmie C. Holland. When our organization was in it’s infancy, Dr. Holland was an early supporter of OCF. She was one of the first in the profession to focus attention on the mental well being of cancer patients. With OCF being a foundation that is heavily geared to funding the advancement of research, and being very hard science and research oriented, her compassion for the mental health of cancer patients was a key component in humanizing our efforts, and ensuring that we stayed people centric. We are tremendously grateful for her advanced work in Psycho-oncology, the good it has done for so many in the oral cancer community, and the guidance she offered us. She will be missed by many. Author: William Breitbart Source: https://blog.oup.com Date: Feb. 23, 2018 Jimmie C. Holland, MD, internationally recognized as the founder of the field of Psycho-oncology, died suddenly on 24 December 2017 at the age of 89. Dr. Holland, who was affectionately known by her first name, “Jimmie,” had a profound global influence on the fields of Psycho-oncology, Psychosomatic Medicine, and Oncology. Dr. Holland was the Attending Psychiatrist and Wayne E. Chapman Chair at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and Professor of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York. In 1977, she was appointed Chief of the Psychiatry Service in the Department of Neurology at MSK. The Psychiatry Service at MSK was the [...]

Charlotte Parker2018-04-21T11:53:40-07:00February, 2018|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Henry Schein Donates Medical Supplies In Support of Free Oral Cancer Screening Events throughout the United States

Source: www.mysocialgoodnews.com Author: Api Potter Company’s Donation to Support 77 Screening Events in 2016 and 2017 by the Oral Cancer Foundation Press Release – MELVILLE, N.Y., July 25, 2016 – Henry Schein, Inc. (Nasdaq: HSIC) announced today that it is donating more than $10,000 in medical supplies to the Oral Cancer Foundation (OCF) in support of 77 free oral cancer screening events being held throughout the United States in 2016 and 2017. Each OCF-hosted event aims to boost awareness of the disease and increase early detection. The Company’s donation of gauze, tongue depressors, and disposable dental mirrors, facemasks, and gloves is an initiative of Henry Schein Cares, the Company’s global corporate social responsibility program, and continues the Company’s support of OCF’s screening events. OCF hosts the events in a range of locations, including pharmacy parking lots, health fairs, farmer’s markets, colleges, and OCF Walk/Run for Awareness events. “The health of our mouths greatly impacts our ability to eat and drink, communicate thoughts and ideas, and express feelings for loved ones,” said Brian Hill, Founder of the Oral Cancer Foundation. “When cancer affects our mouths, it does more than take away these everyday functions, it too often takes our lives. Our screening events are designed to identify signs of oral cancer before it ever gets that far, and we thank Henry Schein for this generous donation and its continued support of oral cancer awareness and early detection efforts.” The donation comes at a time when nearly 500,000 people worldwide are diagnosed annually [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-07-27T12:17:07-07:00July, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Bucking the trend: Cody Kiser, bronc rider

Source: www.thecalifornian.com Author: Champ Robinson Cody Kiser always had a fascination with the rodeo. The 25-year-old out of Carson City, Nevada competed in the high school rodeo as a bull rider, but Kiser used that term loosely. “I was more of a bull getter-oner than a bull rider,” Kiser joked. “I had a bad tendency of holding onto the rope until the very last second.” This time, that bad habit would cause significant injuries during a high school rodeo competition when Kiser was 14. “I hit the ground and I don’t know if I was on my chest or my back, but one foot (of the bull) landed on my face and the other on my chest or back,” Kiser said. The impact of the bull crushed Kiser’s left side of his face that broke his hinge bone and jaw bone and shattered his cheek bone. Kiser had to undergo plastic surgery to fix the injuries which required two plates and eight screws to be inserted to do so. Kiser spent a year recovering from the accident before returning to riding – this time horses. “Riding bucking horses was something I always wanted to do,” Kiser said. “My dad (P.D. Kiser), that’s actually what he did. I thought I’d give that a go and turns out I was a little better at it and now I’m here today.” When Kiser returned to riding, the nerves were there, but in a good way. “I think I was more excited than anything,” [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2017-01-11T17:06:26-07:00July, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Rodeo Competitors Fight Smokeless Tobacco Use at Laramie Jubilee Days

Source: www.y95country.comAuthor: Nick Learned Two professional rodeo contestants will ride exclusively for the Oral Cancer Foundation this weekend as part of Laramie Jubilee Days with a goal of preventing young fans from using smokeless tobacco. Cody Kiser and Carly Twisselman each aim to show rodeo fans, particularly the younger ones, chewing or using other forms of smokeless tobacco isn’t what makes them who they are. They promote the Foundation’s campaign which uses the slogan “Be Smart. Don’t Start.” Their approach is anything but confrontational or aggressive. Rather than encouraging people to quit, they hope to encourage young fans to never pick up the habit in the first place. And where some rely on statistics to make the point, Kiser and Twisselman take a different approach. Simply giving attention to young rodeo fans is a big part of getting their message across. “Its not the facts that they’re going to take home,” Kiser says. “Everybody knows that tobacco’s bad; you can get cancer and you can die. But the biggest impact that I see is just acknowledging those kids or acknowledging those people in the audience that want to know more, and you can show them what you can do without tobacco.” “I’m not out there to tell anybody how to live their life or preach to them about needing to quit,” Kiser says. “It’s not our place to do that,” Twisselman says. “People most of the time aren’t going to listen when you tell them something like that anyway.” The pair will be wearing Oral Cancer Foundation gear [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-07-08T11:15:42-07:00July, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Rodeo outreach program fights oral cancer

Source: www.olivesoftware.comAuthor: Stewart M. Green Carly Twisselman, a spokesperson with the Oral Cancer Foundation’s rodeo outreach program, and her horse Chanel travel the Western rodeo circuit and talk with kids about the dangers of using spit tobacco. Photo by Stewart M. Green Carly Twisselman brushed her horse Chanel outside a stall at the Norris-Penrose Event Center, home of the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo, which will roll into town July 13-16. “I’ve been rodeoing my whole life,” she said. “Now I do it at the professional level. This is my rookie year so I’m going really hard. I want to win the rookie title.” Summer is the busiest time of the year for cowgirls and cowboys. “We call it Cowboy Christmas, the 4th of July run,” she said. Twisselman and her travel partner have recently competed in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and just drove up from Pecos, Texas, to Colorado Springs for qualifiers. “It’s a crazy time,” she said. “Lots of traveling, but lots of money to be won.” Twisselman, a 30-year-old barrel racer, grew up on a ranch near San Luis Obispo on the central California coast. “My family’s been ranching there for seven generations,” she said. “I was on the back of a horse all the time. I was riding before I could walk.” While growing up in the Western ranching and rodeo culture, Twisselman was aware of the widespread use of spit tobacco by cowboys. “I’ve been around it my whole life and seen a lot [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-07-06T17:39:17-07:00July, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Rodeo rider partners with nonprofit group to fight smokeless tobacco use

Source: www.fox13now.comAuthor: Rebecca Cade SALT LAKE CITY -- Oral cancer is becoming an epidemic in the U.S., and has been in the news in the last year with the loss of major league baseball hall-of-famer, Tony Gwynn, who died at 54 from smokeless tobacco use. Rodeo has a historic tie to smokeless tobaccos, and Oral Cancer Foundation, has teamed up with Bareback Rider Cody Kiser to draw awareness to, and prevent, this growing epidemic where it thrives – the rodeo circuit. Smokeless/spit tobacco is one of the historic causes of deadly oral cancers, and is more addictive than other forms of tobacco use. The nonprofit is seeking to spread awareness of oral cancer and the dangers of starting terrible tobacco habits. While others are focused on getting users to quit, The Oral Cancer Foundation is reaching out to young people to not pick up the habit that they may see one of their rodeo “heroes" engage in. Their message is simple, "Be Smart. Don’t Start." With the strong addictive powers of smokeless tobacco, the foundation and Kiser aim to engage fans early. At the rodeos, Kiser will be solely wearing OCF logos and wording, while handing out buttons, wristbands and bandanas with the campaign messaging on them. The bareback rider hopes this will make him an alternative positive role-model for the adolescent age group whose minds are so easily molded. “It’s something I’ve always been passionate about, so when I got into the partnership with OCF, it was no big [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-06-22T09:59:16-07:00June, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Reno Rodeo: Cody Kiser ‘The luckiest guy in the world’

Source: www.rgj.comAuthor: Jordan Wines 2016 Reno Rodeo competitor Cody Kiser has been competing in rodeos from the time he could walk. He began his career riding sheep and roping dummy heads on hay bales. As he grew, so did his competitive spirit. Kiser began riding bulls, but suffered an injury early in his career. "I had a bull step on my face, and I broke all the bones in the left side of my face," Kiser said. "I broke my jaw in two places and had my jaw wired shut. I had to get plastic surgery on my face to get it put back together." After recovering, Kiser began riding bucking horses, bareback specifically. He continued to compete while attending college at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he completed his degree in civil engineering. Splitting time between school and his life on the rodeo circuit presented its own set of challenges. "I did college rodeo for about two years, and I loved it. It just became way too much doing rodeo and school. I would put all my effort into schoolwork during the semester, and then would try to hit a couple of rodeos during school. During summer, I wouldn't take any classes, and I would hit the rodeo as hard as I could, which was still difficult because I had internships and jobs over the summer." Riding bareback is more than just an event for Kiser, as his father also rode bareback competitively, and Kiser still uses some of the same [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-06-20T11:56:24-07:00June, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Aspen Dental Practices Donate More Than $20,000 To The Oral Cancer Foundation For Oral Cancer Awareness Month

Source: www.pharmiweb.com.orgAuthor: Aspen Dental SYRACUSE, N.Y., May 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Aspen Dental–branded practices will donate $22,375 to The Oral Cancer Foundation (OCF) as part of a program that contributed $5 for each ViziLite® oral cancer screening conducted during April for Oral Cancer Awareness Month. In total, more than 4,000 patients were screened across more than 550 practices in 33 states. Since 2010, Aspen Dental-branded practices have donated more than $105,000 to OCF. "Approximately 48,250 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with an oral or oropharyngeal cancer this year; and of those only about 57% will be alive in five years," said Natalie Riggs, Director of Special Projects for The Oral Cancer Foundation. In 2016 we estimate that 9500 individuals will lose their lives to oral cancers and we are grateful for the support from Aspen Dental practices in helping us raise awareness and aiding in our efforts to fight this disease." Oral cancer is frequently preceded by visible pre-malignant lesions and can be diagnosed at a much earlier stage (I or II) with ViziLite® Plus, a specially designed light technology. When caught early and treated, the survival rate is 80 to 90 percent. "We're working to educate our patients about the risk factors, warning signs and symptoms associated with oral cancer so that we can help them catch the disease before it progresses," said Dr. Murali Lakireddy, a general dentist who owns Aspen Dental offices in Ohio. "Many of our patients do not think about oral cancer when they go to [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-06-16T10:28:42-07:00June, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Rodeo rider raising awareness of chewing tobacco and oral cancer

Source: www.krcrtv.comAuthor: Danielle Radin REDDING, Calif. - The Redding Rodeo kicked off Wednesday night with events like barrel racing, cattle roping and mutton busting. Professional barrel racer, Carly Twisselman said chewing tobacco is prominent at rodeos. She's teamed up with the Oral Cancer Foundation to try to change that. "We want to show children that you can follow your dreams, be who you want to be, pursue being a rodeo athlete and not chew tobacco," said Twisselman. Twisselman competes in rodeos across the country and sees chewing tobacco time and time again. She's teaching children chewing tobacco is not the 'cool thing to do.' She also wears letting on her sleeves every race that reads, "Be smart, don't start." She also has a brother who chews and had a health scare from it. "My brother's had signs of cancer of the mouth from chewing," said Twisselman. " "I just think that's the wrong message we should be sending to this children." According to the oral cancer foundation, there will be about 48,000 new cases of oral cancer in 2016 in the United States. 75 percent of all oral cancer patients use tobacco. They estimate nearly 10,000 people in the United States will die from oral cancer in 2016.

Charlotte Parker2016-05-19T11:39:43-07:00May, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Nivolumab Improved Survival For Patients With Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Source: www.aacr.orgAuthor: AACR Newsroom Staff NEW ORLEANS — Treatment with the immunotherapeutic nivolumab (Opdivo) improved survival for patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma that progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy compared with single-agent chemotherapy of the investigator’s choice, according to results from the CheckMate-141 phase III clinical trial presented here at the AACR Annual Meeting 2016, April 16-20. “Recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma that is not responsive to platinum-based chemotherapy progresses very rapidly, and patients have a very poor prognosis,” said Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD, a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. “Treatment usually involves single-agent chemotherapy. However, no therapy has been shown to improve survival for this patient population. New treatment options are desperately needed. “This study is the first randomized clinical trial to clearly demonstrate improved overall survival for patients with platinum-refractory recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma,” continued Gillison. “We hope that the results will establish nivolumab as a new standard of care option for this patient population and thereby fulfill a huge unmet need.” CheckMate-141 was a randomized, phase III clinical trial designed to determine whether the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab could extend overall survival for patients with platinum-refractory recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma compared with treatment of the investigator’s choice, which was any of the commonly used therapeutics docetaxel, methotrexate, or [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-04-19T10:49:39-07:00April, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|