On Friday, February 7, at the Durham Convention Center, May Gao, an MS3 student at Duke School of Medicine and a member of the ENT Interest Group, was honored with the MaryAnn Black Health Equity Impact Award at the MaryAnn Black Distinguished Health Equity Symposium. Gao received this recognition for her outstanding poster presentation titled "Understanding Head and Neck Cancer Screening and Education Barriers in an Immigrant/Refugee Population."
The poster presentation was part of Project CHECKERS (Community Head and Neck Cancer Knowledge, Engagement, Research, and Screening), which aims to raise awareness about head and neck cancer (HNC) among immigrant and refugee communities in Raleigh-Durham. The project, led by co-principal investigators Trinitia Cannon, MD, Nosa Osazuwa-Peters, BDS, MPH, PhD, and Leda Scearce, CCC-SLP, MM, MS, reported the results of Phase One, highlighting the significant barriers these populations face in accessing health literacy and preventive care. HNC is largely preventable through measures such as tobacco cessation, reduced alcohol use, and HPV vaccination, yet these communities often encounter obstacles that hinder their ability to benefit from such preventive strategies.
The annual MaryAnn Black Distinguished Health Equity Symposium is hosted by the Duke Cancer Institute’s Community Outreach, Engagement, and Equity (COEE) office. The symposium honors the late MaryAnn Black, a dedicated advocate for health equity who played a pivotal role in establishing the COEE program at Duke. Her legacy continues to inspire efforts to address health disparities and promote community engagement.
The symposium underscores Duke’s commitment to collaborating with local communities to understand and tackle the root causes of health disparities, reinforcing a longstanding tradition of meaningful community engagement.