Dear Friends and Colleagues:

I am writing today regarding some important milestones being made by a life-saving program at the University of Kentucky. By the end of this year, the UK Ovarian Cancer Screening Program will have provided 200,000 free cancer screens to more than 36,000 Kentucky women since its inception in 1988. The program, which offers free ultrasound screening in Lexington, Prestonsburg, Elizabethtown, Maysville, Somerset and Paducah, remains the largest ovarian cancer screening initiative of its kind.

The program has amply demonstrated the importance of early detection: In its earliest stages, ovarian cancer is highly treatable and rarely fatal. It is all the more tragic, then, that ovarian cancer still claims the lives of more women than all other gynecologic cancers combined. It is my hope our staff and faculty can help change this stubborn fact. By participating directly in the program or by encouraging family or friends to undergo screening, you can make a difference in the lives of Kentucky women and their families.

Convenient screening locations and free parking are available at the screening program’s Markey Cancer Center site. Because ovarian cancer most commonly affects women age 50 and older, the screening program’s guidelines relate to both age and heredity:

• All women over the age of 50 (including those who have no symptoms and no personal history of ovarian cancer) are eligible for a free ovarian cancer screening.
• Women over the age of 25 who have a family history of ovarian cancer are also eligible for a free screening.

To schedule a screening, call locally (859) 323-4687 or toll-free 1-800-76-OVARY (1-800-766- 8279) from anywhere else in the Commonwealth. You may also learn more about the UK Ovarian Cancer Screening Program online at http://ovarianscreening.info/.

Sincerely,
Lee T. Todd, Jr.
President
University of Kentucky