July 1, 2008

SIU Med School Receives Grant to Study Exercise and Breast
Cancer

A physician at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield has been awarded a two-year grant from the SimmonsCooper Cancer Institute (SCCI) at SIU to study how exercise effects breast cancer patients.  Total budget for the grant is $50,000.

The study is supporting on-going research on how exercise changes the markers of inflammation, the level of fatigue and sleep patterns in breast cancer patients.  Results of the study will be used to design and test programs to increase exercise participation in cancer survivors.  SCCI start-up grants are awarded to support promising projects from SIU faculty working toward national funding.

Dr. Laura Q. Rogers, associate professor of internal medicine, is the principal investigator for the project.  A researcher since 1989, Rogers’ previous research has also focused on healthy lifestyles related to high cholesterol management, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.

Other SIU faculty involved with the project are Patricia Hopkins-Price, Ph.D., assistant professor of pulmonary medicine; Dr. Krishna Rao, Ph.D., assistant professor of hematology and oncology; Rita Trammel, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology; Steve Verhulst, Ph.D., professor of medical education; and Sandra Vicari, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry.  Kerry Courneya, Ph.D., professor and cancer research chair in physical activity and cancer at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and Dr. Karen Hoelzer, Springfield Clinic, are involved in the project as consultants.

Rogers joined the SIU faculty in 2000.  She completed a two-year fellowship in faculty development in general internal medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1990) and her internal medicine residency at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta (1985-87).  She earned her medical degree at the University of South Florida School of Medicine in Tampa (1984), masters in public health at the University of South Carolina in Columbia (2000), and her bachelor’s at Erskine College in Due West, S.C. (1980).

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