New course on cancer to be offered
By Julie Rausch
The College of Health Professions will offer this fall a new general education course, "Cancer Perspectives and Controversies." It will be taught by John Carter, associate professor, public health sciences.
The course will address such areas as the history of cancer, what cancer is, prevention strategies, fitness, dietary, genetic and environmental factors, as well as financial, societal and political concerns. Several guest speakers will provide various opinions, statistics and information about different facets of the disease.
Carter says it's difficult to find someone who has not been affected by cancer in some way.
"It's the second-largest killer in the United States after cardiovascular disease," Carter says.
Carter, who's won two student-nominated teaching awards in the past, has conducted cancer research for several years.
His studies include the effects of nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs on reducing the rate of colon cancer and dietary zinc deprivation on colon tumors. Most recently, he's started studying the ability of certain strains of wheat to help prevent intestinal cancer.
