, an associate professor in the��, and an associate professor at the , has worked decades to help individuals and families impacted by cancer.��

Schapmire was recently awarded a five-year, $1.6 million grant from NCI to lead a national training initiative aimed at transforming psychosocial and palliative care in oncology. The grant will support an intensive training and mentorship program, and 50 social workers from across the U.S. will be competitively selected each year to receive fully funded palliative oncology training and structured mentorship.

UofL News connected with Schapmire to learn more about this new innovative initiative.

UofL News: What piqued your interest in oncology social work?

Schapmire: Fresh out of my Masters of Social Work (MSSW) program at UofL in 1996, I discovered my professional calling. Working with individuals and families facing cancer opened my eyes to the profound impact that compassionate, skilled psychosocial support can have. I became deeply committed to improving the quality of life for all those affected by cancer—patients, families and care teams alike—and that sense of purpose has guided my work ever since.

UofL News: What was your response to receiving this grant?

Schapmire: I was absolutely thrilled—both personally and professionally. I felt deeply validated that the National Cancer Institute recognized oncology social workers as essential to high-quality cancer and palliative care yet often lack access to quality training opportunities compared to other disciplines. This award provides the opportunity to elevate our field’s role in transforming cancer care nationwide.

Educating Social Workers in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (ESPEC) Oncology builds on two prior NCI-funded programs at the UofL School of Medicine that advanced interprofessional palliative care education. Training 250 oncology social workers over the next five years will have a transformative impact on the quality and compassion of cancer care nationwide.

UofL News: What does this mean for patients with cancer? How can it help them and their families cope with the life transitions their diagnosis can bring?

Schapmire: This grant strengthens the ability of oncology social workers to support patients and families through every phase of the cancer journey—helping them manage distress, navigate complex decisions, and sustain quality of life even in the face of serious illness. ESPEC Oncology expands nationally what the Kent School of Social Work and Family Science at UofL has long done through its oncology social work specialization—preparing clinicians to address the full biopsychosocial, spiritual and cultural dimensions of cancer care. Together, they advance a model of compassionate, whole-person care that helps patients and families find meaning and maintain dignity throughout serious illness.

UofL News: What has been the most gratifying aspect of this project?

Schapmire: What I find most meaningful about this project is its potential for lasting, system-level impact. It isn’t just about training 250 oncology social workers—it’s about creating a national community of leaders who will return to their institutions equipped to strengthen teams, improve communication, and integrate psychosocial and palliative care principles into everyday oncology practice.

This initiative also represents the culmination of years of collaborative work with an incredible team of national experts and partner organizations, started by Dr. Myra Glajchen at MJHS Institute for Innovation in Palliative Care in New York,��who share a vision for transforming the way cancer care is delivered.��

By investing in the people who provide the psychosocial and emotional backbone of cancer care, we’re not only improving patient and family experiences but also supporting the well-being and professional growth of the workforce that serves them.

ESPEC Oncology: Transforming Psychosocial and Palliative Cancer Care is��accepting training program applications. For more information, email ESPECO@louisville.edu

Two UofL College of Arts & Sciences winter graduates are looking to their hometowns for guidance in their professions and hope to serve the people who shaped them. Chloe Hale and Emmy Walters, studying anthropology and biology respectively, plan to continue their education in graduate school with the goal of utilizing their advanced degrees to support communities like those in which they grew up.

Documenting home

Moving to a city from a rural county can be a culture shock. Coming from Martin County, Hale quickly realized she had a different experience growing up in Kentucky than many of her classmates. Hale’s quiet anxiety around drinking tap water is something few could understand.

“It makes me sad to see on the internet when a place in my home county doesn’t have water and it’s not gonna be back on for two weeks or something like that,” Hale said. “Just the fact that I can drink the water here in Louisville from the tap makes me feel guilty, in a way, because my family members are there, and they can’t drink the water.”

Hale grew up in an Appalachian community where clean drinking water was not a guarantee or to be taken for granted. Martin County lost its regular access to safe water due to infrastructure, resource access, mining contamination and environmental destruction.

“I think when you can’t drink the water there’s this little piece of trauma in the back of your mind every time you drink from the tap,” Hale said. “It’s like, ‘Is it clean? Can I? Is this drinkable?’”

For an independent study, Hale chose to document how hairstylists back home struggled to work without guaranteed access to clean water. She asked her sister and fellow hairstylists to take pictures throughout their workday anytime they encountered the need to use water.

“I decided that it would be a good idea to examine water access through a group of women that rely on water for an income,” Hale explained. “Hairstylists need water for absolutely everything: to clean, to wash hair, to rinse hair, to make different cleaning solutions.”

The project used these pictures as a “photo voice” to document and display the obstacles the Martin County hairstylists encounter every day due to the lack of access to consistently safe tap water.

While returning home is a complicated option with the ongoing water crisis, Hale hopes to continue her education in Appalachian studies at UofL with her sights set on a future PhD to continue to document and uplift her hometown and other communities.

“I definitely love my hometown, but think I’ve been able to curate what it means to be Appalachian a little bit more just because it is its own culture and it is an identity I’m proud of,” Hale said.

A better vision for Kentucky’s future

Emmy Walters’ first connection to optometry was through her love of reading and an early vision assessment at school. She was one of the only members in her family to need glasses and this sparked a curiosity about the relationship between her vision and the biological mechanisms that supported her eyesight and her favorite hobby. As she aged, her curiosity for vision only grew as she understood the obstacles to both eye assessments and literacy in her community.

“Growing up, our access to eye care was sufficient, but then you get in surrounding counties where there won’t be an optometrist for 45 minutes,” Walters said.

Walters early childhood love for reading was protected by her access to an optometrist, and an early assessment allowed her natural curiosity toward books to go uninterrupted. Walters still reads regularly and will attend optometry school next year. After shadowing an optometrist in Campbellsville Kentucky, her hometown, she hopes to practice in a similar rural area.

“I felt like I was home, like I was talking to my own family members; the way that they approached me and talked about things is something I’m used to, and it was comforting,” Walters said.

While shadowing in the practice, Walters began to see the personal impact she could have as an optometrist practicing outside of a major city.

“At least a third of the people that came in had never been to an eye doctor or hadn’t been in a very long time, and most of the time those were people from surrounding areas,” Walters said.

Walters hopes to one day combine her interest in optometry with her love for reading by supporting literacy through eye exams and philanthropy.

Interested in pursuing a degree or certificate program with UofL? Check out the�� to find a program.

The program is a nine-month training course where students gain hands-on experience creating and testing their ideas in the real world. The curriculum includes opportunities to prototype new designs while participating in workshops and lectures led by faculty at the UofL School of Medicine, College of Business and J.B. Speed School of Engineering.��

“This is about training the next generation of innovators in health care and medicine,” said In Kim, a professor of pediatric medicine and program lead. “With Bluegrass Biodesign, we hope to equip UofL students with the tools they need to launch technologies that can save lives.”��

Students complete the program in multidisciplinary teams, each blending undergraduate and graduate students in medicine and engineering. The idea is that they each bring insights from their own area of expertise that could help them solve problems and innovate.

“What we find is that innovation is a team sport,” said Beth Spurlin, an associate professor and co-director of the program. “The best solutions come from different people with different perspectives working together. With Bluegrass Biodesign, we give students the opportunity to experience that before they even leave campus.”

Eight teams — a total of 58 students —participated in the 2024-2025 cohort.��Logan Davis, an M.D./MBA student, said the experience taught him just how much work goes into developing the innovations his patients will one day rely on. His team worked on a device to help patients who struggle with both urinary control and motor tremor and/or dexterity. The solution for the former is to self-catheterize, which can be difficult without full control of your hands or arms.��

“We wanted to target this set of problems to give back some comfort and autonomy to these patients,” said Davis, who also was co-president for the 2023-2024 cohort. “This is a process I am so thankful to have been a part of, and I plan on using the biodesign process Bluegrass BioDesign is based on for the rest of my career to design/improve care for all of my patients.”

The student teams also complete business training via , the office’s accelerated entrepreneurial bootcamp that is part of UofL’s National Science Foundation program, housed in the . In the 2024 cycle, all eight teams received $3,000 in funding, along with mentorship and training, via the I-Corps program.

“We are thrilled to formalize the collaboration between Bluegrass Biodesign and UofL’s I-Corps program,” said Jessica Sharon, senior director of innovation programs and new ventures, who leads I-Corps and LaunchIt. “We are proud of these students’ hard work in the program to identify and validate market needs they are working to solve!”

Applications for the next cycle of Bluegrass Biodesign will be open for submission at the beginning of the spring 2025 semester. Learn more and apply .

UofL News talked with fourth-year UofL medical student Sierra Shockley about her commitment to addressing health disparities as a Health and Social Justice Scholar (HSJS). Recently selected by the American Lung Association to represent the organization at Respiratory Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C., Shockley met with legislators to address disparities in lung health. Her ongoing advocacy work as a HSJS gave her the chance to not only represent the American Lung Association, but also the University of Louisville.

UofL News: Tell us about your involvement with the Health and Social Justice Scholar (HSJS) program.

Shockley: The mission of this program focuses on addressing health care disparities and promoting equity within underserved populations, which aligns perfectly with my deep-rooted commitment to give back to every community I have the privilege of serving.

What truly excites me about this program is its emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, fostering partnerships between students from various professional and doctoral programs, all working together to tackle the most pressing health inequities. Participating in this program has also challenged me to reflect on my role as a future physician, not just in treating patients but in advocating for systemic change.

UofL News: Why is it so important to address health disparities?

Shockley: ��Health disparities are not just medical problems—they are societal and reflect deep-rooted inequalities that need to be confronted if we are to create a more just and equitable health care system. It’s about making sure that healthcare is fair and accessible to all, no matter where people live or who they are.

It’s a stark reality that something as simple as a zip code can determine a person’s health outcomes, with life expectancy sometimes varying by more than ten years within just a 20-30-mile locational difference. This geographic inequality is just one example of how pervasive and alarming health disparities are. For instance, people of certain racial or ethnic backgrounds are more likely to face higher rates of morbidity and mortality for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma, simply because of the systemic barriers that exist in their communities.

UofL Health: How can health equity be advanced through community participatory research?

Shockley: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) involves engaging the communities affected by health disparities in every step of the process, from identifying the problems to developing solutions. CBPR allows for a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to tackling disparities, creating interventions that are both culturally relevant and practically applicable. This approach also helps ensure that the research is actionable, impactful, and sustainable while fostering a sense of trust and ownership within the community as they see that their voices and lived experiences are being valued in the research process.

UofL News: Tell me about your experience in Washington D.C. What was your biggest takeaway?

Shockley: My experience standing for the University of Louisville in Washington D.C. was both inspiring and transformative. The biggest takeaway was the profound impact that storytelling and personal narratives can have when advocating for change. While data and research are crucial, it’s often the emotional and human aspects of a story that resonate most with lawmakers.

This experience also highlighted the power of collaboration—whether it’s with fellow advocates, policymakers, or health care professionals. By working together, we were able to amplify our voices and drive home the importance of lung health on a broader scale.

UofL News: How do you plan to use your research/knowledge about health disparities in your medical career/practice?

Shockley: I am fortunate to be working with Dr. Scott Bickel and Dr. Rose Hawkins on a project analyzing the impact of urban greening on asthma exacerbations and related health outcomes. By studying how urban green spaces can mitigate asthma symptoms and improve respiratory health, I am gaining valuable insight into how environmental justice is tied to health equity, and this knowledge will undoubtedly influence how I approach patient care.

As a future surgeon, knowing many underserved communities face significant barriers to accessing surgical care, I hope to focus part of my career on bridging that gap. Whether through global health initiatives, public health programs, or working with underserved populations locally, I aim to be an advocate for systemic change, ensuring that the communities I serve have access to the resources and infrastructure necessary to lead healthier lives.

The launched the first-of-its-kind project in 2018 in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, Washington University in St. Louis, Hyphae Design Laboratory and others to study whether and how living among more densely greened surroundings contributes to better heart health. The design of the study closely mirrors clinical trials which test whether medical treatments are effective. The team applied the treatment – the addition of large trees and shrubs – to some participants’ neighborhoods but not to others. They then compared residents’ health data to see how the addition of the trees affected their health.

“The Green Heart Louisville Project is an excellent example of how our university’s innovative and collaborative researchers are working to improve lives in our community and far beyond,” UofL President Kim Schatzel said. “Trees are beautiful, but these results show that the trees around us are also beneficial to individual and community health. Through this and many other projects, the Envirome Institute is improving health at the community level, not just for individuals, but for everyone living in a neighborhood.”

To understand the state of community’s health at the start of the study, researchers took blood, urine, hair and nail samples and documented health data from 745 people living in a four-square-mile area of south Louisville. The researchers also took detailed measurements of tree coverage and levels of air pollution in the area.

Following this baseline data collection, the Envirome Institute worked with The Nature Conservancy and a host of local partners and contractors to plant more than 8,000 large trees and shrubs in designated neighborhoods within the project area. Those living in the greened area were considered the treated population and the results obtained from this population were compared with residents of adjacent neighborhoods, where the project team did not plant any trees.

After the plantings, the research team reassessed residents’ health. They found that those living in the greened area had 13-20% lower levels of a biomarker of general inflammation, a measure called high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) than those living in the areas that did not receive any new trees or shrubs. Higher levels of hsCRP are strongly associated with a risk of cardiovascular disease and are an even stronger indicator of heart attack than cholesterol levels. Higher CRP levels also indicate a higher risk of diabetes and certain cancers.

A reduction of hsCRP by this percentage corresponds to nearly 10-15% reduction in the risk of heart attacks, cancer or dying from any disease.

“These results from the Green Heart Louisville Project indicate that trees contribute more to our lives than beauty and shade. They can improve the health of the people living around them,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, director of the Envirome Institute and UofL professor of medicine. “Although several previous studies have found an association between living in areas of high surrounding greenness and health, this is the first study to show that a deliberate increase in greenness in the neighborhood can improve health. With these results and additional studies that we hope to report soon, we are closer to understanding the impact of local tree cover on residents’ health. This finding will bolster the push to increase urban greenspaces.”

As more is known about the health impacts of increased tree cover, increased greening in cities may emerge as a key method to improve public health.

“Most of us��intuitively understand that nature is good for our health. But scientific research testing, verifying and��evaluating this connection is rare,” said Katharine��Hayhoe, chief scientist of The Nature Conservancy.��“These recent findings from the Green Heart Project build the scientific case for��the powerful connections between the health of our planet and the health of all of us.”

Earlier in August, the Green Heart Louisville Project was awarded an additional $4.6 million in funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to support continued research over the next five years.

These findings were presented by Daniel Riggs, UofL assistant professor of environmental medicine, at the in Santiago, Chile on Aug. 26.

STUDY DETAILS

This study is part of the Green Heart Louisville Project, ongoing research to discover how trees and shrubs affect people’s health.

The neighborhood

The project involved a four-square-mile area of South Louisville straddling the Watterson Expressway, including the Taylor-Berry, Jacobs, Hazelwood, Oakdale, Wilder Park and Beechmont neighborhoods. The project team planted trees and shrubs in a central portion of the project area that included Wyandotte Park, which served as the treated area. They planted no trees in the outer areas of the project area. [SEE MAP]

The people

Researchers enlisted 745 people living in the project area to participate in the project’s ongoing health study. At enrollment, participants were between 25 and 75 years old, 60% female, 77% white and 50% had household income below $50,000 per year. They live in the planted intervention area as well as outside it.

Researchers collected participants’ blood, urine, nail and hair samples and health information before and after planting the trees and shrubs in the “treatment” area.

The trees

Between 2019 and 2022, the Green Heart Project planted 8,425 evergreen trees and shrubs of 42 different species from five different families and 630 deciduous trees. Evergreens were pine, cypress, yew, holly and magnolia. Deciduous trees were mainly dogwood, oak and serviceberry.

Project team members and BrightView Landscape maintain the trees to promote their survival, growth and sustained impact.

The data

High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) is a blood test that measures general inflammation in the body. After the planting, people living in the areas where trees and shrubs were added had 13-20% lower hsCRP levels compared with those living in the areas that did not receive greening from the project.

Inflammation as measured by hsCRP , including stroke, heart attack and coronary artery disease. Previous studies have shown that hsCRP increases with age. The change in hsCRP seen in individuals living in the planted areas was similar to the difference between typical levels in a 42-year-old compared with a 33-year-old.

This difference also is similar to the difference between people who exercise regularly and those who do not. Finally, the decrease in hsCRP levels with planting corresponds to a nearly 10-15% reduction in the risk of heart attacks, cancer or dying from any disease.

Funding

A $3 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences supported the health evaluation of community participants and an additional $4.6 million was recently awarded for continuing this research. These grants bring the total investment by the institute to more than $8 million. The Nature Conservancy provided over $8.7 million in funding to support tree planting and maintenance, project management and other key project needs. The project has had an additional $3 million in support from local donors. Recently, $4.6 million in funding was awarded from the NIEHS for continued research over the next five years.

Collaborators and community partners

Collaborators for this project include the University of Louisville, Washington University in St. Louis, , , the United States Forest Service, and other partners.

Community organizations and resident involvement are vital to the success of this ongoing work to learn the health effects of urban greening. The team is grateful to the residents participating in the health study and those who have allowed tree planting on their property.

Watch a video about the research:

More:

View pictures from the Aug. 27 research results announcement on .

Watch the full Aug. 27 research results announcement on .

Funded by the NSF, a nearly is helping UofL cultivate environmentally conscious educators to equip students with knowledge of Louisville’s environmental issues and promote a more just and sustainable city.

Eight JCPS teachers participated in a six-week summer program where they partnered with UofL faculty in their urban-based ecological research. Mackenzie Kuhns, a Waggener High School chemistry teacher, collaborated with UofL Biology professor Mikus Abolins-Abols to study how Louisville’s urban heat island effects its robins.

“I didn’t like biology very much before I started this,” said Kuhns, who has previously participated in RET programs at UofL. “I have an appreciation now when learning about field work and different career opportunities for my students. When doing these programs, I always have something fun to bring back to them.”

For some teachers, it was their first lab or research project. Justin McFadden, an associate professor in the and one of the principal investigators of the grant, said this experience with UofL researchers strengthens their teaching.

“Learning what research is and what can happen during research helps our teachers think about what their students are capable of in classrooms,” McFadden said. “That’s one of the hidden things that come to life when you’ve been working in a lab for six weeks.”

The second part of the institute was to create curriculum support pieces that the teachers can weave into the established JCPS science curriculum.

Erin Brock, a biology teacher at Seneca High School, said the program opened her eyes to all kinds of environmental issues she was unaware of previously and by bringing in local examples, her students will be more engaged throughout the year.

“We learned that Louisville is the fifth most air polluted city in the nation. And I was like, ‘What the heck?’,” said Brock, a first-year participant in a RET program at UofL. “Our cohort has talked about how we don’t want to be all doom and gloom. We want to show students the activists working to address these issues. Some of these neighborhoods that are more affected by environmental issues are not able to have a voice for various reasons and we want our students to know that and to speak up.”

Teachers seeing themselves as agents of changes is one of the primary goals of the program, according to Linda Fuselier, chair of the and one of the principal investigators of the grant.

“Learning about pollution, in and of itself, can just be depressing and boring,” Fuselier said. “But when you put it into the context of here are some activists right down the road from you who are working to interpret the science so that communities understand what is going on with these big industries and regulating authorities, it can make the content hit home.”

During the school year, teachers will receive ongoing support through professional development sessions and a collaborative network designed to foster curriculum sharing, continued research and teacher leadership.

The NSF grant will fund the program for an additional two years to train a total of 24 teachers. Applications for the summer 2025 cohort will open in the spring.

“This is absolutely the best training I’ve ever had as a teacher, to make me a better teacher. I feel like I have so much to bring to the classroom this year that I want to get the kids kind of hyped up about. I’m very thankful for UofL for offering this program,” said Brock.

Within the University of Louisville’s (LEARN, strategy 2, action 1) the was established to provide a resource for all undergraduate students to participate in at least one external learning experience by graduation. The center’s new specifically considers unpaid opportunities within 501(c)(3) nonprofits or government organizations, and provides an avenue for students to apply for funding in the form of a stipend received via their financial aid. This means experiential learning need not be limited to paid positions, and that students can more likely have their practical needs met while working and learning in their preferred environment.

“Research shows that students who participate in engaged learning have a better understanding of the classroom material, gaining real-world applications of what they’re learning,” said Gail DePuy, senior vice provost who oversees the program. “Research also shows these students often have higher GPAs and higher likelihoods of graduating. Not only is WINGS beneficial to the student, but also to the community, as our talented and energetic students have a lot they can now give to these non-profit organizations.”

Erica Gabbard, director of experiential learning, noted that many nonprofits might not advertise for an internship if they do not have the funds. However, if a student is able to approach them with interest and having the option to apply for financial support from WINGS, more possibilities could become available. The experience also does not need to be directly related to the student’s major; they can apply for support to investigate other areas of interests beyond their particular school.

“We will continue to develop additional programs in the future, all in line with the mission to incentivize and support students toward engaged learning,” said Gabbard. “We want to create a culture in which students are choosing to attend UofL because of the abundance of these opportunities.”

For questions, details and to apply to the WINGS program see the or��email the Center for Engaged Learning.

Their award-winning , named Paper of the Year by the American Journal of Physiology, sheds light on the heightened risk of kidney complications in cancer patients undergoing treatment. The study revealed that cancer itself may harm the kidneys, but that damage and scarring is intensified when patients take cisplatin, a commonly used chemotherapy drug.��

“Everything in your body is connected, from your internal systems to the medications we take,” said Andrew Orwick, lead author and recent doctoral graduate in pharmacology and toxicology.

Orwick’s doctoral research in the laboratory of researchers Leah Siskind and in collaboration with Levi Beverly, both from the and , examined the interplay of cisplatin and lung cancer, which is highly prevalent in Kentucky.

“By better understanding what those interactions are and how they happen,” he said, “we can take them into consideration and improve outcomes for the patient.”

Ultimately, that could lead to new diagnostics, more effective drugs and treatment plans that better consider the patient’s overall health and avoid or limit kidney damage.

Chronic damage to the kidneys can nausea, vomiting, fatigue, high blood pressure and even death, without transplant or dialysis. Because symptoms progress slowly, patients may not notice the condition until its advanced stages. Even so, current testing methods are difficult and invasive.

The UofL researchers think their work could help clinicians better predict not only which patients will react negatively to cisplatin and other chemotherapy drugs, but also identify potential kidney problems early. The goal is to better understand the underlying mechanisms and biomarkers, so clinicians can make more informed decisions.

“Obviously, addressing the cancer is first and foremost, but if we can do that while also preserving the patient’s overall health and feeling of health, that’s optimal,” said Siskind, a professor and senior author on the study. “The great news is that the fact that we’re even having this conversation means we’re making progress in solving cancer — we’re considering not only life, but the quality of that life.”

Siskind said the paper represents a paradigm shift in how researchers think about and treat both cancer and kidney disease. As it stands, no treatment for this form of kidney disease has made it past a phase 2 clinical trial or been approved for use in patients. This research could also help inform better drugs and experiments to fill that need.��

That innovative thinking and broad impact is likely part of why this work was selected as Paper of the Year, said Jon Klein, interim executive vice president for .

“Being selected for this honor is a massive accomplishment and underpins the immense value of the research being done by this team and across UofL,” Klein said. “This is work that truly can save and improve lives.”��

The board also decided to reopen a . The program, formerly known as the graduate certificate in logistics and distribution, was an 18-credit hour program housed in the J.B. School of Engineering. The program closed in 2016 due to low enrollment. Since then, the Department of Industrial Engineering faculty revised the curriculum to be a nine-credit hour program and relaunched it for the spring 2024 semester. The revised program is available online and addresses the pressing needs for talent in logistics planning and analytics in the current marketplace.

As of 2016, 70% of the line-of-duty deaths for career firefighters were caused by��UofL News caught up with Cripps to learn more about the classes he is teaching throughout Kentucky.��

UofL News: What made you want to raise awareness of occupational cancer?

James Cripps: When I was working as a career firefighter, another firefighter that came in as a high school student had gotten hired and been with our fire department for many years. After turning about 35, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and then died pretty quickly thereafter. The prevalence of cancer in firefighters is higher than your general population, but this is one of the first ones that really personally touched me and the department that I was working with at the time.

I talked to the chief at the time —��his name is Dave Goldsmith. He spurred me along to get this started because he thought my combination of being a firefighter and knowledge of cancer biology and how cancer works in the body would provide a good resource for firefighters.

UofL News: ��What should the general public know about occupational cancer?

Cripps: There are lots of different occupations that have higher risks of cancer than the general population, but I solely focus on firefighters. It is something that’s only recently been focused on in the past 10-plus years. Really, it comes about because of our increased use of petroleum-based materials — things that are derived from oil-based products of plastics and synthetics. Some of those are what they call “forever chemicals,” which are types of chemicals that get in your body and they’re there forever. These are the types of chemicals that penetrate the gear that firefighters wear, get inside their bodies, and really cause a lot of this havoc. It’s where we’re seeing increased rates of cancer, and firefighters dying earlier from very uncommon cancers.

UofL News: ��What topics do you cover in your trainings to firefighters?

Cripps: First of all, I explain to them what causes cancer, so they understand how these toxins cause cancer, and then we have mitigation strategies. So, we talk about different things, pretty much everything from what you would consider a decontamination procedure, which is something normally done when you’re exposed to hazardous materials. We also talk about limiting exposures by use of different types of new products or new types of gear that helps prevent a lot of these particles and toxins from getting to the firefighters themselves, and just some alterations of standard things that have always been done in the fire service.

Fire services is a lot like many professions, where we tend to do the same thing over and over, because that’s the way it’s always been done. Now, a lot of firefighters are seeing, a lot of younger firefighters are seeing that people are changing the way they’re doing things. Much of it is just changing behaviors.

UofL News:��What are some of the best ways to prevent occupational cancer?

Cripps: Awareness in general is probably the number one thing that helps. Being aware reinforces that they do the necessary mitigation strategies like decontamination after the fire where they try to remove as much contaminants from their skin as possible and wear the proper protective gear during the fire.

We also talk about making sure you’re having regular checkups with your doctor. I often suggest firefighters get a physical every six months. That way, if there’s any changes in bloodwork, it increases the chance of catching any type of potential issues that might be arising.

UofL News:��What does it mean to you to receive the Outstanding Community Engagement award?

Cripps: It’s a huge honor. The thing that really pushes me even more is that it gives me another opportunity to let people know of this problem because it’s not a widely known issue in the firefighter space, in general.

UofL student Nkechinyere Okorie, UofL Associate Professor of Social Work Jennifer Middleton and community engagement partner Redeemer Lutheran Church also received for their work throughout Louisville.

Any fire departments who are interested in a prevention training, can contact Cripps at james.cripps@louisville.edu or through the Colon Cancer Prevention Project