Published by Communications and Public Affairs (519) 824-4120, Ext. 56982 or 53338
News Release
January 22, 2004
Symposium to Examine Cancer, Nutrition, Exercise
A University of Guelph graduate will discuss her "survivor's guide" to breast cancer diagnosis and treatment as the keynote speaker at the "Lifestyle and Cancer: A Symposium on Risk, Treatment and Management" being held on campus Jan. 31.
Connie Jasinskas will talk about how maintaining a sense of humour along with physical activity helped her endure surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. The symposium will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Ontario Veterinary College's Lifetime Learning Centre.
"Almost everybody, by their 20s, knows someone who is one or two steps removed from someone who experiences cancer," said Francisco Garcia, a fourth-year human kinetics student and this year's symposium director. Now in its 34th year, the undergraduate symposium is run by the Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences, the human kinetics and nutrition programs, and the Department of Biomedical Sciences. This year's faculty adviser is Professor Lorraine Jadeski
The event will also include presentations by professors Kelly Meckling on the role of dietary fats and exercise in reducing the risk of breast cancer; and Lindsay Robinson, on obesity as a risk factor for cancer and the role of exercise in preventing cancer.
Other seminar speakers include University of Western Ontario pathologist Subrata Chakrabarti, who will offer an overview of cancer tumours; Caryl Russel of the University of Waterloo Well-Fit program, who will discuss exercise for cancer patients; Ranjana Bird of the University of Waterloo, who will focus on food and nutrition as growth regulators of precancerous lesions; and U of G master's graduate Anne-Pascale Bartleman, who will explain niacin and cancer development. Other speakers are Valerie Brouwers of the Eramosa physiotherapy post-mastectomy/ lumpectomy program and Sharlene Friedman, a specialist in Jin Shin Jyutsu physio-philosophy.
Tickets for the symposium are $25 general and $20 for students ($15 and $10 without lunch). A portion of the proceeds will go to the Canadian Cancer Society. For more information, send e-mail to fgarcia@uoguelph.ca or call 829-1753.
For media questions, contact Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona Hunt, (519) 824-4120, Ext. 53338, or Rachelle Cooper, (519) 824-4120, Ext. 56982.
