About the War on Melanoma
The War on Melanoma™ is an all-fronts effort to eliminate melanoma as a cause of death, primarily focusing on the link between early detection of melanoma leading to improved survivorship. This effort is led by principal investigator Sancy Leachman, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Dermatology at OHSU and the Melanoma Program Director of Knight Cancer Institute.
The War on Melanoma™ brings science, technology, and public health outreach together with the general public, patients, families and healthcare providers with the goal of ending deaths from this form of cancer.
Past and current efforts include:
- Start Seeing Melanoma™ A large-scale media campaign, focusing on the early detection of melanoma.
- A melanoma early detection educational curriculum, designed to inform the general population of melanoma risk, the importance of self screening, what to look for, and what to do if they find something concerning.
- A primary care/medical professional early detection curriculum, designed to train and/or review skin lesions and skin cancer screening guidelines.
- Recruitment to an IRB-approved melanoma research cohort — the Melanoma Community Registry —that is nearing 8,000 members.
- Creation of MoleMapper™ iPhone Mole Tracking App. App allows users to track moles from a smartphone and analyze them over time to detect potentially harmful changes in their skin. Users can store photos to share with their provider, and opt in to participate in research to create artificial intelligence method to detect melanoma early.
- Medical community education and outreach efforts, including creation of virtual platforms to connect community and rural providers to melanoma tumor board and melanoma education updates CME opportunities.
- Community education and outreach efforts, including patient symposiums and community events resulting in thousands of physical attendees and 100,000+ social media reach. Partnership formed with Oregon Health Authority (OHA) state-licensed skincare professionals (massage therapy, cosmetology, etc...) to reach high-impact audience who sees skin at magnitude.
Read: Can a Broad Early Detection Experiment Succeed in Improving Melanoma Outcomes? (Medpagetoday; ASCO)