The cancer center returned to the Indiana State Fair for the second consecutive summer, interacting with 1,800 people.
More than 60 volunteers greeted fairgoers at the cancer center’s booth/tent, located under the grandstands, from Aug. 6 to Aug. 10.
The volunteers helped raise awareness of the center’s In the Race to Beat Cancer, Early Detection and Prevention Win education campaign, the Simon Says Expert Series, clinical trials, and the 2026 summer programs during five days at the fair.
New this year were two interactive activities: Fairgoers created messages and drawings on square cloth patches in a variety of colors that represented different cancer types. More than 100 patches were designed at the fair and will be sewn together into one inspirational quilt by women at the Indiana Women’s Prison.
Also, hundreds of fairgoers placed colored push pins that represented the cancer type that either personally impacts them or a loved one on an oversized map of Indiana.
The volunteers also distributed swag, which included race car stress balls and black and white sunglasses tied to the Race to Beat Cancer campaign.
Volunteers representing End Lung Cancer Now, an initiative of the cancer center, and the Komen Tissue Bank were on hand on two separate days to highlight their respective efforts to fairgoers.
Many fairgoers expressed their appreciation of the cancer center’s presence at the fair, while others openly shared personal stories of how the center’s healthcare providers either made a difference in their lives or the life of a loved one.
The Strategy and Management Succession Program (SAM@Simon) is seeking applications for its 2025 cohort. SAM@Simon seeks to provide clinical or research faculty, staff and trainees a safe space to enhance leadership and development skills and to accelerate participants’ careers with an in-depth understanding of the core concepts that drive academic cancer centers.
The program includes a retreat on Oct. 21 at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum. An asynchronous course will run from October through December 2025. The application deadline has been extended to Oct. 3.
Members of the cancer center’s first Leadership Academy gathered at the Peace Learning Center at Eagle Creek Park this summer during a retreat. The academy seeks to identify, select, and train center members to become future leaders in oncology; to provide leadership skills, training, and orientation to the structures and programs of the center; and to develop skills and experiences in strategic planning and problem solving centered on key issues. The program’s duration is one year. Information about the next cohort will be available in early 2026.
In partnership with Healthy IU, End Lung Cancer Now — an initiative of the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center — is bringing lung screenings and education directly to IU employees and community members across the state. The mobile lung screening unit visited the IU Indianapolis campus on Aug. 26 and IU Bloomington on Sept. 9. Learn more and see the schedule for upcoming campus stops.
Reuben Kapur, PhD (TMM), and Reza Shahbazi, PhD (TMM), have identified an unforeseen way lung cells can help keep blood stem cells healthy. Read more about the discovery.
Bryan Schneider, MD (CPC), has been named the associate dean for clinical trials for the IU School of Medicine. Read the announcement.
Rita Assi, MD (EDT), has been named the medical director for the inpatient hematology service line.
Nasser Hanna, MD (EDT), wrote a book titled “My Patch: A Memoir,” which is available on Amazon. The book touches on impactful events in his life—including his work at the cancer center—and culminates in his advocacy work.
Mark Kelley, PhD (EDT), Melissa Fishel, PhD (TMM), Elizabeth Sierra Potchanant, PhD (TMM), Jonah Vilseck, PhD (EDT), and colleagues are authors of “The absence of Peroxiredoxin-1 in human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) markedly reduces cell survival and tumor growth when coupled with the inhibition of Ref-1 redox signaling,” published in Redox Biology.
