Indiana State Fair

Cancer center to offer resources, screening info at 2024 Indiana State Fair

Originally published July 11, 2024 

Corn on the cob. Lemon shake-ups. Corn dogs. Milkshakes. Prized animals. Summer traditions.

The IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and our Office of Community Outreach and Engagement will be amid the “15 Greatest Days of Summer,” food, fun, and more at the Great Indiana State Fair this summer.

The booth will be located under the grandstands for five days to raise awareness of our In the Race to Beat Cancer, Early Detection and Prevention Win education campaign, clinical trials, and educational offerings as well as provide fairgoers with the chance to take interactive risk assessments.

The Race to Beat Cancer campaign is a nod to Indiana’s storied racing history and focuses on breast, colon, lung, skin, prostate, and testicular cancers, as well as head and neck cancer and cervical cancer, the two most common types of HPV-related cancers. Our experts provide easy-to-understand tips about prevention and early detection, signs and symptoms, screening guidelines, the latest research, and more. Be sure to pick up a flyer at our booth.

Fairgoers will also have the chance to learn more about clinical trials, which are research studies for people with either a high risk for cancer or diagnosis of the disease that help physicians and scientists find ways to improve health and cancer care. As Indiana’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, we provide hundreds of clinical studies that test the most promising new approaches to preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer.

Fairgoers can also pick up information about our summer educational offerings for 2025 and our unique PhD program.

The summer programs pair students with a mentor physician or researcher, with many of them providing a stipend (payment) to the students selected to participate. Get a jumpstart on learning about these programs before the applications open later this year.

Reducing the burden of cancer requires rapid translation of research breakthroughs into clinical therapies—and that requires specifically trained cancer scientists. The doctoral program in translational cancer biology, which enrolled its first students in fall 2023, trains investigators not only in fundamental research, but also innovative fields like precision genomics, immunotherapy, drug development and screening, data science, and more.

The program, the first in the state, is student-centered, workforce-aligned, and future-focused. Applications for fall 2025 are now open. More details will be available at our booth.

Finally, fairgoers will also have the chance to participate in interactive risk assessments for lung and colorectal cancers, designed to help individuals understand and manage their health more effectively.

We look forward to seeing you at the Indiana State Fair!