Sat Sep 09 2017 07:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

On September 9th, a group of dedicated church health ministry leaders from around the Bay Area gathered at the UCSF Mission Bay campus for the 10th Annual Abundant Life Health Ministries Symposium. The Abundant Life Health Ministries Program is a part of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC) Community Advisory Board’s Faith Communities Committee.

The theme for this year was "Quality Cancer Care: The Church - A Catalyst & Partner for Change," initiating a new direction for the program that will focus on disparities in quality of cancer care. The program was led off by a rousing talk by Dr. Kim Rhoads, describing variations in adherence to treatment standards that affect racial disparities in survival. She was followed by Teena Franҫois-Blue, MPH, Chief Program Director of the Susan G. Komen African American Health Equity Collective on her experience addressing quality differences in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment through the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force. UCSF post-doctoral fellow and Minister at the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, Jonathan Butler, PhD, then spoke on local examples of health ministry advocacy.

The full day program included a wide range of topics on current initiatives to address disparities in cancer care among the Bay Areaʻs African American community.

The anniversary event was dedicated to Priscilla Jane Banks, HDFCCC Community Programs Manager for her tireless efforts to bolster church health ministry capacity throughout our region as a means to reducing the excess burden of cancer experienced by African Americans.