DCI White Coats for Black Lives: Nearly $3K Raised for Lincoln

Duke Cancer Institute clinicians raised $2,890 in the second annual intra-DCI competitive fundraising campaign to support Lincoln Community Health Center.

Of the four DCI disease group teams participating in the fundraiser, which was held over the 2021-22 holiday season, the DCI Breast Cancer Disease Group team raised the most at $980. A total of $1350 went to the general pool of funds and not toward a specific team.

The remainder was raised by the Prostate & Urologic Cancers Disease Group team led by Dan George, MD; the Gastrointestinal Cancer Disease Group team led by Jim Abbruzzese, MD; the team led by executive director of DCI Michael Kastan; and the Thoracic Cancer Disease Group team led by Tommy D’Amico, MD.

Lincoln Community Health Center is an outpatient primary care facility located not far from Duke that provides accessible, affordable, high quality healthcare services to the medically underserved. Lincoln, which strives for 100% access to care and zero health disparities in the Greater Durham area, is a long-time community partner of DCI, which shares these goals.

The funds raised will support free-of-charge cancer screenings (mammogram and PAP smears) and primary care appointment co-pays.

• $20 – covers the co-payment for a primary care provider visit (men or women)
• $50 – covers the cost of a Pap smear (women)
• $200 – covers the cost of a mammogram (women)

“Especially during this time where so many people are choosing to skip cancer screening, we wanted to remove as many barriers to screening as possible, and this fund is one way we can do that. Cancer screening is one important way we can start to reduce health inequities in our community,” said Shelley Hwang, MD, MHS, interim director of the DCI Breast Cancer Disease Group and a driving force behind the fundraiser. "The White Coats for Black Lives movement has been an inspiration to me, and I wanted to show support for our community partners at Lincoln Community Health Center.”

The annual fundraiser was established in 2020/21 by several members (including Hwang) of the Women’s Health Community Engagement Task Force under the leadership of task force founder and breast surgical oncologist Oluwadamilola "Lola" Fayanju, MD, MA, MPHS. The group is currently led by Connie Kim, MD, and Jennifer Plichta, MD, MS.

The name of the winning team is inscribed on a plaque each year and displayed at Duke Cancer Center.