Before COVID-19, cancer patients were united by their fight against the disease, no matter the difference in type, location or stage. Today, they’re united by another battle; one outside of their diagnosis — the fight to stay alive while immunosuppressed during a global pandemic.

On Thursday, May 14, UF husband-and-wife Radiation Oncology physicians and professors William M. Mendenhall and Nancy P. Mendenhall (shown right, with daughters Marisa and Elena) were both honored during the College of Medicine (COM) Faculty Awards Celebration. Together, the Mendenhalls bring over 75 years of leadership and service to UF patients, students, and colleagues alike.

Stay-at-home restrictions are beginning to lift in several areas across the United States, but immunosuppressed cancer patients are still at high risk of falling seriously ill from the novel coronavirus COVID-19.

Some cancer treatments can harm a patient’s fertility. The University of Florida Health’s Helping Oncofertility Patients become Educated, or HOPE, Network is on a mission to help preserve it.

Kava’s reputation in preventing cancer just received a boost from the American Association for Cancer Research. The May cover of the organization’s flagship journal, Cancer Prevention Research, featured a clinical study on kava led by Chengguo “Chris” Xing, Ph.D., a professor of medicinal chemistry and the Frank A. Duckworth Eminent Scholar Chair in the UF College of Pharmacy and a member of the UF Health Cancer Center.

Although Moore has become an expert in endocrine surgery over the years, he spent his first five years of practice purely as a general abdominal surgeon. He started to blend in endocrine surgery after that, and the rest is history.

This April, UF Health celebrates Testicular Cancer Awareness Month to inform and spread awareness about the importance of understanding this disease. Testicular cancer occurs when cancer cells form in one or both testicles and about 9,600 new cases are expected to be diagnosed this year in the U.S., primarily affecting young men in their late teens through early thirties.

Cancer doesn’t stop — not even for the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19. The unknowns related to the virus are leaving people concerned, especially cancer patients who may have weakened immune systems as a result of cancer treatment and/or may be older.

Tanmay Lele, Ph.D., the Charles A. Stokes professor of chemical engineering at the University of Florida, has been awarded a National Cancer Institute (NCI) U01 grant to examine the physical and molecular mechanisms of the cancer nucleus.

In 2019, the University of Florida Health Cancer Center made numerous advancements with its research programs, basic and translational research efforts, clinical trial enrollment, and education and community outreach programs. Click to read more.