‘Mustaches in Medicine’ offer giggles and help raise funds and awareness of prostate cancer

Mustaches have been known to tickle.

Well, they will keep you laughing if you check out the 2019 “Mustaches in Medicines” calendars now on sale.

This year, 20 first and second year medical students involved in the UC College of Medicine Men’s Health Club are competing to raise awareness—and money—in November for prostate cancer research at UC, and they’re using their facial hair to do it.

The calendars are now on sale for $10 apiece and the group will selling them at noon Tuesday, Nov. 13, near the red brick elevators on the entry level of CARE/Crawley Atrium. If you can’t make it then its fine to send an email for a calendar to Jeff Talarek at talarejr@mail.uc.edu

Talarek, a second-year medical student, is part of the Men’s Health Club and notes there are two versions of the “Mustaches in Medicines” calendar. One features first-year medical students in funny poses throughout the College of Medicine sporting mustaches and in some cases bushy beards. A second version of the calendar focus on second-year medical students. There is a picture of the entire class showing of real and a few fake mustaches as well. Women are joining in the effort to promote awareness as well with a few stick-on versions.

“Some of our faculty are featured in both calendars,” says Talarek. “We also have admissions staff who got in on the fun.”

Last year, proceeds for the 2018 Mustaches in Medicine calendar effort raised over $4,000. Those funds provided a summer research project stipend for a medical student looking a new ways to apply different imaging techniques to improve the detection and treatment of prostate cancer, says Talerek. Funds from last year’s calendar sale supported a research effort focused on improving diagnostic reliability; the results were presented earlier this week at the Internal Medicine Interest Group 8th Annual Research and Service Symposium and won an award for clinical research.

“We try to sell 125 calendars per year per class and in hopes of raising $2,500,” says Talarek. That amount is then matched by the Cincinnati Cancer Center.

“We try to have fun and try to come up with creative ways to feature the mustache,” says Talarek. “It’s a symbol of male virility combined with humor and our hope of keeping men healthy. The calendar sale will go on until we are sold out.”