Students Raise Funds for Prostate Cancer Research Via Mustache Calendar

Crumb catcher, lip sweater or caterpillar. 

Whatever term you use, mustaches are helping raise awareness for men's health and prostate cancer each November, which is recognized as National Men's Health Awareness Month—or Movember.

Last fall, 10 first-year medical students wanted to take their dedication to the cause a bit further and document their 'staches in the form of a calendar.

Each student as well as Professor Bruce Giffin, PhD, who is the vice chair and interim associate dean for medical education, were photographed with their fancy facial hair for a 2016 "Mustaches in Medicine" calendar. These calendars were then sold to raise money for prostate cancer research. 

On March 30, the students met with researchers Susan Waltz, PhD, professor in the Department of Cancer Biology, Sadhna Verma, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Radiology, Shuk-mei Ho, PhD, Jacob G. Schmidlapp Professor & Chair of Environmental Health and director of the Cincinnati Cancer Center, and Melanie Cushion, PhD, professor and senior associate dean for research at the UC College of Medicine, to gift them copies of the calendar and the $2,000 raised for research.

The Cincinnati Cancer Center and the College of Medicine's Office of Research provided seed money so with the students' additional support both Waltz and Verma will have $2,000 to use toward their research efforts.

"These are the types of students that make the UC College of Medicine difference," Cushion said. 

Matthew Stewart, a participant, said the group started a Men’s Health Club at the UC College of Medicine which will be organizing the 2017 calendar.