ACTION Program News and Publications

• Cervical Cancer Prevention is Possible With Increased Screening and Awareness, Jan. 18, 2022
• Opportunity Open for Appalachian Students Interested in Cancer-Focused Careers, Dec. 9, 2021
• Student Exhibit Highlights Cancer’s Toll on Eastern Kentucky, Oct. 27, 2021
• A New Art Exhibit Depicts the Cancer Crisis in Eastern Kentucky, Oct. 20, 2021
• Kentucky Students Take ACTION, Oct. 10, 2021
• ACTION Students Document Cancer Crisis in Appalachia in New Photography Exhibit, Sept. 21, 2021
• ACTION Preps Kentucky High Schoolers for Cancer Careers Even Through the Pandemic, July 22, 2021
• Markey’s ACTION Program Develops Cancer Education Curriculum for Appalachian Schools, Feb. 19, 2021
• Kentucky by Heart: ACTION program offers resources to Appalachian students pursuing medical careers, Feb. 2, 2021
• Vanderford Receives Kentucky Academy of Science’s Excellence in Science Education and Outreach Award, Nov. 11, 2020
• Nathan Vanderford, PhD, MBA discusses new book from ACTION Program students with Eastern Standard on NPR, Feb. 27, 2020
• Markey's ACTION Program Announces New Book, Feb.19, 2020
• New Study Examines Ways to Improve Cancer Literacy in Kentucky Students, Feb. 11, 2020
• Markey's ACTION Program Hosts Inaugural Summer Residential Program, Aug. 13, 2019
• Markey Announces First Cohort of High School Students for ACTION Program, May 7, 2019
• UK Ag, Markey Team Up for Podcast Miniseries on Cancer, May 2, 2019
• Nathan Vanderford Interview with Eastern Standard on NPR, May 2, 2019
• New NCI Grant Expands ACTION Program to High Schoolers, Nov. 26, 2018
• Training Kentucky's Next Generation of Cancer Fighters, March 5, 2018
• UK program to train Appalachian undergraduates to fight cancer, July 27, 2016

In addition to the book The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia, the ACTION Program is releasing an accompanying podcast. This podcast features the student authors of the book, with each episode diving deeper into their story about their experiences with cancer.

You can visit the podcast home on Podbean or choose from one of the available episodes in the playlist below.

UK Markey Cancer Center Assistant Director for Research and Director of the ACTION Program Dr. Nathan Vanderford was featured on podcast series Talking FACS, highlighting various cancer topics. All episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.

Find the full episodes featuring Dr. Vanderford below, and visit our Cancer Conversations webpage for the latest cancer-related podcast episodes.

2021

• Jan. 14: Cancer Curriculum for Kentucky Schools

2020

• April 10: The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia

2019

• May 30: The Importance of Community Outreach
• May 23: Education and Oncology Training
• May 16: Research at the UK Markey Cancer Center
• May 9: Reducing Your Cancer Risk
• May 2: Cancer in Kentucky

1. Hudson L, Prichard C, Weiss LT and Vanderford NL. Evidence for Cancer Literacy Knowledge Retention Among Kentucky Middle and High School Students After a Brief Educational Intervention. Southern Medical Journal. 113(11): 541-548, 2020.
    
2. Hudson L, Sharp K, Alameh S, Prichard C, Ickes MJ and Vanderford NL. Cancer Curriculum for Appalachian Kentucky Middle and High Schools. Journal of Appalachian Health. 3(1): 43-55, 2021.
    
3. Hudson L, Prichard C, Weiss LT, Ickes MJ and Vanderford NL. Training Appalachian Kentucky Youth Cancer Advocates. Southern Medical Journal. 114(6): 356-360, 2021.
    
4. Hudson L, Samons KM, Dicken HE, Prichard C, Weiss LT, Edward J, Vanderpool RC and Vanderford NL. A Brief Educational Intervention Enhances Cancer Literacy Among Kentucky Middle and High School Students. Journal of Cancer Education. 36(4): 735-740, 2021.
    
5. Ickes MJ, Zidzik O, and Vanderford NL. Engaging Rural High School Youth in E-cigarette Prevention and Advocacy. Online Journal of Interprofessional Health Promotion. 3(2): 1-16, 2021.
    
6. McConnell Parsons JR, Hanley C, Prichard C and Vanderford NL. The Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) Program: Preparing Appalachian Kentucky High School and Undergraduate Students for Cancer Careers. Journal of STEM Outreach. 4(1): 1-14, 2021.

ACTION Publications

*ACTION students; #ACTION personnel

Books

Vanderford NL^#, Hudson L and Prichard C^# (Editors). The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia: Kentucky Students Take ACTION. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2020 (April 7). Print ISBN: 9781950690039.

Journal Articles

1. Al-Attar A, Presnell SR, Clasey JL, Long DE, Walton RG, Sexton M*, Starr ME, Kern PA, Peterson CA, Lutz CT. Human Body Composition and Immunity: Visceral Adipose Tissue Produces IL-15 and Muscle Strength Inversely Correlates with NK Cell Function in Elderly Humans. Front Immunol 9:440, 2018. PMCID: PMC5845694
    
2. Stevens PD, Wen YA, Xiong X, Zaytseva YY, Li AT, Wang C, Stevens AT, Farmer TN*, Gan T, Weiss HL, Inagaki M, Marchetto S, Borg JP, Gao T. Erbin Suppresses KSR1-Mediated RAS/RAF Signaling and Tumorigenesis in Colorectal Cancer. Cancer Res 78:4839-4852, 2018. PMCID: PMC6510240
    
3. Dicken H*, Hensley PJ, Kyprianou N. Prostate tumor neuroendocrine differentiation via EMT: The road less traveled. Asian J Urol 6:82-90, 2019. PMCID: PMC6363600
    
4. Hensley PJ, Cao Z, Pu H, Dicken H*, He D, Zhou Z, Wang C, Koochekpour S, Kyprianou N. Predictive and targeting value of IGFBP-3 in therapeutically resistant prostate cancer. Am J Clin Exp Urol 7:188-202, 2019. PMCID: PMC6627542
    
5. Puleo GE, Borger TN, Montgomery D*, Rivera Rivera JN, Burris JL. A Qualitative Study of Smoking-Related Causal Attributions and Risk Perceptions in Cervical Cancer Survivors. Psychooncology 29:500-506, 2020. PMCID: PMC7054153
    
6. Presnell SR, Spear HK, Durham J, Riddle T*, Applegate A, Lutz CT. Differential Fuel Requirements of Human NK Cells and Human CD8 T Cells: Glutamine Regulates Glucose Uptake in Strongly Activated CD8 T Cells. Immunohorizons 4:231-244, 2020.
    
7. Gan T, Stevens AT, Xiong X, Wen YA, Farmer TN*, Li AT, Stevens PD, Golshani S, Weiss HL, Mark Evers B, Gao T. Inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type F suppresses Wnt signaling in colorectal cancer. Oncogene 39:6789-6801, 2020. PMCID: PMC7606795
    
8. Xiong X, Wen YA, Fairchild R*, Zaytseva YY, Weiss HL, Evers BM, Gao T. Upregulation of CPT1A is essential for the tumor-promoting effect of adipocytes in colon cancer. Cell Death Dis 11:736, 2020. PMCID: PMC7484798
    
9. Haney MG, Moore LH*, Blackburn JS. Drug Screening of Primary Patient Derived Tumor Xenografts in Zebrafish. J Vis Exp. (158): e60996, 2020.
    
10. Edward JS, Rayens MK, Zheng X*, Vanderpool RC. The association of health insurance literacy and numeracy with financial toxicity and hardships among colorectal cancer survivors. Support Care Cancer. 2021 Oct;29(10):5673-5680. doi: 1007/s00520-021-06036-9. 
     
11. Chow Z, Johnson J, Chauhan A, Izumi T, Cavnar M, Weiss H, Townsend CM, Jr., Anthony L, Wasilchenko C*, Melton ML*, Schrader J, Evers BM, Rychahou P. PI3K/mTOR Dual Inhibitor PF-04691502 Is a Schedule-Dependent Radiosensitizer for Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors. Cells 10:2021. PMCID: PMC8160730
     
12. Borger TN, Puleo GE, Rivera Rivera JN, Montgomery D*, Bowling WR, Burris JL. A descriptive study of cervical cancer survivors' persistent smoking behavior and perceived barriers to quitting [. Psychol Addict Behav. In press.
     
13. Hudson L, Samons KM*, Dicken HE*, Prichard C^#, Weiss LT, Edward J, Vanderpool RC, Vanderford NL^#. A Brief Educational Intervention Enhances Basic Cancer Literacy Among Kentucky Middle and High School Students. J Cancer Educ. 2021 Aug;36(4):735-740. PMCID: PMC7388006
     
14. Ryan RT, Havrylyuk D, Stevens KC, Moore LH*, Parkin S, Blackburn JS, Heidary DK, Selegue JP, Glazer EC. Biological Investigations of Ru(II) Complexes With Diverse β-diketone Ligands. Eur J Inorg Chem. 2021 Sep 21;2021(35):3611-3621.
     
15. Lutz CT, Livas L, Presnell SR, Sexton M*, Wang P. Gender Differences in Urothelial Bladder Cancer: Effects of Natural Killer Lymphocyte Immunity. J Clin Med 10: 2021. PMCID: PMC8584838

Visit the About page to learn more about the program's goals, plan, outreach efforts and more, as well as additional pages for information on the ACTION Program itself and its cohorts.

• ACTION Program homepage
• About
• Cohorts
• Book Announcement
• ACTION Podcast