Press Release

September 20, 2006
Contact: Tiffany Smith
The University Hospital
(973) 972-4564

UMDNJ’s UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL TO OFFER FREE
PROSTATE CANCER SCREENINGS SEPT. 28 AND 30

NEWARK — Did you know that African-American men and Jamaican men of African descent have the highest documented prostate cancer incidence rates in the world? Even more alarming is that the death rate for prostate cancer is twice as high among African-American men.

In addition, the American Cancer Society states that prostate cancer is the most common cancer, aside from skin cancers, and is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. An estimated 234,460 new prostate cancer cases will be reported this year and approximately 27,350 men will die from the disease.

As a means of helping save lives, The University Hospital, the Institute for the Elimination of Health Disparities, and the New Jersey Medical School SAVE Men Program will provide two days of free prostate cancer screenings for African American men age 40 and older, for Latino or Caucasian men age 50 or older, and for men under the age of 40 with a family history of prostate cancer.

The screening will be offered:

Thursday, September 28, from 9:00 a.m. to noon, and from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Saturday, September 30, 9:00 a.m. to noon

The screenings will occur at:

The University Hospital
150 Bergen Street, C-Level
Unit 4 (Urology Practice)
Newark, New Jersey

Individuals with health insurance will be billed for the screenings.

For more information, please call (973) 972-1025.

UMDNJ is the nation’s largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and a school of public health on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a statewide mental health and addiction services network.