Finkielstein Lab Outreach

MULTICULTURAL ACTIVITIES

• MAOP: The Multicultural Academic Opportunities Program: The Multicultural Academic Opportunities Program (MAOP) is an academic success community founded upon the principles of self-help, mentoring, and peer support. Central to the goal of MAOP is the promotion of diversification in the student body at Virginia Tech and on the post graduate level - particularly in the science, math, and technology areas. Through a partnership with various departments at Virginia Tech, other college and university peers, governmental, private, and non-profit institutions MAOP participants are supported with academic guidance and financial support.
• VT-PREP: A mentored research/ classroom program sponsored by the National Institute of Health to increase diversity in the fields of biomedical and behavioral sciences.

SERVICE TO OUR COMMUNITY

Did you know that every three minutes, another woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer? Every three minutes. Because our team cannot ignore this shocking statistic, we’ve made a commitment to work toward changing it, and we need your help. On October 24-25, 2009, we'll spend the weekend walking, along with thousands of other people, in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. We will walk at least the distance of a marathon (26.2 miles), and we may choose to walk as far as a marathon and a half. We will also raise at least $10,800 in donations to the cause. We'll have to spend the next few months training, fundraising, and preparing for the event. It's the biggest challenge we've ever taken on, but we'm very excited about doing it because we know it will make a real difference to the millions of people affected by breast cancer. The money raised is managed and disbursed by the Avon Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity with a mission to fund access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer. The Avon Foundation funds both local and national organizations in five key areas: medical research; education and early detection programs; clinical care; and support services, all with a focus on the medically underserved. Please help to support our efforts and this critically important cause by making a generous contribution. You can make your donation online by simply clicking on the link at the bottom of this message, which will bring you right to our team page (Researchers for the Cure). Please remember as you're making your donation that in less than the time it took to read this e-mail, another woman in the U.S. was diagnosed with breast cancer. You can also help me by passing this message along to others who may be interested in being a part of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. To directly donate to our Team (Researchers for the Cure) through our team leader please click here. Thanks to breast cancer survivors Meg Shrader from Augusta Health and Vernal Branch from the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation and Constituency Coordinator for visiting our laboratory and sharing their stories with all of us. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet them and learn more on how our research benefit people. Thanks for coming! Watch Humanizing the Science of Cancer Research from The Campaign for Virginia Tech on Vimeo. Click here to read the full story!