The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine issued the following news release:
A physician at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield has been awarded a two-year grant from the American Cancer Society Illinois Division for the study of exercise behavior and attitudes among breast cancer survivors in rural Illinois. The total budget for the grant is $230,972.
The study will look at the factors that influence exercise behavior and the preferences for exercise programming among breast cancer survivors in rural counties in Illinois. Results of the study may be used to design and test programs that increase exercise participation of cancer survivors in rural areas because rural residents exercise less than those in urban areas, so they are at a greater need for such programs.
Dr. Laura Q. Rogers, associate professor of internal medicine is the project's principal investigator. Steve Verhulst, Ph.D., associate professor of medical education, is a collaborating investigator. Two other experts in the field, Edward McAuley, Ph.D., professor of kinesiology and psychology at the University of Illinois in Urbana, and Kerry Courneya, Ph.D., professor and cancer research chair in physical activity and cancer at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, are involved in the project as consultants.
A researcher since 1989, Rogers' previous research has also focused on healthy lifestyles related to high cholesterol management, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.
Rogers joined the SIU faculty in 2000. She completed a fellowship in faculty development in general internal medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1990) and her internal medicine residency at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta (1987). She earned her medical degree at the University of South Florida School of Medicine in Tampa (1984), master's in public health at the University of South Carolina in Columbia (2000), and bachelor's at Erskine College in Due West, S.C. (1980).
The American Cancer Society supports scientific cancer research projects as well as providing education, advocacy and patient services.
