Melanoma Research Projects

Prevention through Awareness and Education

To prevent melanoma, we’re focused on impacting three major areas:

• Public policy to reduce UV exposure in youth
• Youth sun safety education
• Early detection of melanoma

Knowing that UV exposure is related to an increased risk of melanoma, and understanding that UV exposure is cumulative over one’s life – our team, in close collaboration with the Cancer Prevention and Control platform, is taking a multi-faceted approach to reduce the UV exposure in youth through education and public policy.

The use of tanning of beds before the age of 18 increases a person’s risk of developing melanoma by 85%. By serving as educational advisors to Texas lawmakers, our experts raised awareness of this risk, which led to the statewide ban on tanning bed use for teens under 18 in 2013. This ban has already proven to have a powerful impact on tanning bed use. A 2016 study conducted by our team demonstrated that over 80% of Texas indoor tanning facilities complied with the Texas ban on indoor tanning for those under the age of 18. In 2015, Texas lawmakers, with educational advisement from our team, passed legislation that allowed children in public schools to carry and apply their own sunscreen while at school.

To reduce UV exposure in youth, we’ve developed an engaging, evidence-based curriculum that educates children about the importance of sun-protective behaviors. Preschool, kindergarten and first grade students follow exciting, superhero-inspired adventures of Ray and the Sunbeatables™ while learning the importance of sun safety and effective sun safety behaviors. Focus groups have awarded this program high marks from students, teachers and parents. By collaborating with the Cancer Prevention & Control Moon Shots platform and local schools, our curriculum is now taught in more than 40 Houston area preschool classrooms. Through our partnership with CATCH (Coordinated Approach to Child Health), a national program that promotes healthy lifestyles in children, our sun safety program has been adapted to a digital platform and can be accessed online at no charge.

The Melanoma Moon Shot and Cancer Prevention and Control platform have also teamed up with Scholastic to provide teachers with sun safety lessons and activities for children in 3rd to 5th grade. Our partnership with Scholastic, an established educational company, allows us to spread the importance of sun safety to children across the nation.

To catch melanoma early, we’re leveraging Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), which uses telementoring to share expertise with healthcare providers across the globe. We’re collaborating with dermatology resident training programs to train residents how to use dermoscopic photography, a low cost diagnostic tool, to detect malignant lesions such as melanomas.