Professor June Han is offering a new course this spring, ‘Biology of Cancer.’
The course is geared towards non-science majors and is split into several units which talk about how cells work. It also discusses how cancer cells form, are caused, the appearance of a cancer cell and available treatments for cancer.
Han said she struggled with the idea of teaching the class since her father was diagnosed with colon cancer and was not doing well. Han felt it may be too difficult to teach the course in the event of her father’s death.
As her father got better Han said she hopes to use her experience with cancer to help others who have dealt with it as well.
“I do hope to share my personal experiences with cancer, mostly in relation to my father’s experience with cancer, to not only students who have been affected by the disease but also to those who have not,” Han said in an email.
Han said her father is now in better health and she looks forward to teaching the class. She said the experience as “unreal” or “sadly part of [her] ‘normal life.”
“I felt a very heavy burden to give ‘my all’ to this class,” Han said. “Pretty much everyone knows someone who has it.”
A goal of the course is to have more people with knowledge working together to help the fight against cancer.
Han said if everyone were to put into action their knowledge and resources towards cancer the number of cancer-related deaths would be half of what it is.
“We know so much but we don’t act on it,” Han said. “We can literally save people’s lives by being educated through this course.”
Han invites those who may be considering, but have not committed to take the course because it provides an understanding of a disease that touches so many lives and could benefit from the additional awareness.
The class was created in 2018 when Dr. Eric Rabitoy, the dean of the Natural, Physical and Health Sciences departments was looking to add more courses, so Han began forming a new curriculum.
“We are trying to increase the diversity of courses offered in our lecture-only science curriculum,” Rabitoy said. “The concept of a Biology of Cancer course has been in the department for many years, we just never really got it off the ground until lately when professor Han decided to take charge of it and write it.”
Han said she looks to take on a new challenge. Han said she advises those who have not signed up for the course to “definitely take it.”
An Informal Cancer Awareness Fair is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., June 4 in the east wing of the Campus Center for those interested in learning more about the subject.
“It’s important to be educated and to know what it means when somebody says the word cancer,” Rabitoy said
