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Dr. Ivonne Vargas Conducts Public
Health Lecture on “Breast Cancer Awareness”
“Breast Cancer Awareness” was the focus of a public health
lecture at Northeast Alabama Community College on October 23.
The lecture was presented by Dr. Ivonne Vargas who is an OB-GYN
in Scottsboro.
Dr. Vargas discussed the topics of breast cancer detection and
diagnoses, the clinical breast exam, mammograms, other breast
imaging tests (ultrasound and MRI), biopsy types (fine needle
aspiration, core skin, and surgical), and breast tissue lab
tests (hormone receptor and HER2/neu). She also discussed breast
cancer prevention and prevention studies which are clinical
trials involving women who have not had cancer but are at high
risk of developing the disease. She pointed out that women in
their 40s and older should have mammograms every 1 or 2 years.
Women who are younger than 40 and have risk factors for breast
cancer should ask their health care provider whether to have
mammograms and how often to have them.
She explained that health care providers can check for breast
cancer before symptoms appear. During an office visit, the
health care provider normally gets a personal and family medical
history and gives a physical exam. One or more imaging tests,
such as a mammogram, may be ordered. Treatments are more likely
to work well when breast cancer is detected early.
For more information on breast health and cancer awareness, go
to the National Cancer Institute, US National Institutes of
Health Web site www.cancer.gov
and click on "breast cancer."
Dr. Vargas has participated in the 2007 and 2008 Susan G. Komen
3-day 60-mile walk to help raise money and awareness for breast
cancer. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and
died from it in 2007.
Dr. Vargas has a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the
University of Puerto Rico and a Medical Doctor’s Degree from the
Central University of Puerto Rico. She completed her OB-GYN
Residency at Mount Sinai/St. Frances Hospital/University of
Connecticut and was an Instructor at Mount Sinai/St. Frances
residency Program/University of Connecticut. She has been in
private practice of OB-GYN in Scottsboro OB-GYN Specialists for
15 years. This health lecture was provided as a free service to
the faculty, staff and students at NACC, and to the public.
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For more information about the
Health Care lecture series, contact Susan Barron,
Director of Events Planning, at
barrons@nacc.edu
or phone ext. 248.
Pictured after the
lecture are Susan Barron,
Dr. Ivonne Vargas, and NACC students
Ailu Barrera and Stefanie Ashley. |
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