Temple Health Wins Service Award for Colorectal Cancer Outreach, Prevention & Year-Round Excellence

Jessica Briscoe, MD

PHILADELPHIA (October 13, 2023) — Temple Health was recently recognized with the American College of Gastroenterology’s (ACG) Service Award for Colorectal Cancer Outreach, Prevention & Year-Round Excellence (SCOPY) for its coordinated health campaign against colon cancer.

Temple Health was recognized with the award for “Best Coordinated Awareness Campaign by a Health System,” making it one of 17 recipients of the 2023 SCOPY Awards, which recognize the achievements of ACG members in their community engagement, education, and awareness efforts for colorectal cancer prevention. The award honors campaigns that demonstrate outstanding creativity and commitment to spreading the word about the importance of colorectal cancer screening and prevention.

The team that conceived and executed the program includes: Ana M. Gamero, PhD, FCPP, Associate Professor at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University; Jessica Briscoe, MD, Assistant Professor, Katz School of Medicine; Claire Raab, MD, President and CEO, Temple Faculty Physicians; Rishabh Khatri, MD, Chief Resident, Department of Internal Medicine, Katz School of Medicine; Julia Marino, fourth-year medical student at the Katz School of Medicine; and Evelyn González, MA, Assistant Director, Fox Chase Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement.

Temple Health’s campaign was called the Philly Colon Crusade and included multiple events throughout the month of March, which is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. These events were organized through a collaborative effort by the Gastroenterology and Oncology Departments at Temple University Hospital, the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, and Fox Chase.

The team organized informational sessions, which included colon cancer factsheets in both English and Spanish, an educational walk through an inflatable colon, signups for open-access colonoscopies, and free point-of-care fecal immunohistochemical test kit distribution.

The FIT kits, which are an alternative to a colonoscopy that can be done at home through collection of a stool sample, were provided by the Advancing Colorectal Cancer Equity Through Systemic Screening (ACCESS) grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield. The grant was awarded to Raab and Khatri.

In addition, test kit recipients were electronically provided with an informational video about colon cancer screening that was translated into Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mandarin with the help of the Latino Medical Student Association and the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association.

The campaign also featured a Diversity Dialogue Series called “Colon Cancer Killed the Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman)” and a Facebook Live Q&A on colorectal cancer screening. The campaign’s events were covered by multiple news outlets.

The SCOPY submissions for 2023 were featured in a booklet shared with ACG members, and the winners will be honored on October 23 during the SCOPY Award Ceremony and Social Media Awards Reception at the 2023 ACG Annual Scientific Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.