Media Availability
Members of the media interested in interviewing Bernard Tawfik, MD, must contact Jeff Tucker or Michele Sequeira at the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, (505) 548-0927 to arrange an interview prior to the start of the game.
Please note — this is the only opportunity to get sound and video of Dr. Tawfik. For patient privacy and logistical reasons, we will not be able to accommodate late arrivals.
Media Advisory
Lobos Love Pink Games Continue to Bring Awareness to Breast Cancer
ALBUQUERQUE — A solar eclipse may darken the skies briefly on Oct. 14, but a light of hope will shine bright pink later in the afternoon at The University of New Mexico’s University Stadium.
The UNM football team hopes to see a sea of pink in support of breast cancer fighters and survivors at its Lobos Love Pink game. The team faces San Jose State at 4 p.m. at University Stadium, 1111 University Blvd. SE, Albuquerque.
Bernard Tawfik, MD, University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center physician, will be available prior to kickoff to answer media questions about breast cancer screening and treatment.
The Lobos Love Pink games increase breast cancer awareness. Women can reduce their risk for breast cancer by being physically active, maintaining a healthy body weight, breastfeeding, and getting mammograms regularly. Regular mammograms can detect breast cancer tumors in women with no symptoms, and when the tumor is small, breast cancer is more treatable and surviving it is much more likely.
The Lobos Love Pink games also increase awareness of breast cancer research. The Breast Cancers team at UNM Cancer Center offers several clinical trials for women with breast cancer.
As a show of support for breast cancer patients and survivors, spectators are encouraged to wear pink to the Lobos Love Pink games.
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UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center
The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center is the Official Cancer Center of New Mexico and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center in a 500-mile radius.
Its more than 136 board-certified oncology specialty physicians include cancer surgeons in every specialty (abdominal, thoracic, bone and soft tissue, neurosurgery, genitourinary, gynecology, and head and neck cancers), adult and pediatric hematologists/medical oncologists, gynecologic oncologists, and radiation oncologists. They, along with more than 600 other cancer healthcare professionals (nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, navigators, psychologists and social workers), provide treatment to 65% of New Mexico’s cancer patients from all across the state and partner with community health systems statewide to provide cancer care closer to home. They treated almost 15,000 patients in more than 100,000 ambulatory clinic visits in addition to in-patient hospitalizations at UNM Hospital.
A total of nearly 1,855 patients participated in cancer clinical trials testing new cancer treatments that include tests of novel cancer prevention strategies and cancer genome sequencing.
The more than 123 cancer research scientists affiliated with the UNMCCC were awarded $38.2 million in federal and private grants and contracts for cancer research projects. Since 2015, they have published nearly 1000 manuscripts, and promoting economic development, they filed 136 new patents and launched 10 new biotechnology start-up companies.
Finally, the physicians, scientists and staff have provided education and training experiences to more than 500 high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral fellowship students in cancer research and cancer health care delivery.