$1M melanoma program focuses on primary care

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island Hospital dermatologist Dr. Martin Weinstock has been awarded a $1 million, two-year grant from the Melanoma Research Alliance to develop a training program for primary care doctors to screen their patients for melanoma, a deadly skin cancer.
The goal of the project is to develop a training module that doctors can use on the Web, and by getting them to do these screenings, cut melanoma deaths by half nationwide.
Melanoma is a cancer that begins in pigment cells (melanocytes), often in a mole. An estimated 68,720 cases are diagnosed in the United States this year, according to the National Cancer Institute, and 8,650 people will die from melanoma.
In a news release, Weinstock said primary care providers are the best line of defense against melanoma, but most lack the knowledge and skills to screen patients.
Experts at Harvard University, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and other entities are working with Weinstock on the new program, which will be tested in Detroit and California, then refined and rolled out nationally. &#8226