The Division is committed to performing community service to help promote cancer awareness, provide cancer screenings, and support a variety of wellness initiatives.

Breast Surgery

The Division’s monthly support group for women enables women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer to get together to learn more about managing the disease and to share their personal experiences. The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, at the Holiday Inn Express, 3131 Nesconset Highway (Rte. 347), in Stony Brook, NY. For more information, please call the social worker on our team, at 631-638-0705.

The Division’s free 8-week yoga program is designed for individuals who have undergone treatment for breast cancer, or who are currently in treatment for it. Studies of the benefits of yoga note improvements in sleep quality, mood, stress, cancer-related distress, and overall quality of life. Yoga has been shown to assist with reducing anxiety and decreasing post-chemotherapy-induced nausea frequency and intensity in patients with breast cancer.

No tuition is required for participation in our yoga program, which is supported by funding from the Beth C. Tortolani Foundation. Each weekly session is instructed and guided by a physical therapist who is a certified yoga instructor and skilled in women’s health and oncology, affiliated with the Stony Brook University Hospital Outpatient Physical and Occupational Therapy.  For more information, please call 631-444-4240.

The Division’s annual community breast cancer update is held every year in the local community in October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Members of our multidisciplinary team provide the latest information on breast cancer, including the latest treatment options. Educational exhibits are also presented to promote breast health awareness. For more information about this event, please call 631-444-5976.

The Division’s community outreach initiatives also include occasional free public screenings, as well as our faculty’s participation in the Department’s Surgical Speakers Bureau. Further, we actively support and participate in the annual Walk for Beauty, Walk for Life and also the efforts of the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund.

Melanoma and Sarcoma Surgery

The Division’s community outreach initiatives include screenings for skin cancer. To find out about future dates when we will provide free skin cancer screening, please call 631-444-4000.

Our efforts to promote skin protection and melanoma awareness for skin cancer protection have taken our faculty into the public schools, so that we can talk directly with students in order to help educate them about the dark side of the sun.