Media releases

• Brock women’s hockey celebrates 20th anniversary

  Wednesday, October 18, 2017 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 18 October 2017 – R00189

  The early years of the Brock women’s hockey team were anything but stable. With no permanent home, practices and games would be held wherever ice time could be found.

  Fast forward two decades and the Badgers women’s hockey team opens its 20th season Saturday, Oct. 21 with an anniversary celebration at the Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre, where the team now plays its home games.

  The Badgers will open the 2017-18 Ontario University Athletics regular season in a 3:15 p.m. game against the Queen’s Gaels. Before the game, the team will honour its history and welcome back many of the players who have worn the Badgers logo over the years.

  “It has been 20 years since a number of former students worked tirelessly and selflessly to form the very first women’s hockey team at Brock. Saturday’s festivities are a small way to recognize these efforts and to unite the generations of Brock women’s hockey players through the ages,” said Brock women’s hockey head coach and former Olympian Margot Page. “Every year we have a lot of proud Badgers coming back to celebrate our women’s hockey alumni weekend, but this Saturday is pretty special.”

  The Brock women’s hockey program, started by Brock alumnus Todd Erskine (BA ’99), has made major strides over the past 20 years. The team has had many talented players go through the program such as former Brock Female Athlete of the Year, Sarah Brooks (Whitty) (BSM ’11), who will be recognized Saturday with the Badger of Honour Award. The award was first handed out last year to former team captain Steph Allen (BA ’02, BEd ’03, ENPC ’03).

  Brooks called it an honour and a privilege to be part of the Brock women’s hockey program.

  “As we celebrate 20 years, we must reflect upon the countless hours that our volunteers and original members dedicated to the organization, implementation and continued success of the program,” she said. “Thank you to all of our supporters — from Brock Athletics, original community sponsors and our family and friends for believing in us and giving us this incredible opportunity to represent you in a sport we love.”

  Other standout players that have come through the program include former CIS Player of the Year Kate Allgood (BA ’07) and CIS-All Canadians Beth Clause (BRLS ’11), Kelly Walker (BEd ’11) and Jessica Fickel (BSc ’14).

  Annie Berg, a recent member of the Under-18 Canadian National Team who heads into her second year with the Badgers, said she’s hoping this year’s team can honour its history with a successful season.

  “It’s exciting to see how far the program has come in the past 20 years and amazing to honour those who paved the way before us in the program to make women’s hockey at Brock what it is today,” said Berg.

  As part of the 20th anniversary celebration, all Brock women’s hockey alumni have been invited to a reunion scrimmage at 1 p.m. and a reception at 1:45 p.m., both taking place at the Seymour-Hannah Centre.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases

• National study confirms benefits of Brock-created lung cancer risk prediction model

  Wednesday, October 18, 2017 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 18 October 2017 – R00188

  A lung cancer prediction model developed by a Brock University scientist is highly effective in catching the disease in its early stages when combined with screening and follow-up, says a new national study.

  Brock Epidemiologist Martin Tammemägi led a team of researchers from across the country in a first-of-its-kind study that recruited people for lung cancer screening based on the results of his lung cancer risk prediction model.

  “We wanted to demonstrate that using the risk prediction model for enrolling people into the screening program was going to be efficient and successful and in fact, that’s what we showed,” says the professor in the Department of Health Sciences.

  In the study published Oct. 18 in the journal Lancet Oncology, the research team recruited 2,537 participants from eight study centres across Canada between September 2008 and December 2010.

  The participants, current and former smokers between the ages of 50 and 75, were identified to be at risk for developing lung cancer after filling out Tammemägi’s risk prediction calculator.

  They were offered computed tomography (CT scan) lung screening at the start of the study, after one year, after four years and with additional follow-ups.

  Participants also filled out questionnaires measuring their quality of life.

  Lung cancers were detected in 6.5 per cent of the participants. Of those, 75 per cent of these lung cancers were Stage 1 or Stage 2.

  “We followed individuals on average for five-and-a-half years to see if they developed lung cancer and in fact, we found more lung cancers than expected,” says Tammemägi. “The prediction model is a tool that is very successful at identifying individuals at risk of developing lung cancer at an early, curable stage, so that is good news.”

  Building on earlier efforts in the U.S., Tammemägi’s model uses a wide range of factors — such as smoking status, intensity and duration, age, Body Mass Index and family history of lung cancer — along with mathematical equations, to predict the risk of an individual getting lung cancer.

  The article, titled Participant Selection for Lung Cancer Screening by Risk Modeling – The Prospective Pan-Canadian Study, says the team’s findings have broad “public health and clinic implications.

  “More accurate selection of high-risk individuals for lung cancer screening appears to improve cost-effectiveness,” says the study.

  The study also found that people are less anxious about undergoing CT scanning than researchers thought they would be.

  Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in North America and in many other countries. Five-year survival rates for lung cancer are only about 17 per cent. This is because lung cancer is usually diagnosed after symptoms have appeared and the disease is at such an advanced stage that it is no longer amenable to surgical cure.

  Research has shown that if the lung cancer is detected early when it is localized, it can often be completely removed surgically and the survival rates are much higher.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases