American Cancer Society Looks for Apple Valley-Rosemount Volunteers

The American Cancer Society is looking for Dakota County residents to join a 20-year, nationwide study seeking to understand what causes cancer.

The society's first prevention study in the 1960s and '70s showed a conclusive link between smoking and cancer. Its second study, started in the '80s, connected cancer risk to poor diet, lack of exercise and other environmental factors.

This summer, the society will be seeking 5,000 Minnesotans (and more than 300,000 people across the country) to participate in its third comprehensive study.

Apple Valley and Rosemount residents between 30 and 65 who have not been diagnosed with cancer are eligible for the study. Participants give a blood sample and waist measurement during a one-time, in-person registration, and then answer a short online or print survey about every other year for the next 20 years.

"We track what they do in their everyday life, what they're exposed to, how they live, their lifestyle, their behaviors," Alpa Patel, the principal investigator, said in a statement. "Then, we also look at genetics and other factors and how all of those things work together to affect a person's risk of developing or dying of cancer."

The American Cancer Society will be holding enrollment events at multiple locations across the Twin Cities—including Eagan—between June 11 and June 27.

Eagan Community Center
1501 Central Pkwy
Eagan, MN 55121
Wednesday, June 12
3:00 pm – 7:00 pm

HealthEast Woodwinds Hospital
1925 Woodwinds Drive
Woodbury, MN 55125
Thursday, June 20
2:00 pm – 7:30 pm

HealthEast St. John's Hospital
1575 Beam Avenue
Maplewood, MN 55109
Tuesday, June 11
9:00 am – 12:30 pm

Minnesota Oncology
The Court 150S Conference Room Corporate
2550 University Avenue West Suite 110-N
St. Paul, MN 55114
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
7:00 am – 10:30 am

HealthEast St. Joseph's Hospital
45 West 10th Street
St. Paul, MN 55102
Thursday, June 13, 2013
11:00 am – 2:30 pm

Anytime Fitness
7942 Mitchell Road
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
7:00 am – 10:30 am

Park Nicollet
Frauenshuh Cancer Center
3931 Louisiana Ave., S.
St. Louis Park, MN 55426
Friday, June 21, 2013
8:00 am – 11:30 am

To sign up for the study or to find more information, you can visit the society's website.