Nasdaq

Closing the Door on 2023

We are just hours from closing the door on 2023 and jumping into 2024 with a jam-packed Cervical Cancer Awareness Month (CCAM)! Can we count on you to join us? But first, let’s check out some of the impact you have helped us achieve in 2023. Please take a moment to read Founder and Chief Visionary, Tamika Felder’s special newsletter and watch the video below.

Beyond this video, the Cervivor Community has…

  • Hosted in-person events like our Cervical Cancer Summit in New York City, kicking off with Founder and Chief Visionary, Tamika Felder, ringing the closing bell at Nasdaq; Hosting the Communities of Color Retreat in Washington, D.C., and we headed to the Pacific Northwest for Cervivor School Seattle where we celebrated 21 new graduates and awarded 5 new Cervivor Champions!
  • The Comfort Care & Compassion Program served over 300 individuals impacted by cervical cancer.
  • Inspired, supported, and empowered hundreds of cervical cancer patients and survivors from around the world to share their stories.
  • The addition of a Cervivor staff member, Kimberly Williams, as the Chief Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer, was a position to make it clear on our commitment for health equity and closing the disparity gaps. Cervivor Noir,Cervivor Asian and Pacific Islanders, Cervivor Africa, Cervivor Caribbean, and a group for LGBTQIA+ Survivorswere developed, and the expansion of our private groups to include more safe spaces for necessary conversations and support. 
  • We continued to host many meaningful conversations through our monthly Creating Connections support group held every second Tuesday.
  • Season 3 of the Cervivor Podcast was launched in January with Joslyn Paguio returning as the host. The podcast has now reached listeners in 50 countries! Be sure to follow Cervivor Podcast on your preferred listening platform and check out the last episode of Season 3 featuring Team Cervivor here.
  • Virtual events were elevated by the creation of Below the Belt Conversations, HPV Cancer Survivors Connect to strengthen support beyond cervical cancer so that no one feels alone from any HPV-related cancer, and a virtual Advocacy Retreat for Communities of Color allowing several women from Africa and the Caribbean to join the discussion.
  • Continued with daily motivation, fit tips, and monthly challenges powered by Survivor Slimdown to over 452 cancer survivors in our private Facebook community. A huge thank you to both Hearts Bio and the University of North Carolina Weight Research Program for their continuous partnerships. 
  • In addition to using our voices to participate in various research studies, raising awareness in media interviews, and guiding new legislation, we gained the opportunity to serve as patient advocates for various committees and task forces through the White House’s Cancer Moonshot, President’s Cancer Panel, National HPV Vaccination Roundtable, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute of Health (NIH), the National Cervical Cancer Roundtable, and the World Health Organization.
  • Founder and Chief Visionary, Tamika Felder, and Chief Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer, Kimberly Williams were recognized by the American Cancer Society National HPV Vaccination Roundtable for Mentor/Mentee and Lived Experience Ambassador awards.
  • We became a member of the Union for International Cancer Control to further our commitment to our global advocacy work.
  • Hosted an intern from the historic HBCU Claflin University, Summer Edmond, who is majoring in Public Relations and was part of our strategic planning behind the scenes.
  • And we celebrated the #CervivorBaby’s first birthday! (That year went by pretty fast!)

As we reflect on the accomplishments of 2023, we are profoundly grateful for the generosity that has enabled us to make significant strides in achieving our mission – to our monthly donors, our one-time donors, and our incredible fundraising volunteers, we appreciate your support always. We would like to thank our generous sponsors who have helped support us through 2023: Hologic, Seagen, Genentech, Genmab, Roche, St. Jude HPV Cancer Prevention Program, and Regeneron.

And as we transition into 2024, Cervivor, Inc. remains dedicated to its commitment to ending cervical cancer. Our community has been the driving force behind our achievements, and we recognize that none of this would be possible without your ongoing support and generosity. We wish to remind you that there is still time to make a tax-deductible year-end contribution. Your support will contribute to furthering the initiatives that have represented our efforts in 2023. 

We appreciate your consideration and look forward to your continued support as we strive to make a meaningful difference in the mission to end cervical cancer.

With Gratitude,
Tamika Felder, Founder & Chief Visionary
Morgan Newman, MSW, Community Engagement Liaison
Kimberly Williams, MHCM, Chief Diversity Equity & Inclusion Officer
Team Cervivor

Cervivor Takes Manhattan!

As we wrapped up the last weekend of Cervical Cancer Awareness Month (CCAM), we headed to New York for a monumental event that started off this year’s Cervical Cancer Summit powered by Cervivor.

Founder Tamika Felder, along with members from the Cervivor community, were invited to ring the closing bell on Nasdaq. Tamika’s call to action to the world, “Join us in this mission because no one should die from cervical cancer.” And the world is listening!

Photography courtesy of Nasdaq, Inc.

We kicked off the 2023 Cervical Cancer Summit in partnership with Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, it was truly an inspired and innovated conversation with Eve McDavid, a cervical cancer survivor and Fem Tech entrepreneur, along with the brilliant Dr. Onyinye Balogun and Fernando Gomez-Baquero. By using the patient voice, they are developing a revolutionary new device that will transform Brachytherapy, which still uses the same barbaric process that was developed in the 1970’s, with no regard for the actual female anatomy. We are excited to see more innovations like this happening in treatment altogether!

We continued with the patient voice perspective with members of the Cervivor community speaking on the Power in Patient Voices with Arlene Simpson, Yvette Torres, Kadiana Vegee and Kate Weissman. They shared how the collective Cervivor voice can bring more visibility and influence change, working towards our common goal of ending cervical cancer.

Dr. Rebecca Perkins joined us for Expert Hour on all things cervical cancer and HPV. You can tell that Dr. Perkins is very passionate about educating others to understand the importance of HPV vaccination and cancer prevention. “HPV vaccination is cancer prevention!”

The day continued with a session on Emotional Resilience: Survivorship & Support. Community members Anna Ogo, Tina Vetreno and Tiera Wade joined presenter Danielle Modlo, who is a Certified Nurse Practitioner at Cleveland Clinic, really brought to the surface what cervical cancer patients and survivors face from a mental health and wellness perspective during and after treatment.

Joslyn Paguio, Cervivor Podcast host, lead a conversation on Sexual Health with Dr. Rosemary Basson on how we navigate our ‘new groove’ through our physical and emotional changes that cancer brings to our sexual desires.

Our last panel discussion was on Navigating a Cervical Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Options – What’s Best for Ourselves with Ayanna Bass, Karla Chavez, Carol Lacey, Jenn Myers, Karen North, Selena Ruston and Kimberly Williams. We discussed how we make sense of everything we go through from diagnosis and beyond, and choosing the best treatment plan for you which may include clinical trials, more surgeries, or second opinions.

Just as the day began, we ended with an exhilarating bang as Dr. Cindy Trice shared her personal cervical cancer journey and how years later that journey helped create and fuel KickIt Pajamas. She truly turned her pain into purpose and we just love her company’s mantra, “Friends don’t let friends have hospital butt.” Her inspirational talk left us laughing and crying.

Last but not least, we celebrated five new Cervivor Champion Award recipients for going above and beyond with the mission of Cervivor being their driving force. Join us in congratulating these outstanding individuals as our 2023 Cervivor Champions!

Eve McDavid & Dr. Onyinye Balogun, Mission Driven Tech

Kate Weissman, Yvette Torres, & Tina Vetreno