Art and science: medical students host art initiative

Natalie Baez/ Contributing Writer

On Sept. 29, the Patricia and Philip Frost Art Museum will host The Mammography aRt Initiative, an event created by a group of University medical students.

The initiative’s goal is to fundraise money for the mammograms of 80 underprivileged women in the Miami area who are a part of the Green Family NeighborhoodHELP program (Health Education Learning Program), an extension of the medical school at the University that sends out interdisciplinary teams of University students to track and monitor the health of families in needy communities.

Robert Guito, medical school student and leader of the initiative, has made this his capstone project.

“After talking with local women who are in need, we knew this was the right goal to pursue. Not only were they advocates of early detection, they felt a lack of education about breast cancer and who was at risk,” Guito said. “We plan to provoke both education and mammograms as part of our project, as well as help finding treatment in the event of a positive result.”

The goal is to raise $8,000. The show will be a silent auction featuring the works of Pedro Jermaine and rising artists.

The first place winner will win $200 and have his or her work displayed at the art show in the Frost Museum. Second and third place winners will also have their works displayed at the event.

The art contest has two different themes for submission: “Radiology Meets Art” and “Breast Cancer Can Hide in Anyone.” The first theme features art using X-ray, ultrasound, or other medical images within the work and the latter theme includes multimedia techniques, photography and painting.

The deadline for submissions is September 15. To submit, participants must contact Rebecca Cole via email, rcole028@fiu.edu.