BENNINGTON, Vt. — The American Cancer Society and Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) have gathered an expert team to address questions anonymously during a colorectal cancer awareness webinar.

 

The Webinar is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 23 virtually online. The program is free and open to the public. Advanced registration is required. Find the registration link at svhealthcare.org/Classes-Events or register directly at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAufu-vrD4pH9e75EOMqWyI-PKUfAkOK9C0.

 

Expert panelists Gastroenterologist David Furman, MD; Registered Dietitian Elise Cushman, MS, RD, CSO, LD; and Endoscopy Nurse Mollie McMahon, RN-C, will answer some of the most commonly asked questions, including:

 

They will also take questions from the audience.

 

A native New Englander, Dr. Furman received his medical degree from Boston University school of medicine.  He then served for 11 years as an officer and physician in the United States Navy. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in Virginia, where he also served as chief resident in Internal Medicine. He completed a fellowship in Gastroenterology at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, and went on to become an assistant professor of medicine at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda. Dr. Furman was part of the core clinical faculty as an instructor of functional gastrointestinal diseases and motility at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. 

 

Cushman is a clinical dietitian at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, where she has worked since 2011. She is board certified in oncology nutrition. She received her master's degree in dietetics from the University of Vermont, a bachelor's in journalism from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and an associate's degree in culinary arts from Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. She has also worked as a chef and as an adjunct instructor at the New England Culinary Institute.

 

McMahon received her nursing degree from Memorial School of Nursing in Albany, NY. She has worked in the endoscopy department of SVMC for nearly 20 years and estimates she has helped tens of thousands of patients reduce their risk of colon cancer through colonoscopy. She is a certified gastroenterology nurse with the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates.

 

All participants qualify to win one of two $50 gift cards at the end of the presentation. For more information, please contact Amy Deavitt at amy.deavitt@cancer.org.