WHO: A Cedars-Sinai physician and colon cancer expert is available to comment on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention report that too few patients, age 50 to 75, are screened by colonoscopy or less invasive test options.

Zuri Akida Murrell, MD, director of the Colorectal Cancer Program at the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute. Murrell has committed his career to empowering and engaging both the African-American community and other high-risk communities on the importance of screening. Murrell is board certified in colorectal and general surgery.

WHAT: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention released a study that found that 23 million people between the ages of 50 and 75 have not been screened by colonoscopy or other test options. This lack of screening puts patients at an increased risk for colon cancer.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cancer killer among men and women in the U.S. after lung cancer and is the leading killer among men and women who don’t smoke, according to the CDC. However, the disease is treatable in most stages. Additionally, the CDC encouraged adults 50 and older to receive one of three available colorectal screenings, including high-sensitivity fecal occult blood tests (at-home tests that check for hidden blood in stool samples), or a more traditional colonoscopy.

WHY: “The recent CDC report is a telling sign that too few Americans receive screenings for a preventable, treatable and in many cases, curable disease,” said Murrell. “Over the past decades, researchers have made transformative progress in the ability to detect and treat colon cancers; we just need patients to understand their risk and schedule regular screenings. It’s equally as important for African-American men and women to be aware of their risk, as they have a higher incidence of diagnosis and should receive regular colonoscopies beginning at age 45.”

HOW: To arrange interviews with Zuri Akida Murrell, MD, please contact Cara Lasala at 310-423-7798 or [email protected].

# # #

VIDEOLINK ENABLED - Thanks to a new, state-of-the-art in-house studio, Cedars-Sinai can now instantly broadcast high-definition video directly to newsrooms around the world.