Why didn’t anyone tell me this? S2, #13 Athena Lamnisos: Making the 5 gynaecological cancers visible [Video]

Welcome to season 2 of the podcast – Why didn’t anyone tell me this?

S2, #13 Athena Lamnisos: Making the 5 (yes, FIVE) gynaecological cancers more visible

This podcast is about health education with an emphasis on reproductive health. We do not cover these topics enough in school or beyond. Joyce Harper and her guests want to give you the tools to empower you to live a healthy, happy and fulfilled life. And on the way, we will debunk some of the myths around our health.

This podcast will include a wide range of amazing guests, discussing topics such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, mental health, happiness, cancer, periods, fertility, infertility, fertility treatment, preconception health, pregnancy, miscarriage, PCOS, endometriosis, menopause and much more. Joyce is a cold-water swimmer so expect some episodes about swimming! They will tell you about their work and life journey, what are the key messages they want you to know, their motivation, what makes them happy and their advice to their younger self.

Joyce Harper is an award-winning author, educator, academic, and scientist with over 30 years’ experience in reproductive health. She is Professor of Reproductive Science at the Institute for Women’s Health at University College London where she heads the Reproductive Science and Society group. Her latest book, Your Fertile Years, is published by Sheldon Press, 2021. She is chair of the International Reproductive Health Education Collaboration (www.eshre.eu/IRHEC) and co-chair of the UK Fertility Education Initiative. She is founder of Reproductive Health at Work. Further information at www.joyceharper.com.Athena Lamnisos is CEO of the leading women’s health charity, The Eve Appeal which is focused education about the five gynaecological cancers and their prevention.

Athena is experienced at forging partnerships between private, public and not for profit sectors. She has a track record of directing successful change programmes in the arena of public health and oncology and is passionate about making the publics voices heard. Her career spans working for Friends of the Earth where she led the communications and fundraising directorate through to leading public sector campaigns as a founding Board director of Forster. She has held numerous trustee roles including at food waste charity FareShare and as a founding trustee of restorative justice charity The Forgiveness Project.

In this podcast we discussed the importance of raising awareness about the 5 gynaecological cancers: womb, ovarian, cervical, vulval and vaginal. Athena shared her experience as CEO of the Eve Appeal, highlighting the charity’s focus on prevention and early diagnosis through partnerships with private, public, and non-profit sectors and some of the amazing research they have supported. We also discussed the importance of educating children and adults about female anatomy, using proper terminology, and avoiding shame or embarrassment to prevent cancer. Athena stressed the importance of early detection and prevention of gynaecological cancers and the need for more awareness and education and the HPV vaccination. She gives some important tips to help women identify when something might be wrong.