ATLANTA — Emory University is unveiling a new mobile prostate cancer screening clinic designed to bring life saving care directly into Georgia communities.
The custom-built unit, created through a partnership between Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, functions as a small doctor’s office on wheels. It is equipped with private exam spaces, a phlebotomy station, and on-site blood testing equipment that can deliver results during the same visit.
Dr. Kennard Hood, medical director of the mobile unit, said the goal is to make screenings easier and more accessible.
“We hate everything about going to the doctor, so hopefully this will be easier because we’re actually taking mobile units to the community to have this testing done,” Hood explained. “It could be a barber shop, it could be a meeting where we know there will be plenty of gentlemen, it could be a ball game — even the Falcons parking lot.”
The screenings are free and staffed by Emory clinicians. For the next three years, the mobile clinic will travel statewide to reach men who may not otherwise seek preventive care.
Prostate cancer is among the most common cancers in men, and research shows Black men are disproportionately affected. They are more likely to be diagnosed at later stages and more than twice as likely to die from the disease.
Hood said making screenings widely available could improve early detection and save lives.
The program also builds on a partnership with Mount Sinai Health System in New York, which launched a similar mobile effort with strong results.
WSB’s Sabrina Cupit contributed to this story