Distinguished professor, Victoria Lee Champion

With a name like Champion, how could she go wrong? "Dr. Champion has lived up to her name and has been a true champion of behavioral science at Indiana University Cancer Center."

—Dr. Lawrence H. Einhorn Distinguished Professor of Medicine, IUPUI

Breast cancer is one of the most common and sinister forms of cancer among U.S. women, but early detection helps to successfully fight the disease. Why, then, do women fail to get mammograms?

Since targeting breast cancer as the subject of her doctoral dissertation, Victoria Lee Champion has researched the issues surrounding it. She has worked to discover why some women are more likely to screen for breast cancer, why others don’t and how to bring about greater compliance with recommendations. For example, after studying the thinking of older African-American women and finding that they are less likely to get routine mammograms, Champion developed literature and television spots that increased their use of mammography.

Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Cancer Society for almost two decades, and her work has been credited as a key factor in the establishment of IUPUI’s new NIH-funded Center for Enhancing the Quality of Life in Chronic Illness.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that Vickie has become the national expert in behavioral interventions to promote breast cancer screening, especially among vulnerable, inner-city minority women,” wrote Dr. William M. Tierney, professor of medicine at IU. “She has the rare combination of boundless energy and laser-like focus that I wish more faculty at all levels would emulate.”