Swim Across America: Payton De La Cruz to Swim Rhode Island Event For Cancer Research
On Saturday, September 9, Payton will volunteer and swim for the second time in New England’s largest charity swim, the 14th Annual Swim Across America – Rhode Island open water swim, at scenic Roger Wheeler State Beach in Narragansett, Rhode Island. This event hosts 35 fundraising teams, more than 100 volunteers, and 650 college, youth, Masters, and recreational swimmers — including Olympians such as Rhode Islander Elizabeth Beisel — who will unite for a morning of celebration, reflection, and swimming in the ocean. To register or donate, visit swimacrossamerica.org/
She earned a bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology at University of Arizona and a master’s degree in environmental health at Boston University. Besides her academic studies and cancer research work, she is an avid rower and coordinates science outreach programs for students in under-represented communities. Since 2010, Swim Across America’s open water charity swim in Rhode Island has raised more than $2 million for cancer research at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island. These funds helped researchers in the Program in Women’s Oncology Center for Biomarkers & Emerging Technology discover a biomarker for ovarian cancer and introduce to clinical practice an algorithm that estimates with specificity the risk of ovarian cancer in women with a pelvic mass. This test is now used worldwide and is a game changer for women with ovarian cancer, which is notoriously difficult to diagnose at an early stage when it is most treatable. To learn more, see Women & Infants Hospital’s impact statement at https://bit.ly/saa-ri-wih23.