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Miss America 2024 Madison Marsh with the Cancer Institute's Infusion B nursing team.
Image by Andrew Vogler
Miss America Madison Marsh Visits UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute
Miss America 2024 Madison Marsh gets a behind the scenes tour of The Proton Center of Arkansas with Zhong Su, Ph.D., chief medical physicist, on her visit to the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and UAMS Radiation Oncology Center. Andrew Vogler
| Miss America Madison Marsh understands what cancer can do to a family. The Fort Smith, Arkansas, native lost her mother, Whitney Marsh, to pancreatic cancer when Madison was just 17 years old.
Marsh’s personal story resonated with the patients and families she met during a visit to the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute on Oct. 30, the sixth anniversary of her mother’s death.
Marsh took time out from a busy schedule traveling the country as the reigning Miss America 2024 to spend the day with UAMS patients, faculty and staff and tour various areas of the state’s only academic cancer research center, including the Phase 1 Clinical Trials Unit, the UAMS Radiation Oncology Center and Proton Center of Arkansas.
During a walkthrough of Infusion Center B on the Cancer Institute’s sixth floor, Marsh met and spoke with patients from Arkansas, Tennessee and Oklahoma, in addition to nurses and staff who were excited to meet the glamorous but down-to-earth visitor.
Speaking later to faculty and staff in the Walton Auditorium, Marsh shared that her mother’s diagnosis was a complete shock. Marsh enrolled in the United States Air Force Academy nine months after her mother’s death.
“We didn’t have any cancer history in our family,” said Marsh. “She didn’t have any risk factors. She was active and athletic.”
Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., and is often misdiagnosed because the symptoms, such as unexpected weight loss, back pain and changes in stool can be attributed to other issues.
Marsh urged greater awareness and advocacy about the signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer and the need for more work on early detection and screening. She founded the Whitney Marsh Foundation in her mother’s honor and raises funds for cancer research.
(l to r) Adam Wolfe, M.D., Miss America 2024 Madison Marsh and Fen Xia, M.D., Ph.D. Photo by Andrew Vogler
During her visit, Marsh met with Adam Wolfe, M.D., Ph.D., UAMS radiation oncologist and American Cancer Society-supported pancreatic cancer research about his studies on radiation resistance in pancreatic cancer. She joined Wolfe and Fen Xia, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the UAMS Department of Radiation Oncology, for a tour of the UAMS Radiation Oncology Center and Proton Center of Arkansas, the state’s only proton therapy center.
On the tour, Marsh met with 20-year-old breast cancer survivor, Aria Carter, who received proton therapy as part of her treatment.
Marsh also met Michael Birrer, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Cancer Institute, UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, and Sonia Orcutt, M.D., director of surgical oncology.
Marsh is the first active-duty service member to wear the Miss America crown. She graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a degree in physics and holds the rank of second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. After finishing her year as Miss America, Marsh plans to return to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government to complete her degree in public policy.