Great Strides Walk

Great Strides Walk

BOARDMAN

The Northern Ohio Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will host the 18th annual Mahoning/Trumbull County Great Strides Walk on May 21 at Boardman Park, 375 Boardman-Poland Road.

Registration begins at 1 p.m. and the walk begins at 2.

Local walkers will join 250,000 others fighting CF with their participation in Great Strides walks, which are being hosted at 450 sites across the country for Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month.

Great Strides aims to raise $41 million nationwide this year to help support research, education and patient care. Funds raised through the annual event have helped spur progress in the fight against the disease.

To get involved in Great Strides, call the Northern Ohio Chapter at 216-901-2873 or visit www.fightcf.cff.org.

Balance class

LIBERTY

Liberty Township Administrative Building, 1315 Churchhill Hubbard Road, will host the class “Matter of Balance” at 1 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday beginning June 6.

Reservations for the class can be made by calling the Girard Multi-Generational Center at 330-545-6596.

There is no cost.

Diabetes class

BUTLER, PA.

Penn State Extension is offering a low-cost series on diabetes lifestyle beginning May 23.

The series includes six classes and will take place at Butler YMCA, 339 N. Washington St., in the trustee conference room. Classes will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. May 23, June 5, 13 and 20, with a follow-up class Aug. 22.

Anna Hummel, a registered dietitian and educator for Penn State Extension in Butler County, will be the instructor.

Those interested may register online at www.extension.psu.edu/health/diabetes, or by calling the Beaver County Extension office at 724-774-3001 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The registration deadline is May 22.

Competition winner

GROVE CITY, PA.

The American College of Gastroenterology, in collaboration with Allergan and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc., recently announced Kimberly Pemrich of Grove City as the winner of the Picture My IBS competition.

The initiative aimed at encouraging individuals to express their experience with irritable bowel syndrome and to share their journey and symptoms that affect them through art and narrative.

Pemrich’s winning artwork entry was featured in April, which was IBS Awareness Month, and depicted her experience living with irritable bowel syndrome.

New medical director

AKRON

Dr. Jie Xu has joined Akron Children’s Hospital as the medical director of the cytogenetics lab. He previously served as senior cytogenetics director in the Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute in Chantilly, Va., one of the largest cytogenetics labs in the world.

He has 18 years of experience in cancer, prenatal and postnatal cytogenetic/molecular cytogenetic diagnostics in academic hospitals and commercial labs, and is an accomplished researcher and educator.

He received his doctorate degree in molecular cytogenetics at University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. He is board-certified in clinical cytogenetics by the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics, and the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists.