February 16, 2022 By Carol Britton Meyer
The Norwell-based Children’s Melanoma Prevention Foundation and its award-winning SunAWARE for Life education program were recently acquired by the Melanoma Research Foundation.
CMPF started as a non-profit educational foundation in 2003 to educate children and the people who care for them about sun protection and skin cancer prevention and to advocate for laws that protect children from developing skin cancer, and that mission will continue under the MRF umbrella, according to Founder and Executive Director Maryellen Maguire-Eisen RN, MSN, who recently retired. She and her husband, Dr. Richard Eisen -- a respected dermatologist and surgeon, now retired --are longtime Hingham residents.
Headquartered in Washington, DC, MRF is the largest independent organization devoted to melanoma. During this transition, CMPF was dissolved and the Norwell headquarters closed, with MRF acquiring all of CMPF’s educational programs, publications, intellectual property, and assets.
Maguire-Eisen is working with MRF to ensure it has the necessary tools and knowledge to carry the program forward. "It is abundantly clear that their culture, work ethic, and commitment to preventing melanoma is perfectly aligned with CMPF's," she told the Hingham Anchor. "Our board did some soul-searching and decided that to really make a difference and to achieve our mission, we needed to find a larger, national organization that was willing to utilize and expand upon what we offered. MRF was excited when we reached out to them and promised that they would continue to implement our program. CMPF board members are excited about this opportunity."
Hingham resident Sara Mason Ader, who served as chair of the CMPF board, explained that during the pandemic, it was difficult to raise funds in the usual way, and with the changed environment, CMPF was not able to go into classrooms. "As a result, we segued into making videos, which were popular with schools and which MRF will continue to use," she said.
Maguire-Eisen, an oncology and dermatology nurse with more than 40 years of experience, is an Adjunct Clinical Instructor at Boston University, an American Cancer Society Scholar, and the winner of multiple service and research awards.
She has written extensively on skin cancer prevention and has lectured internationally on sun protection and skin cancer prevention, with a special focus on children.
For years following her mother's diagnosis of melanoma in 1977 and her recovery from subsequent surgery, Maguire-Eisen wanted to do something to give back to others in return for her mother's healthy outcome.
"I eventually realized that the best thing I could do to prevent the consequences of melanoma would be to teach children about sun protection," she explained. The outcome was the creation of CMPF, which is dedicated to “preventing skin cancer—one child at a time.”
Over the years, Maguire-Eisen and CMPF volunteers would often run into teachers and kids in the community who had participated in the SunAWARE program years before "and they would tell us what a difference it made in their lives," Maguire-Eisen said. "Others would write thank-you notes telling us what they learned."
Over the years, CMPF representatives presented the SunAWARE program to more than 100,000 children and their parents and caregivers in local classrooms, sailing centers, and at community events to spread the Foundation's message that melanoma can be prevented.
"We started off educating children about the importance of early detection and prevention and brought a program to the schools that was informative and also fun," Maguire-Eisen said. "We didn't want to make the sun the enemy but rather to teach children how to protect themselves and not get sunburned."
The initial program was so well-received that it continued to grow. As a result, CMPF also partnered successfully with local and national organizations as well as public health experts in Massachusetts to advocate for an indoor tanning ban for minors signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker in 2016 and also worked closely with South Shore Medical Center to educate new parents about infant sun safety.
CMPF also partnered with the National Park Services, Boston Harbor Islands, and Boston Harbor Now to educate visitors, residents, and Island staff about the importance of proper sun protection, among other accomplishments.
When the program started in 2003, there was almost no treatment for melanoma," according to Maguire-Eisen. "Today there are new treatments that make a difference, and people who have survived melanoma are very concerned that their children and grandchildren don't experience what they did."
Maguire-Eisen explained why this effort is so important to her. "Skin cancer is the number one cancer in the United States and it's very preventable," she said. "I really wanted to make a difference, especially in the area of prevention."
She noted that ultraviolet radiation from the sun is stronger in April and May than it is in August. "You can get a sunburn on a 50-degree day in May," she said.
Most sun damage occurs early in life, "so we wanted children and their caregivers to realize that they can have fun outside without [experiencing] sun damage," Ader explained.
"Hopefully learning good habits at an early age will carry through life and avoid a lot of heartache later on."
Ader noted that New England's skin cancer rates are among the highest in the country because in places that experience warm weather year-round, people are more aware that they need to wear sunscreen and take precautions. "Children can get a sunburn in April on the soccer field," she said.
Ader is hopeful that in continuing CMFP's mission, the MRF will reach not only children and their caregivers in Massachusetts, but also "millions of children across the country and [positively] affect their lives."
During her retirement, Maguire-Eisen is looking forward to golfing more with her friends, spending more time with family and friends who live around the country, traveling, and continuing to be involved with the MRF.