Coming to a Neighborhood Near You: New Mobile Prostate Cancer Screenings Made Possible By Winship AMBFF

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There will be more than an estimated 313,000 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States this year, according to data from the American Cancer Society. Of that estimation, nearly 36,000 men will die from prostate cancer.

With 1 in every 8 American men being diagnosed with prostate cancer, getting screened for prostate cancer early can save lives. Black men have even greater chances of having their lives saved if prostate cancer screenings are more available.

The mobile screening units would help make a difference for thousands of men who might or don’t want to make the appointments necessary to schedule screenings. The Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation are taking steps to help with that with a new mobile screening clinic.

The mobile prostate cancer screening unit took up some space inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. It was on display for a media tour that morning.

Several physicians were scheduled to speak to the media about what was next in terms of where it was going to be in metro Atlanta. The 38-foot-long unit has an exam room and a lab inside. The screenings are free, do not require patients to have medical insurance, and take 30 minutes from start to finish. Patients get their prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test results in the afternoon.

The mobile unit will make 15-20 scheduled stops around Atlanta this year, including in Piedmont Park for the ZERO Prostate Cancer Run/Walk on Sept. 13, at 100 Black Men of South Metro Atlanta’s annual community wellness day on Sept. 20, and on Emory University’s main campus for the Winship 5K Run/Walk on Oct. 4.

Dr. Kennard Hood is a family physician with Emory University, is the medical director for the prostate cancer screening unit. Hood, like many of the physicians and healthcare specialists that The Atlanta Voice talked to on Tuesday, believes PSA screenings and early detection will help save lives. The mobile screening unit can make those screenings much easier.

“If you can detect prostate cancer early, there is a better chance of finding a cure,” Hood, who also works as a family physician at an Emory University clinic in Henry County, said.

“With this mobile screening unit, we can actually take this unit to the community,” Hood said.

Emory Healthcare and Winship Cancer Institute Lab Technician Andre Posey II said being ahead of the game and accessible to the Black community will make a big difference.

“We have to be proactive, not reactive,” Posey, a Chicago native, said.

Posey’s great-grandfather died from complications brought on by prostate cancer, and he believes that not getting screening and the misconceptions of prostate screenings with the Black community led to his great-grandfather being less prepared for the fight.

“I want the numbers to change for everybody, because it’s just a screening and not invasive,” Posey II said.

According to research done by the National Institute of Health, Black men are disproportionately affected by prostate cancer.

“Bringing prostate cancer screening directly into neighborhoods helps break down the barriers that too often keep men from getting tested,” said Martin Sanda, MD, Louis McDonald Orr Distinguished Professor of Urology at Emory University School of Medicine and director of Winship’s Prostate Cancer Program.

Sanda leads the team running the screening initiative and told The Atlanta Voice that making prostate cancer screenings more convenient and accessible, “We can find the disease earlier, when it’s most treatable, and ultimately save more lives.”