Schneck Medical Center is honoring cancer registrar Sherry Dowling during National Cancer Registrars Week, which begins Monday and ends Friday.

Dowling is being recognized for her role in the development of the cancer program at Schneck Medical Center and the implementation of the cancer registry in 1986.

Through her efforts, the registry has grown from a paper-based system to today’s fully automated registry with a core electronic medical records database.

Dowling also is an active member and past president of the Indiana Cancer Registrars Association.

National Cancer Registrars Week reflects cancer registrars’ role in compiling the critical information needed to support effective cancer treatment and research with the ultimate goal of preventing cancer and finding a cure.

Cancer registrars are data information specialists that collect and code patient-level data for cancer registries. The registries provide essential information to healthcare providers and health officials to better monitor and improve cancer treatment, conduct research and target cancer prevention and screening programs.

Cancer registrars work in a variety of cancer treatment and research settings and manage a wide range of demographic and medical data on those with cancer.

The information is both submitted to and utilized by state and national cancer registries to enable cancer programs to accurately determine cancer patient populations, measure outcomes of treatment and survival and formulate plans for improvement.