Christine Kannler (CAS’96, SPH’00, CAMED’00) performs a screening at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy. Courtesy of Massachusetts Department of Fire Services

One Good Deed

One Good Deed: Christine Kannler (CAS’96, SPH’00, CAMED’00)

Screening local firefighters for skin cancer

It all happened so fast. In July 2015, Christine Kannler’s brother, Peter, a firefighter in Chelsea, Mass., was diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer. In September 2016, he died. In the spring of 2017, Kannler (CAS’96, SPH’00, CAMED’00), a private practice dermatologist, launched into action.

She began doing screenings for firefighters in Westwood and Chelsea. “Then I started to talk to the union,” she says, “and I explained how I had done this free skin cancer screening program as a dermatology resident, and I had done it every year since…. I would just call up, get the forms, show up at the fire station, and do it right there.”

More than seven years later—and over 100 towns and cities visited—
Kannler is a regular at firehouses across Massachusetts, where she offers free skin cancer screenings and preventive education. For her impact, she received the state’s Stephen D. Coan Fire Marshal’s Award in 2022 and a Distinguished Alumni Award from BU’s College of Arts & Sciences in 2023.

“I think this population is perfect for this program, because you have a high-risk population that [is a part] of their community and will ultimately need someone to screen them for many years,” Kannler says. “So, why not pair a local dermatologist with a local firefighter, or fire station? It seems like a no-brainer and easy lift.”

After her brother’s death, Kannler became aware of a few studies that showed a strong link between the firefighting profession and cancer diagnosis. According to a 2014 study done by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, firefighters are 9 percent more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than the general population and suffer a 14 percent higher mortality rate due to exposure to burning carcinogenic chemicals.

Kannler says the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer published a paper in the journal The Lancet in 2022 stating that occupational firefighting is a group-one carcinogen—the highest level. The study listed melanoma among the most frequently diagnosed cancers in the firefighting population.

“Just from looking at the public health numbers,” she says, “it would seem as though they’re getting more aggressive cancers, but we’re also maybe not catching them in time.”

To expand her program, Kannler collaborated with the state firefighters union, the Massachusetts fire marshal, the Department of Fire Services (DFS), and the Firefighter Cancer Support Network, which integrated her program into a larger DFS initiative, Extinguish Firefighter Cancer. As she visited more firehouses, other dermatologist volunteers joined the ranks.

Now, firefighters can get screened by a participating dermatologist on select days throughout the month and during special events. Typically, Kannler will show up after a firehouse has requested a cancer-awareness class from DFS; during a screening, Kannler will often reiterate some of the safety tips from the presentation. 

The efforts are paying off. After conducting thousands of free screenings, 17 firefighters have contacted Kannler to thank her for catching a melanoma. 

There’s another benefit. “Sometimes people will say, ‘I knew your brother,’ and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, great, tell me a story, give me one more little nugget that I can hold on to,’” she says, “and that’s how I process it. It gives me a chance to think about him.”

Do you know of a BU alum who has taken the initiative to right a wrong? Email us at alums@bu.edu.