The Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce will host a Focus Friday briefing April 15 on the ocular melanoma cluster in Huntersville. There will be a presentations by Kenny Colbert, the father of a local victim, Huntersville Commissioner Rob Kidwell and Dr. Kathleen Gordon, medical director in the Department of Ophthalmology at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The program at Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center’s Community Room starts at 830 am. While the briefing is intended for Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce members, the public is invited to attend. There is no cost to participate. Novant Health – Huntersville Medical Center is the presenting sponsor of the program. Business Today and WSIC 100.7FM are media sponsors.

The meeting is designed to raise awareness and address specifics of the rare cancer which usually strikes people ages 55 and older. In the case of the cancer cluster, many of those diagnosed are much younger and do not fit the known profile which occurs most often in men.

Gordon is a member of a state panel of experts that has examined the details of the Huntersville cases and called for a more thorough review by eye care professionals and researchers. She has also worked to get the Kittner Center at UNC involved in a program offering complimentary eye exams as part of expanded OM awareness.

More info: 704-892-1922.