The UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center is providing a support and education service that pairs cancer patients and their caregivers with a trained navigator who guides them through varying challenges during and after treatment. Patients may receive assistance handling the psychological, emotional and financial toll that accompanies a cancer diagnosis. Navigator services are free and confidential, and emphasis is placed on assisting the medically under-served.

Drug-maker AstraZeneca has pledged $10 million to the American Cancer Society to expand the development of at least 50 new Patient Navigator Program sites during a five-year period in communities throughout the United States.

UAB was among the first sites picked for the expansion and is the first Patient Navigator Program in the ACS six-state Mid-South region. The program is expected to help more than 800 cancer patients at UAB overcome barriers to care each year.