Survivors Teaching Students is a practical and innovative volunteer project in which volunteers with ovarian cancer educate clinical students and work towards ending the problem of late diagnosis. 

The project aims to ensure that the students remember the presenters and their stories, so that when they qualify and meet people with similar symptoms they will recall the volunteers’ stories and consider ovarian cancer much earlier in the process of diagnosis. 

Sessions provide students with the opportunity to hear directly from people with ovarian cancer and listen to them talk about their symptoms and experiences in a frank and informal way.

Medical and nursing schools can book a live webinar, in which students can hear from our volunteers and ask them questions directly about their experiences.

Typical sessions last one hour and take place on Zoom.

We work flexibly using live webinars and can fit in with your timetabling.

If you are an educator and would like to book an STS session for your students, please click the button below.

Book a session

STS started in 2014 in person and has been running online since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Since starting we have reached over 4,000 medical, nursing and other clinical students. Our feedback shows that STS can improve their knowledge of ovarian cancer signs and symptoms, risk factors and referral guidelines by 50 per cent. 

We have delivered STS sessions to students at various institutions across the UK, including Barts medical school at Queen Mary University of London, University of Southampton School of Medicine, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Nursing School and Newcastle University.

Feedback from students:

“The session made the symptoms far more memorable.”

“It is easy to read about symptoms in a book but to have them described by women in this way will remain with me far more”

"It is much more effective than a Powerpoint lecture. I will remember it better!"

"It is something to always consider - women are often shunted towards the gastrointestinal department because of non-specific symptoms. It is important to communicate possibilities with patients."

"It has been very good to hear individual experiences, showing the impact of the disease on a person.  I will also now know to look for support groups to recommend to patients."

If you’ve been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and are interested in becoming a Survivors Teaching Students volunteer and sharing your story to raise awareness among student doctors and nurses, get in touch with Ruth at [email protected] .