Frank Strona

San Jose State University Health Science Professor Frank Strona is trying to raise awareness of men’s health issues through the “Movember Campaign,” a movement that was launched to focus on such illnesses as prostate and testicular cancer as well as men’s mental health issues.

Strona and other Movember participants seek out pledges to raise money for the movement. They each draw attention to the effort by growing a mustache for the month of November.

Strona, who is an SJSU alum who teaches a Health Science course on new media technology for public health, shaved off his trademark beard on Nov. 1. He is working with 10 of his friends on the team effort to raise awareness.

“In this country men’s health issues such as testicular and prostate cancers and mental health needs take a back seat to more trendy health issues that are more comfortable to talk about in public,” Strona said. “Our team, called Stachekrieg, went from full beards to clean shaven and are now in the process of growing the mustaches in. Each of us participates for different reasons. Some are survivors – others have friends and family who would have benefited from early detection, awareness or more research.”

The team includes public health leaders, barbers, artists, body workers, technology specialists and more, according to Strona. The team was ranked sixth in the country this week for fundraising, with several more weeks to go.

To find out more about Movember and the StacheKrieg team, visit http://stachekrieg.com/ or http://www.MoBro.co/FrankStrona. To donate to the team, visit http://us.movember.com/team/1015181.