For Movember, a professor shaves his ’stache

A group of men in Harvard’s medical community are growing mustaches in November to raise awareness and money for men’s health, particularly prostate and testicular cancer, as part of an international effort called “Movember.”

Harvard School of Public Health’s Meir Stampfer, professor of epidemiology and nutrition, took the opposite tack — he shaved his 40-year-old mustache to boost the fundraising effort of the Harvard Movember team. In an Oct. 27 Harvard Crimson article, Stampfer called his mustache “part of my identity” but said he was ready to shave it off if it would help stimulate interest in prostate cancer research. Stampfer has been a leading author of studies on prostate, colon, and breast cancer.

The Harvard team reached its goal of raising $40,000 even before November began — and Stampfer followed through with a public shave on Oct. 30.