About SunSense
SunSense is a student-founded education initiative that helps Florida's K-12 community — students, families, and educators — understand UV exposure, skin health, and the habits that prevent skin cancer.
Mission
Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, and Florida experiences roughly twice the national average rate. The encouraging counterpoint: approximately 90% of skin cancers are preventable through sun-protective habits.
SunSense exists to make those habits accessible and routine. Roughly 80% of a person's lifetime UV exposure occurs before age 18, which makes the K-12 years the highest-leverage window for prevention. We support students directly, and we equip the educators and families around them with clear, science-backed materials.
Founder — Lilia Shalaurov
Lilia founded SunSense to give students, families, and teachers a clear, accessible resource on UV exposure and skin health.
The project began as a school presentation — A Special Guide to Skin Cancer Prevention — and grew into a public-facing site distributing that material more broadly. The downloadable version of the original presentation is available on this page.
For classroom presentations, partnership inquiries, content suggestions, or feedback, please get in touch.
Contact
Email is the fastest way to reach us. We welcome inquiries from teachers, school administrators, parents, students, healthcare partners, and anyone with feedback on the site.
- Email:
- lashalaurov@icloud.com
- Phone:
- (919) 720-2006
- Founder:
- Lilia Shalaurov
Downloadable Resources
For classroom and family use:
- A Special Guide to Skin Cancer Prevention (PPTX, ~3 MB) — the original 15-slide presentation that started SunSense. Suitable for grade 3 and up.
Additional handouts, lesson plans, and printable activity sheets are in development. Educators interested in early access are welcome to reach out.
Sources & Acknowledgments
SunSense draws on research and educational materials from:
- American Cancer Society
- American Academy of Dermatology
- Florida Department of Health
- Mayo Clinic
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (UV Index data and scale)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- International Journal of Cancer (2017) — sun-safety education modeling
- SunSmart Australia — structural inspiration
Thank you to every student, family, educator, and clinician who has supported the project.