Thomas A. Farrington, class of 1966, is the founder and president of the Prostate Health Education Network (PHEN).

In the late ‘60s, Farrington, then a recent electrical engineering graduate of North Carolina A&T State University and master’s student at Northeastern University hardly imagined he would one day be head of the country’s leading patient education and advocacy organization that focuses on black men.

The Chapel Hill, N.C. native started Input Output Computer Services, Inc., a software company, in 1969. But after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000 at the age of 55, Farrington’s life and career took a drastic changed.

After sifting through the scarcity of information on the disease he believed someone needed to take on the fight to provide as much information possible to as many people as they could.
“When I first founded the organization I did not expect that I would be focusing on this issue 10 years later,” Farrington said. Unable to find that specific someone, Farrington looked inside himself and created PHEN in 2003.

Prior to starting the organization, Farrington wrote a book on his experience and the experience of 20 other men who were going through treatment for prostate cancer at the time. “Battling the Killer Within” was released in 2001 and served as the foundation for Farrington to educate others on the disease and the importance of early detection. “When I wrote my first book my goal was to find someone to take this cause on,” he recalled.

“When you’re diagnosed with cancer it’s always a frightening experience. It’s challenging,” Farrington said. “So for me it was a really about trying to understand the disease and what my options were in terms of battling the disease and surviving in good health,” he said.

PHEN is a non-profit organization that advocates and provides overall support of men who are at risk for and who are diagnosed with prostate cancer with a focus on African American men. The organization provides educational outreach to healthy men, to encourage early detection of the disease and to share information about various treatment options.

Men are engaged through six initiatives that include the Survivor Network, monthly support group meetings, the Annual African American Prostate Cancer Disparity Summit, PHEN Online Television, the Annual Father’s Day Rally and Monthly Treatments and Clinical Trials E-Newsletter.

From starting a software company to a non-profit, Farrington has held a long career as an entrepreneur.

“I grew up in an entrepreneurial family it was a part of what I saw every day. I always saw myself having my own business,” he said.

His education at North Carolina A&T only enhanced his entrepreneurial spirit.

“I’m always indebted to the school for the quality of education I received there. When I left I felt prepared to go out and compete with anyone in anyplace and throughout my life I have been able to do that. I attribute that foundation to A&T,” Farrington said.

For more information on PHEN visit prostatehealthed.org.

By: Courtney J. Jackson