Sign In

ACS News

News

Breaking News

Join the Patient Support Virtual Summit April 23

The Patient Support Virtual Summit will highlight the vital work our volunteers do to support people with cancer and their families. The celebration will occur on Wednesday, April 23, from 12 to 1 p.m. ET. All team members, volunteers, and partners are invited. All attendees are encouraged to register ahead of the event. 

Event Highlights

  • A heartfelt tribute to the invaluable contributions of our volunteers.
  • Special awards presentation to honor those who have gone above and beyond in their dedication in 2024.
  • A special message Chief Patient Officer Dr. Arif Kamal.

Event Details

Attendees will also learn about patient support programs, their impact, and volunteer opportunities. The award categories are: 

  • National Volunteer Award Winners 
  • Patient Support – Reach To Recovery Volunteer Excellence Award, ACS CARES Student Standout Leadership Award, ACS CARES Community Volunteer Award, ACS CARES Health System Champion Award
  • Hope Lodge - Margot S. Freudenberg Rookie of the Year Award, Margot S. Freudenberg Memorial Award, Margot S. Freudenberg Group Volunteer Award 
  • Road To Recovery – Rookie of the Year, Pacesetter of the Year, Outstanding Volunteer of the Year, Partner of the Year ​

  • Fit2Be Cancer Free CEO Challenge kicks off April 10

    ​​Fit2Be Cancer Free, a virtual activity challenge that rallies CEOs and employees to get active and promote cancer prevention in the workplace, is back again this April. Dozens of companies are ready to cheer on their CEO and other executives during the one-day CEO challenge on Thursday, April 10, which also kicks-off the two-week employee challenge that runs April 10 - 24.

    CEOs will have a full 24 hours on April 10 to log as many steps as possible. Our own Interim CEO of ACS and ACS CAN Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick will represent ACS in the challenge. The top three steppers will be recognized on the afternoon of April 11. You can track their progress at https://www.cancer.org/fit2be.

    The two-week employee challenge will take participants through a virtual journey, encouraging steps each day, engaging them with ACS through mission milestones, and raising funds for our work. The top companies will be recognized the afternoon of April 25 in the following categories: 

    2025 National Employee Challenge Winner: for the company with the most distance accrued 

    Mission Impact Winner: for the company with the most dollars raised ​​

    Highest Average Participation for the company with the highest average distance per participants​

    Fit2Be Cancer Free raised an impressive $1.1 million last year and tallied 2.7 billion steps across all participants!



  • ACS awards $9M in transportation and lodging grants

    Cancer care often means frequent medical appointments and travel far from home to get the best treatment. To alleviate the financial burden of cancer treatment, the American Cancer Society has awarded $9 million in transportation and lodging grants. These funds will provide 800,000 transportation and lodging services for approximately 63,000 eligible patients offered through 448 health system partners. The Patient Transportation and Lodging Grant program provides a chance for health systems to build a portfolio of services that meet their community's needs and deliver services to patients who need it most.

    “Transportation obstacles or the cost of a hotel room should not be barriers that determine the survival of those needing cancer treatment,” said Dr. Arif Kamal, chief patient officer. “Providing funding to health systems and organizations across the country to deliver the direct assistance needed helps to fill these equity gaps and improves cancer outcomes.”

    When the most effective treatment requires traveling away from home, patients facing a lack of reliable and affordable transportation and lodging can experience missed appointments, treatment interruptions, and incomplete follow-up care. In a 2023 Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) study, ACS researchers found that delayed care due to lack of transportation is associated with increased emergency room use and mortality risk among adults with and without cancer history.

    The program’s grant cycle is 12 months long and runs from April 1, 2025 - March 31, 2026.

    ACS volunteers can help amplify the grants on social media. 

  • Watch the Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month webcast

    Throughout March, the American Cancer Society National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (ACS NCCRT) has been sharing content around three calls to action to support colorectal cancer (CRC) awareness: get screened, encourage your loved ones to get screened, and leverage ACS NCCRT resources to increase CRC screening and drive awareness in your community. 

    Each year, the ACS NCCRT hosts its National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month webcast celebrating national CRC achievements and covering the latest state of the field updates that inform the ACS NCCRT’s work as well as the work of its partners and members. 

    The recording of the 2025 webcast, which took place on March 12, is available now. 

    In the recording, you’ll hear from: 

    • Dr. Priti Bandi, scientific director, Risk Factors & Screening Research, American Cancer Society
    • Other special guests like the 2025 ACS NCCRT National Achievement Awards honorees.

    • ACS NCCRT chair and vice-chair, Steven Itzkowitz, MD, FACP, FACG, AGAF, and Gloria Coronado, PhD

    Follow the ACS NCCRT on LinkedIn and X to stay up to date on roundtable news and engagement opportunities. 

    The ACS National Roundtables are a recommended and proven model for creating sustained partnerships across diverse sectors and communities to collaboratively address the most complex problems across the cancer continuum. ACS provides organizational leadership and expertise to support the roundtables and their members in advancing a shared commitment to ensuring everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer. 

  • Chemotherapy and endocrine therapy have different long-term effects on physical health decline for breast cancer survivors

    A new study led by ACS investigators shows breast cancer survivors in the United States receiving chemotherapy or endocrine therapy (without chemotherapy) had different long-lasting physical health decline compared to women who were cancer-free. Physical health is the body’s ability to function normally and includes factors like being able to carry out activities, daily living, fatigue, or pain. The findings are published Feb. 28 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open.

    “Patients with breast cancer suffer from an abundance of long-term and late health effects and are at risk of earlier onset disease and higher incidence of chronic health conditions,” said Dr. Clara Bodelon, senior principal scientist, survivorship research at ACS and lead author of the report. “These findings are important because understanding factors related to their physical health decline could lead to interventions to improve their health outcomes.”

    “This is encouraging news for breast cancer survivors. If they do not receive chemotherapy, it is unlikely that they will have long-lasting physical health decline,” Bodelon added. “However, further studies are needed to confirm these results and to better understand the health consequences of these treatments.”

    Dr. Lauren Teras is the senior author of the study. Other ACS researchers who contributed to the report include Matthew Masters, Den E Bloodworth, Peter Briggs, Dr. Erika Rees-Punia, Dr. Lauren McCullough, and Dr. Alpa Patel.

    Like and share this news on X. 

  • Early palliative care remains underused among patients with advanced cancer

    ​Despite a decade of growth, only 10% of Medicare beneficiaries with distant-stage cancer received early palliative care in 2019, according to new research led by ACS investigators. The study also finds differences between individual doctors and hospitals accounted for 30% - 50% of the variation in early palliative care billing, suggesting where patients receive care plays a major role in whether they get guideline-recommended palliative care. The study was published March 7 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO). 

    “These findings are disappointing as strong evidence and clinical guidelines support the benefits of early palliative care for these patients,” said Dr. Xuesong Han, scientific director, health services research at ACS and senior author of the study. “Palliative care improves quality of life, reduces suffering, and can even extend survival, yet most patients who would benefit are not receiving it.”

    “One of the most striking findings from our study is who treats you and where you receive care may influence access to early palliative care more than a patient’s clinical condition,” added Dr. Xin Hu, a visiting scientist at ACS and lead author of the study. “This underscores the need to minimize systemic and structural barriers, so access to this important treatment is not limited. Fighting cancer should also mean fighting unnecessary suffering.”

    Other ACS researchers contributing to this study include Kewei Sylvia Shi, Dr. Zhiyuan Zheng, Dr. Jingxuan Zhao, and Dr. Robin Yabroff.

    Like and share this news on X.​​​


  • New ACS-led study finds wildfires pose challenges to cancer care

    ​Due to the physical, psychological, and socioeconomic consequences of a cancer diagnosis and treatment, people with cancer are especially vulnerable during extreme weather events like hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires, which are becoming more common and damaging with climate change. A new national study led by ACS and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers finds patients whose facility was impacted by a wildfire disaster during recovery from lung cancer surgery had longer length of stay (LOS) than similar patients treated at the same facility, but at times when no disaster occurred. The findings were published March 11 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).

    “These data are critical as there are currently no guidelines for protecting the health and safety of patients recovering from lung cancer surgery during wildfires in the United States,” said Dr. Leticia Nogueira, scientific director, health services research, and lead author of the study. “In the absence of guidelines, clinicians might resort to improvisational strategies, such as extending post-operative length of stay to support surgical recovery and better protect the health and safety of patients during wildfires.”

    “Future studies should evaluate whether extended hospital stay improves surgical care outcomes during disasters,” Nogueira added. “Also, these findings should be considered for disaster preparedness guidelines tailored to vulnerable patient populations and contextual adjustments to quality care metrics.”

    ACS researcher Dr. Robin Yabroff also contributed to the study.

    Like and share this news on X.

  • Short-term limited duration insurance plans associated with advanced cancer diagnoses

    Short-term limited duration (STLD) insurance plans do not provide comprehensive coverage and can leave patients who are diagnosed with a serious disease like cancer with catastrophic costs. In a new,​ large national study published March 18 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open, ACS researchers found the 2018 federal policy loosening restrictions on STLD insurance plans was associated with an increase in late-stage cancer diagnoses in states without or with inadequate additional STLD plan regulatory protections. 

    “This research underscores the importance of state and federal policies banning or significantly restricting short-term limited duration insurance plans,” said Nova Yang, MSPH, associate scientist, health services research, and lead author of the study. “Most of these STLD plans do not cover essential health services, such as cancer screenings, which may delay cancer diagnoses, resulting in later stage disease, where treatment is more intensive, and the prognosis is worse.”  

    Other ACS researchers contributing to the study include Dr. Jingxuan Zhao, Dr. Robin Yabroff, and senior author Dr. Xuesong Han.

    Like and share this news on X. ​​

  • Nearly four million pre-mature lung cancer deaths in US averted and 76 million years of lives gained due to tobacco control

    New research led by ACS estimates more than 3.8 million lung cancer deaths were averted and a little over 76 million years of life gained in the United States during 1970-2022 due to substantial reductions in smoking prevalence driven by tobacco control. The study is published March 25 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

    ​“The substantial estimated numbers of averted lung cancer deaths and person-years of life gained highlight the remarkable effect of progress against smoking on reducing premature mortality from lung cancer,” said Dr. Farhad Islami, senior scientific director, cancer disparity research, and lead author of the study. “However, despite these findings, lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, and smoking-attributable morbidity and mortality from other cancers or diseases remain high.”

    “Reducing smoking through tobacco control has saved millions of lives and can save millions more in the future,” Dr. Islami added. “But we need a stronger commitment at the local, state, and federal levels to help further reduce smoking and substantially augment the progress against smoking-related mortality. It’s also important that these tobacco control programs be designed to reach groups at a higher risk of smoking, such as people of lower socioeconomic status, to help save even more lives. For example, smoking prevalence and lung cancer mortality rates in individuals with a high school diploma or lower education levels are 5 times higher compared with individuals with a college degree.”

    “Increased and sustained funding for evidence-based tobacco prevention and cessation programs is needed now more than ever as part of a comprehensive approach to reducing tobacco use and, ultimately, the cancer burden for everyone in the US,” said Lisa A. Lacasse, president ACS CAN, “The study’s findings show the impact of past tobacco control measures but also underscore the preventable deaths that continue to persist. Access to barrier-free, culturally competent cessation services, substantially increasing tobacco taxes, and implementing comprehensive smoke-free policies are proven policies to help people quit and prevent people, especially youth, from ever starting.”

    Other ACS researchers contributing to the study include Dr. Nigar Nargis, Dr. Qinran Liu, Dr. Priti Bandi, Rebecca L. Siegel, Dr. Parichoy Pal Choudhury, and senior author Dr. Ahmedin Jemal.

    Like and share this news on X.
back to top