Exploring Topics of Interest to AACI Cancer Centers
To promote the work of its member centers, AACI publishes Commentary, an editorial series focusing on major issues of common interest to North American cancer centers.
Each AACI Commentary is written by a cancer center leader and distributed by email to the more than 2,200 readers of the AACI Update newsletter.
The publication is designed to cover a specific topic in 750-1,000 words. Recommendations for topics and authors are encouraged.
Please submit suggestions to:
Chris Zurawsky
Director of Communications and Public Affairs
412-802-6775
Emily Stimmel
Communications and External Relations Coordinator
412-647-0504
A Legislation Library to Benefit AACI Cancer Centers
By Roy A. Jensen, MD
Cancer centers are an enormous force for good and collectively have worked to lower cancer incidence and mortality rates for over four decades. In many cases, this improvement has resulted from basic science advances being translated into the clinic for the benefit of cancer patients. But in other cases, cancer centers worked diligently to prevent cancer from developing in patients in the first place. This has primarily resulted from the enactment of good public policy that limits carcinogen exposures or promotes the adoption of healthy behaviors in large populations. Such efforts can often save hundreds—if not thousands—of lives over the course of many years and represent a critical tool in our efforts to lower cancer mortality.
As a membership organization serving 98 cancer centers in the United States and Canada, the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) has an unprecedented opportunity to exert enormous influence on public policy. I suspect nearly every AACI cancer center in our organization is working to advance at least one public policy initiative, however we haven’t been able to leverage our collective efforts for maximum impact.
Read Dr. Jensen's September 2018 Commentary.
Learn more about Dr. Jensen's Presidential Initiative.