Agenda
8-9am Registration and Continental Breakfast
9-10:45am Program with Shane Jacobson, CEO, American Cancer Society
Panel Moderator: Dr. Norman Sharpless, past NCI Director, UNC Professor of Cancer Policy and Innovation
Panel: 3 NCI Cancer Center Directors – The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center – Dr. Robert L. Ferris, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center – Dr. Ruben Mesa, Duke Cancer Institute – Dr. Steven Patierno
10:45-11:30am Researcher presentations in reception area
11:30am-12:30pm VIP Lunch
Event Information
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) advocates for evidence-based public policies to reduce the cancer burden for everyone. We engage our volunteers across the country to make their voices heard by policymakers at every level of government. We believe everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer.
Shane Jacobson is the CEO of both the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). Jacobson is a dynamic, visionary leader who has dedicated his career to fueling nonprofit impact and driving growth. As CEO and alongside the ACS Board of Directors, he is charged with guiding both organizations – and their more than 3,000 team members and 1.3 million volunteers – toward a vision to end cancer as we know it, for everyone.
With more than two decades of nonprofit experience, including 15 years in nonprofit executive management, Jacobson has a history of leading organizations to achieve record-setting results and mission-driven outcomes. He comes to ACS most recently from the V Foundation for Cancer Research, where he has served as CEO since 2021 and led a team focused on accelerating game-changing research and funding top scientists.
Since 2001, as the American Cancer Society’s nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate, ACS CAN has successfully advocated for billions of dollars in cancer research funding, expanded access to quality affordable health care, and advanced proven tobacco control measures.
We stand with our volunteers—people whose lives have been impacted by cancer—rallying to demand change. Together, we’re working to make cancer a top priority for public officials and candidates at the federal, state, and local levels. By engaging advocates across the country to make their voices heard, ACS CAN influences legislative and regulatory solutions that will end cancer as we know it, for everyone.
Learn MoreFor more than 2 decades, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network has been dedicated to pursing better outcomes for every cancer, every life. Today, more people are surviving cancer than ever before, but there is still work to be done. Join us, support us, and help us end cancer as we know it, for everyone.
Protected and secured $4.8 billion in state appropriations through advocacy to help fund cancer research and programs that reduce the tobacco burden and increase access to screenings.
Held the tobacco industry responsible for decades of public deceit through a requirement for companies to post truthful statements about their deadly products at nearly 220,000 retail outlets nationwide.
Expand insurance coverage of comprehensive biomarker testing in over 20 states and counting.