The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Cancer Society (ACS) have long held a shared commitment to providing people with cancer, survivors, and caregivers with cancer information they can trust. Now, ASCO and ACS have taken another step in advancing this goal by launching a collaboration to make the expert-approved information from both ASCO’s Cancer.Net and ACS’s Cancer.org more easily available for readers.
For the first part of this collaboration, Cancer.Net and Cancer.org will share various resources on both websites, making this information widely available to all people whose lives are impacted by cancer. People with cancer, survivors, caregivers, and others can find the important information they need on cancer-related topics, including prevention, screening, and survivorship, regardless of which website they turn to.
“ASCO and the American Cancer Society have long shared a commitment to empowering patients with information they can trust. As we commemorate World Cancer Day this Friday, February 4, it is especially fitting that this week we formalize our partnership with ACS and advance our shared goal of ‘closing the gap’. We are thrilled to be working together in the best interests of patients and look forward to continued collaboration in the future.” – Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO, ASCO Chief Executive Officer
This collaboration will benefit from each organization’s strengths and areas of expertise, featuring shared content on both websites.
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ASCO’s Cancer.Net is a trusted resource for cancer information for people with cancer, survivors, and caregivers, so they may better understand their diagnosis and treatment, cope with cancer, and transition to survivorship.
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ACS’s Cancer.org is a go-to resource for the public for information on cancer prevention, causes, and early detection.
“This collaboration is a natural extension of the relationship between the organizations, and aligned to the ACS goal to improve lives. Through combining each organization’s unique expertise, we will further empower patients, caregivers, and physicians by increasing access to up-to-date educational resources. Through single access points, our collaborative sites will provide the latest information on all aspects of the cancer continuum—from cancer prevention and screening to cancer care and survivorship. We could not be more enthusiastic about working alongside the experts at ASCO, who share our values and are longstanding partners in the fight against cancer.” – Karen Knudsen, MBA, PhD, ACS Chief Executive Officer
As part of this collaboration, Cancer.Net will include cancer screening guidelines from ACS. These guidelines are a set of widely trusted screening recommendations for several types of cancer that help doctors find cancer earlier, when the chances of a cure are higher. Cancer.Net also now includes resources from ACS on quitting smoking and tobacco use, how to protect your skin from the sun and check your skin, and the causes of cancer and how to make sense of news related to these causes.
“The collaboration between ACS and Cancer.Net brings together a large group of volunteers and trusted cancer care experts to provide trusted information and guidance to people facing cancer. This combined effort provides access to the best resources, regardless of the starting point, with the common goal of helping people who are facing cancer become informed partners in their care.” – Jyoti D. Patel, MD, FASCO, Cancer.Net Editor in Chief
On Cancer.org, readers will find ASCO’s survivorship care plans. These essential documents help survivors and their health care teams plan follow-up care after active treatment has ended, including the treatments they received, preparing for possible late effects of treatment, and forming goals for healthy living after cancer. In addition, Cancer.org now includes other survivorship resources from Cancer.Net, from information on cancer rehabilitation and the long-term side effects of treatment to other aspects of life after cancer, such as fertility, having a baby after cancer, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“Survivorship care plans are important as a written tool to review with patients to make sure they understand their diagnosis and treatment and to map future plans for any surveillance tests and check-ups that will be needed, along with information about possible late and long-term effects and healthy behaviors they should know about. This is an opportunity to review what has happened and to ask questions. Most of us don’t remember what we are told during a clinical visit, so having a paper version is helpful as a reminder.” – Deborah K. Mayer, PhD, RN, AOCN, FAAN, Francis Hill Fox Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the UNC School of Nursing and a leader in the efforts to develop ASCO’s survivorship care plans
