Two Organizations Work Together to Empower Patients, Reduce Duplication

On June 1, during the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting, the American Cancer Society (ACS) and ASCO announced an expanded collaboration to make it simpler for patients to find authoritative cancer information online. This collaboration between ASCO, the leading organization for cancer care providers, and ACS, the leading patient education, support, and advocacy organization in cancer, will create one of the largest and most comprehensive online resources for credible cancer information, which will be available for free to the public on cancer.org.

This collaboration combines the best of the two organizations’ existing sites to address the entire cancer continuum. Because of ACS’ and ASCO’s combined deep clinical expertise and knowledge of the latest cancer science, patients and the cancer community can have confidence that they’re getting the best information available.

“As part of the ACS goal to end cancer as we know it, for everyone, it is essential that we increase access to trusted and up-to-date information on cancer prevention, detection, and treatment,” said American Cancer Society CEO Karen E. Knudsen, MBA, PhD. “The ACS-ASCO collaboration will achieve just that and enhance the depth and breadth of information available to [patients with cancer] and their families.”

To ensure people with cancer can easily find and access this wealth of high-quality information as they manage their treatment and cope with the disease, ACS and ASCO are streamlining their resources into a single repository; Cancer.Net will be retired in early June, and all site visitors will be redirected to cancer.org.

"Our members see every day how confusing and painful it can be for too many patients and families as they try to make sense of cancer information while they’re navigating a diagnosis and treatment,” said ASCO CEO Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO. “This expanded partnership with ACS will improve our ability to get engaging and easy-to-understand cancer information in front of many more patients and their families, right when they need it most.”

By working together to leverage each organization’s unique strengths to provide one location for cancer information to reach even more patients and caregivers, ACS and ASCO are answering one of the challenges set forth by the President’s Cancer Moonshot initiative: to reduce duplication and find efficiencies to improve the experience of people facing cancer. By fostering stronger health literacy along the cancer continuum, this comprehensive single source of credible, informative cancer content will help to support patients, families, and caregivers at every stage of their cancer journey.

“As the leader of the National Cancer Program, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) applauds this partnership, which demonstrates the value of organizations working together,”  said NCI director Dr. W. Kimryn Rathmell, an ASCO leader and longtime member. “With the rapid pace of scientific advancement, we live in an era of heightened demand for reliable, data-driven cancer information. However, the threat of misleading online information is real. I firmly believe it is our collective responsibility to support people with cancer and their loved ones with accurate, trustworthy information. NCI looks forward to exploring how this new partnership will complement other patient education efforts.”

ACS and ASCO have long shared a commitment to empowering people with high-quality information about cancer. In early 2022, the two organizations launched a collaboration to provide shared content on cancer survivorship, long-term side effects of treatment, fertility, and post-traumatic stress through Cancer.org. The results of this pilot program demonstrated the effectiveness of combining resources to ensure maximum reach and impact of their content, paving the way for further collaboration today.

“We are grateful to the ASCO editorial volunteers for their invaluable contributions and leadership to Cancer.Net over the years,” said Dr. Hudis. “Their work directly supports millions of patients, families, and caregivers, and this initiative expands its reach and impact. We are excited about this collaboration and its potential to significantly increase the visibility, usage, and impact of our high-quality patient content. We can’t wait to work with ACS and our volunteer editors to bring it to life.”