Red Room Where the Writers Are

A favorite of Red Room authors Craig McDonald, Martha J. Ross-Rodgers, Sherry Thompson, John F. Kremer, Lonnie Cruse, Carolyn Burns Bass, Clare Langley-Hawthorne, Rachel Gunner, Andrea King Collier, Gina Misiroglu, Susan M. Ewing, John Ramsey Miller, Wayne Spitzer, Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen, Barri Bumgarner, Heywood Gould, Gloria Lintermans, John Vorhaus, and Terry J. Healey.

President: Richard C. Wender, M.D.

Year founded: 1913

Mission: The American Cancer Societyis the nationwide, community-based, voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service.

Accomplishments:

• Thirteen chartered divisions with 3,400 offices operating in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico
• More than two million volunteers
• Invested more than $3 billion in cancer research
• Funded forty-two Nobel prizewinners early in their careers
• Publishes a large number of patient education brochures and pamphlets, books, and professional journals to help patients, families, and health care professionals

Profile: The American Cancer Society pursues its mission through five major initiatives:

• Research: For more than sixty years, the Society has led the way in cancer research through programs including extramural grants, behavioral research, intramural epidemiology, and surveillance research.
• Cancer Information Services: The Society's National Cancer Information Center always has trained cancer information specialists available to answer questions about cancer, link callers with resources in their communities, and provide information on local events. Its user-friendly website includes an interactive cancer resource center containing in-depth information on every major cancer type. Its many publications include books on specific cancer types, coping issues, and prevention; cookbooks; three clinical journals; and textbooks and other specialized cancer-related topics for health care professionals.
• International Program: The Society focuses on building programs in developing cancer societies and on collaborating with other cancer-related organizations across the globe in carrying out their shared mission.
• Advocacy and Public Policy: The Society works to impact positively those decisions made by government policymakers who make decisions that affect the lives of nearly ten million cancer patients, patients, survivors, their families, and those developing cancer. It has identified advocacy as one of its top corporate priorities and works nationwide to promote beneficial policies, laws, and regulations for those affected by cancer.
• Community Programs and Services: The Society works with schools to teach cancer prevention and general health; partners with governmental, nonprofit, and for-profit partners to implement comprehensive tobacco control programs; and promotes its skin protection message through a variety of media and education activities, as well as through the thirty-three member organizations of the American Cancer Society Skin Protection Federation.

To become more involved, visit the American Cancer Society's website.

–Huntington W. Sharp, Editor, Homepage & Special Projects, Red Room

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