Cancer Policy & Advocacy Team (CPAT)
2025 Virtual Symposium
The Virtual Cancer Policy and Advocacy Team Symposium is an opportunity to learn about cancer policy issues, develop advocacy skills, and hear the latest in whole person care from the the comfort of your own home.
The topics covered at the 2025 Virtual Symposium include:
- An update on health care policy and future outlook on potential advocacy opportunities.
- A session on understanding the benefits of cardio-oncology medicine and how cancer impacts different aspects of the cardiovascular system. Learn about what survivors can do to improve their cardiovascular health.
- A keynote by Dr. Marc McManus, “The Restorative Power of Storytelling for Cancer Survivors and Caregivers.”
- A session on setting boundaries and using clear communication with loved ones to improve your mental health.
Watch the session recordings and learn more about the speakers below.
Session Recordings
Health Policy Update:
Understanding ACA Tax Credits Policy & What Happens If They Expire
Edwin Park, JD
Research Professor
Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy
Edwin Park, JD shares the impact of the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits on marketplace coverage. He delves into the history of the marketplace, who it currently serves and the current enhanced premium tax credits for marketplace enrollees. He concludes with current estimates of the impact of the expiration of tax credits including estimated premium hikes and enrollment.
Download Session Slides (PDF)Health Policy Update:
Updates From Capitol Hill and How You Can Be Heard
Alison Anway, JD
Chair, Health Policy Advisory Group
Ballard Partners
Alison Anway, JD, joins Shelley Fuld Nasso and Andrea Hans of Cancer Nation to discuss the current sentiment on Capitol Hill and the current timeline to pass a federal budget to keep the government running. They discuss the motivations of each political party to legislate and the current willingness pass enhanced premium tax credits.
Andrea introduces the Protecting Affordable Health Coverage: ACA Tax Credits fact sheet that Cancer Nation created, and talks about how advocates can call their member of Congress to urge them to extend the enhanced premium tax credits before they expire.
Download ACA Tax Credits Fact Sheet (PDF)Take Action: Tell Congress to Extend ACA Tax Credits
Millions Could Lose Health Coverage if Congress Fails to Act
22 million Americans rely on Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits to afford health insurance. If Congress lets them expire at the end of 2025, premiums will skyrocket by 75% and more than 4 million people will lose coverage entirely. These tax credits are a lifeline for cancer survivors, working families, and people in every corner of America. Without them, millions will be priced out of coverage, pushed into medical debt, and forced to go without lifesaving care. This is not about partisanship — it’s about people. And it’s about whether we, as a nation, believe that families should have access to affordable care.
Cardio-Oncology: What Survivors Need to Know
Eugene Storozynsky, MD, PhD, FACC
Enterprise Chief of Cardio-Oncology
Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals
Dr. Eugene Storozynsky presents an overview of the facts of cancer and the heart and cardiovascular system. He shares oncologic treatments associated with cardiovascular toxicity and a case study to better illustrate the different ways to predict cardiovascular risk. Finally, he discusses ways for cancer survivors to lower their risk of cardiovascular complications.
Download Session Slides (PDF)The Restorative Power of Storytelling for Cancer Survivors and Caregivers
Survivorship Keynote
Marc McManus Psy.D, PA-C
Founder, Virgil Healthcare Consulting and Advocacy LLC
Dr. Marc McManus’s survivorship keynote focuses on the restorative power of storytelling. He starts by illustrating the connections between trauma, stress, and a cancer diagnosis.
Dr. McManus shares his own cancer story and highlights how stories have a collective healing power because they allow you to connect emotionally with others. He introduces the Hero’s Journey framework and how collective meaning-making creates an opportunity for cancer survivors to connect, validate, and honor each other.
Check out the Hero’s Journey Restorying Intervention mentioned by Dr. McManus in the session.
Download Session Slides (PDF)Communicating Through Cancer
Georgia Anderson, PhD, MSW
Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati
In this session, Dr. Georgia Anderson challenges the audience to define communication and articulate what it means to you. She explores the origins of the word “Patient” and discusses how cancer survivors set the tone for how we discuss cancer and process our emotions. She delves into communication strategies that focus on being intentional and setting boundaries.
Download Session Slides (PDF)Speaker Biographies
Click a speaker name to read more.
Marc McManus, Psy.DGeorgia Anderson, PhDAlison Anway, JDAndrea HansShelley Fuld Nasso, MPPEdwin Park, JDEugene Storozynsky, MD, PhD
Marc McManus, Psy.D, PA-C
Founder
Virgil Healthcare Consulting and Advocacy LLC
Marc McManus, Psy.D, PA-C is a cancer survivor, researcher, and the founder of Virgil Healthcare Consulting and Advocacy, LLC, an organization dedicated to cancer survivorship advocacy and advancing research to improve access to integrated behavioral healthcare services.
A physician assistant with over two decades of experience in primary care and integrated behavioral health, Marc has worked with patients in diverse clinical settings across the country. He also serves as an adjunct lecturer in biopsychology. His work bridges medicine, psychology, and advocacy, with a focus on expanding evidence-based, compassionate care for patients and families.
Georgia Anderson, PhD, MSW, LISW-S
Assistant Professor
University of Cincinnati
Georgia Anderson has been a social worker for 20 years. Her early career in community mental health led her to medical social work, where she has practiced as an oncology and palliative care clinician for 17 years at the University of Cincinnati Barrett Cancer Center, Cancer Support Community, and Cancer Family Care.
Dr. Anderson earned her PhD in Social Work at the University of Louisville. Her research focuses on cancer survivorship with a focus on quality of life and relationships, particularly in head & neck and gynecologic cancer populations. Her current research is building upon her dissertation: The Lived Experience of Women with Head & Neck Cancer and the Impact on Close Relationships. Dr. Anderson is currently an assistant professor of social work at the University of Cincinnati. She is the BSW Director for the on-campus program and teaches in the BSW and MSW programs.
Alison Anway, JD
Chair, Health Policy Advisory Group
Ballard Partners
Alison Anway serves as Chair of Ballard Partners’ Health Policy Advisory Group, bringing decades of expertise in shaping healthcare policy at the highest levels. Prior to this role, she founded and led the Anway Policy Group (APG), a consulting firm focused on strategic policy solutions across the healthcare sector.
Alison launched her career in health policy in the office of U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), where she played a pivotal role as Legislative Assistant for Healthcare during the historic passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Her deep involvement throughout the two-year legislative process leading to President Obama’s signing of the ACA positioned her as a sought-after expert in federal health policy.
Following her work on Capitol Hill, Alison was recruited by Anthem—the largest Blue Cross Blue Shield plan in the U.S.—to head its Public Policy team for federal health programs. In this capacity, she led policy initiatives supporting Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, Medicaid, and federal contracting, helping shape Anthem’s strategic approach to government-sponsored healthcare.
In 2015, Alison was tapped to build the Public Policy department at UCB Pharma, a global biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. This role expanded her influence into the pharmaceutical domain, complementing her prior experience with health plans and offering her a rare dual-sector perspective on the priorities of two of the most powerful constituencies in health policy.
In 2018, Alison founded APG to deliver tailored federal and state policy consulting to a diverse client base—including health plans, pharmaceutical companies, physician groups, and trade associations. Today, she brings this breadth of experience to Ballard Partners, where she leads the Health Policy Advisory Group in offering a comprehensive suite of services: bill analysis and tracking, regulatory summaries, weekly policy briefings, internal presentations, platform development, and policy research.
Andrea Hans
Public Policy Manager
Cancer Nation
Andrea Hans manages public policy at Cancer Nation. Her breast cancer diagnosis in 2021, as an otherwise young healthy adult who found her own lump and was repeatedly told she was “too young”, served as a call to action. With a background in public health, Andrea has become an active voice in health policy and advocacy.
Shelley Fuld Nasso, MPP
CEO
Cancer Nation
Shelley Fuld Nasso, MPP, is CEO of Cancer Nation — the voice of the 18 million Americans living with, through, and beyond cancer. Under her leadership, Cancer Nation (formerly the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship) pushes for bold policy change to ensure every survivor has the right to not just survive, but thrive. From Capitol Hill to cancer centers, Shelley elevates survivor voices and demands care that actually works for the people living it.
A defining part of her work is helping survivors and caregivers find their voice in the democratic process, whether it’s their first visit to Capitol Hill or telling their story to someone in power. Through advocacy training and deep community-building, she empowers people to speak out, be heard, and help shape the policies that shape their lives.
Before joining Cancer Nation in 2013, she led public policy initiatives at Susan G. Komen. She holds degrees from Rice University and the Harvard Kennedy School. Shelley’s advocacy is deeply personal — rooted in love for her friend Dr. Brent Whitworth, a compassionate physician who died of cancer at 43, and in solidarity with countless others in her life affected by cancer.
She lives in Maryland with her husband and three sons. When not pushing for a cure for care, she’s likely found on a paddleboard, in a yoga class, or solving a crossword.
Edwin Park, JD
Research Professor
Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy
Edwin Park is a Research Professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. His work at the Center for Children and Families (CCF) primarily focuses on Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Affordable Care Act and he is considered one of the nation’s leading health policy experts on issues related to Medicaid and CHIP financing and the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions, among others. He also analyzes tax policies related to health care and policies related to drug pricing and private insurance markets.
Previously, he worked for 17 years at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, most recently as Vice President for Health Policy. He also was a health policy advisor for the National Economic Council at the White House, a Medicaid professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and a health law attorney in private practice. In addition, he served on the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition team. He is also a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.
He has a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He also has an A.B. in Public and International Affairs, summa cum laudeand Phi Beta Kappa, from Princeton University.
Eugene Storozynsky, MD, PhD
Jefferson Health Enterprise Chief of Cardio-Oncology
Professor of Medicine and Oncology
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital — Jefferson Health
Dr. Eugene Storozynsky is the Jefferson Health Enterprise Chief of Cardio-Oncology. He completed his BS in Biochemistry in May 1990, followed by a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology in 1998 and an MD in 2000 as part of an NIH MSTP Program at the University of Rochester (URMC). He is Board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases, Echocardiography, and Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation. He joined URMC faculty in 2006 and later developed the first Cardio-Oncology Program in Upstate New York at URMC in 2010.
He moved to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital/Jefferson Health in July 2021 to become Professor of Medicine and Oncology and the inaugural Jefferson Health Enterprise Chief of Cardio-Oncology working to develop a comprehensive multi-disciplinary cardio-oncology program to address all heart conditions for patients burdened by cancer caused by novel therapies and to apply expertise in imaging, arrhythmia, structural heart disease, and advanced heart failure in the management of the oncology patient.
He is an inaugural member of the International Cardio-Oncology Society (ICOS) Survivorship Working Group begun in 2023 that meets approximately quarterly to improve outcomes for cancer survivors at risk of cardiotoxicity and cardiovascular disease by integrating evidence and best practice in cancer survivorship care and cardio-oncology practice. He has presented nationally and internationally and authored or co-authored over 50 publications encompassing immunologic and cardiovascular/cardio-oncology topics and is involved in ongoing research looking at the role of cancer medications causing arrhythmias and utilizing novel technology to identify patients at risk of cardiovascular disease undergoing radiation therapy.
2025 CPAT Program Supporters
