
Honoring Ellen Stovall, a Hero in Cancer Advocacy
A note from NCCS CEO Shelley Fuld Nasso: Dear Friends, I write to you with the devastating news that the cancer community lost a hero this week. Our dear friend and colleague, Ellen Stovall, passed away on January 5th due to cardiac complications related to her cancer treatments. A 44-year ...

Remembering Ellen Stovall: Arrangements Announcement
To all of Ellen’s friends and family, here are the plans for the coming week. Funeral services for Ellen Stovall will be livestreamed at 1 PM on Sunday, January 10 from Congregation Beth Israel in Honesdale, PA. This is the synagogue where Ellen was named, confirmed, and married. She is ...

Ellen Stovall: One Person Can Make a Difference
From 1992 to 2008, Ellen Stovall was the president and CEO of NCCS, the oldest survivor-led organization advocating for quality cancer care for all Americans. This video, filmed and produced in 2008, features interviews from NCCS co-founders Dr. Patti Ganz and Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan, Dr. Julia Rowland, Dr. Zeke Emanuel, ...

Remembering Ellen Stovall: A Message from Sandy Welton, Chairman of the Board of NCCS
[smartslider2 slider="25"] With a heavy heart I write to the many friends and admirers of Ellen Stovall and NCCS about her passing on January 5, suddenly from cardiac complications due to her cancer treatments. To many of us—likely thousands—she was a trustworthy friend, a mentor, a collaborator, a visionary. Ellen ...

20 Years Later Series Wrap-Up: Julia Rowland Shares a History of the Imperatives and the Current Challenges in Survivorship
This post is part of our 20 Years Later blog series which examines progress in advancing the principles in the 1995 NCCS publication Imperatives for Quality Cancer Care: Access, Advocacy, Action, and Accountability (Imperatives). The Twelfth Principle states, "Cancer survivors, health care providers and other key constituency groups must work together to increase public ...

Cancer Survivorship: You’re Never Really Done
When the Imperatives of Quality Cancer Care were written by NCCS 20 years ago, one principle of quality care stated that, “Long-term survivors should have access to specialized follow-up clinics that focus on health promotion, disease prevention, rehabilitation, and identification of physiologic and psychological problems. Communication with the primary care ...

Reflections on Cancer Survivors Day: Managing Survivorship for a Lifetime
On Sunday, June 7th, we are reminded by cancer centers to celebrate National Cancer Survivors Day®. Today, there are a sea of colors for different cancer ribbons and wristbands, e.g., the ubiquitous pink for breast cancer, amber for bladder cancer, grey for brain cancer, yellow for all cancers, and so ...

Honoring Phyllis Torda, a Fierce Advocate for Patient-Centered Health Care
The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS), notes with sadness the passing of Phyllis Torda, a fierce advocate for patient-centered health care for more than 25 years. We at NCCS first came to know Phyllis when she was with Families USA as their Director of their Health and Social policies ...

The Impetus for Creating the “Imperatives for Quality Cancer Care”
The impetus for creating an issue paper entitled "Imperatives for Quality Cancer Care" (Imperatives) came from a desire for the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) to have a snapshot of the state of both the art and science of quality cancer care for people diagnosed with cancer across three domains—psychosocial ...

NCCS Responds to Two Recent Articles Covering the Complexities of Transparency and Shared Decision-Making Issues
Two stories in last week’s New York Times illustrate the complexities of the changing healthcare marketplace. They both describe discrete issues that beleaguer and hinder the transparency and shared decision-making that we at the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) call for when patients need to make an informed decision ...