The ACS CAN Oregon Research and Policy Breakfast: Innovation in Cancer brings together leaders from research, healthcare, business, and public policy to examine how breakthroughs in cancer care move from discovery to real‑world impact. Across the cancer continuum, innovation is accelerating—through advances in precision medicine and targeted therapies, the use of data and artificial intelligence to improve detection and clinical decision‑making, and new models of care delivery designed to improve outcomes.
Yet scientific progress alone is not enough. Whether innovation reaches patients depends on the policies that shape research investment, data sharing, coverage, access, and implementation. This breakfast will explore the critical intersection of research, practice, and policy—highlighting both the promise of emerging cancer innovations and the real‑world barriers that can slow or limit their impact.
Hosted at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, the program will feature perspectives from researchers advancing new discoveries, clinicians implementing innovative tools in practice, industry leaders shaping the future of cancer care, patient voices, and policy experts working to ensure innovation is responsibly scaled and equitably accessed. Through this conversation, ACS CAN will underscore the essential role of advocacy in creating a policy environment where innovation can reach patients faster, more fairly, and at scale.
The breakfast will conclude with a reflection on what is possible when research, innovation, and policy align—and a call to action to support the advocacy work that turns progress into lives saved.
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) advocates for evidence-based public policies to reduce the cancer burden for everyone. We engage our volunteers across the country to make their voices heard by policymakers at every level of government. We believe everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer.
Since 2001, as the American Cancer Society’s nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate, ACS CAN has successfully advocated for billions of dollars in cancer research funding, expanded access to quality affordable health care, and advanced proven tobacco control measures.
We stand with our volunteers—people whose lives have been impacted by cancer—rallying to demand change. Together, we’re working to make cancer a top priority for public officials and candidates at the federal, state, and local levels. By engaging advocates across the country to make their voices heard, ACS CAN influences legislative and regulatory solutions that will end cancer as we know it, for everyone.
Learn MoreFor more than 2 decades, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network has been dedicated to pursing better outcomes for every cancer, every life. Today, more people are surviving cancer than ever before, but there is still work to be done. Join us, support us, and help us end cancer as we know it, for everyone.
Protected and secured $4.8 billion in state appropriations through advocacy to help fund cancer research and programs that reduce the tobacco burden and increase access to screenings.
Held the tobacco industry responsible for decades of public deceit through a requirement for companies to post truthful statements about their deadly products at nearly 220,000 retail outlets nationwide.
Expand insurance coverage of comprehensive biomarker testing in over 20 states and counting.