Richard C. Wender, M.D., to Join American Cancer Society as First-Ever Chief Cancer Control Officer
Philadelphia Physician to Become Senior-Most Staff Leader of the Society’s National and Global Cancer Control Initiatives
August 2, 2013 /3BL Media/ - Richard C. Wender, M.D., will join the American Cancer Society in a new position created as part of the Society’s work to align resources to focus on the most effective strategies to fight cancer on a national and global scale. As the Society’s first-ever Chief Cancer Control Officer, Dr. Wender represents the senior-most professional staff leader of the Society's national and global cancer control initiatives.
Wender’s new role will complement that of Society Chief Medical and Scientific Officer Otis Brawley, M.D.; while Brawley will focus on the Society’s epidemiologic and peer-reviewed cancer research programs and their translation to clinical practice, Wender will focus on the Society’s consumer and clinical guidance on cancer prevention and early detection and their implementation through evidence-based cancer control interventions. Together, they will ensure the Society has the necessary clinical expertise across the cancer continuum – from prevention and early detection to scientific discovery, treatment, cure, and end-of-life care. Wender will also work closely with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the Society’s sister advocacy organization, on matters of health policy, particularly those impacting prevention and early detection.
A Society volunteer for 26 years, Dr. Wender presently serves as Alumni Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Philadelphia-based Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital, one of the nation’s most respected comprehensive departments of family medicine.
“This is a pivotal moment in redesigning how we deliver health care in the United States, and the American Cancer Society is undergoing its own transformation process in part to respond to the challenge and opportunities of the moment,” said Dr. Wender. “No other public health organization has greater potential in my view to partner with others to help ensure that we provide the continuum of care from prevention and detection to treatment and survivorship.”
“We are tremendously excited to have Dr. Wender join the American Cancer Society in this key new role,” said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., American Cancer Society CEO. “For decades as a volunteer, Rich has been a part of our evolution and growth. As a family practice clinician and accomplished expert in cancer prevention and screening, he is well positioned to lead our cancer control efforts focused on those strategies that can reach the most people and save the most lives. Our understanding of this disease and what to do about it is unprecedented. Rich can help us to firmly harness the opportunity in front of us to change the course of cancer and the very future of public health.”
