80% by 2018 Heralded as Year’s “Game-Changer”

 

In a year-end article on MedPage Today®, the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable’s (NCCRT’s) 80% by 2018 colon cancer screening initiative was named one of its cancer “game-changers” of 2015.

MedPage Today asked 50 oncologists what they thought were the “game-changers” in fighting cancer in 2015. While the majority cited immunotherapy drugs, Sidney Winawer, MD, Paul Sherlock Chair in Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, referred to the nationwide 80% by 2018 initiative as a prevention advance and “game-changer” of 2015.

“This endorsement of 80% by 2018 by Dr. Winawer reinforces the importance of the work we have been doing and continue to do. We are so grateful to all the individuals and organizations who have been sharing their time and talent making 80% by 2018 a reality,” said NCCRT Director Mary Doroshenk.

The 80% by 2018 initiative includes more than 550 organizations who have committed to eliminating colorectal cancer as a major public health problem and are working toward the shared goal of reaching 80% of adults ages 50 and older being screened for colorectal cancer by 2018.