Welcome to the latest edition of CRC News, the American Cancer Society National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (ACS NCCRT) newsletter for ACS NCCRT members and partners working together to save more lives from colorectal cancer. 

Nominations Open for the 2026 ACS NCCRT National Achievement Awards 

Awards Highlight CRC Success Stories Across the Cancer Continuum 

We are pleased to announce our annual call for nominations for the ACS NCCRT National Achievement Awards, a competitive recognition program. The Awards seek to highlight those who are dedicating their time, talent and expertise to reduce the incidence of and mortality from CRC in the US through coordinated leadership, strategic planning, and advocacy screening success stories. Previous awardees have included individual clinician champions, survivors, health systems, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), cancer coalitions, and a wide variety of other entities. Learn about last year’s awardees here.  

Each award winner receives a monetary award to support continued efforts to affect CRC in the community they serve, as well as having their work highlighted throughout the next year by the ACS NCCRT on a national stage. Submissions are open until Wednesday, January 7, at 11:59pm ET.   

Nominate yourself or other partners—multiple nominations are accepted!—for the 2026 ACS NCCRT National Achievement Awards and highlight a CRC success story! 

The ACS NCCRT Welcomes Two New Steering Committee Members 

The New Members Will Start Their Term on the Steering Committee in 2026 

The ACS NCCRT is pleased to welcome our two newly elected Steering Committee members, Dionne S. Christopher, PMP, and Melinda (Mindy) M. Conklin, MS, MEd. Both new Steering Committee members have a long history of volunteerism and service with the ACS NCCRT.   

Dionne S. Christopher, PMP, is the Director of Prevention at the Colorectal Cancer Alliance (Alliance), the leading national nonprofit dedicated to ending colorectal cancer in our lifetime. With over 20 years of experience in cancer prevention and public health, Dionne leads national efforts to increase screening, improve health education, and advocate for underserved communities. Of note, Dionne worked at the ACS and for the ACS NCCRT for almost ten years.  

Melinda M. (Mindy) Conklin, MS, MEd., has worked in the health industry for over 30 years. She has a master’s degree from Virginia Tech in Human Development and a master’s degree in Counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University. Melinda lost her young husband to colorectal cancer in 2011. After her loss, she left her career as a mental health clinician and she founded Hitting Cancer Below the Belt – a nonprofit organization dedicated to colon health and colorectal cancer prevention which continues it’s efforts in Virginia and elsewhere to this day.  

Members, please join us as we warmly welcome these two new ACS NCCRT leaders who will share their expertise and experience over the next two years.  

2025 ACS NCCRT Annual Meeting a Success 

Select Slides and Recordings Will Be Available in Mid-December on NCCRT.org 

This past week, the ACS NCCRT welcomed almost 200 member representatives to our 2025 ACS NCCRT Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN. We want to thank all our speakers, leaders, volunteers, attendees, and staff who helped make the meeting a success. With almost twenty sessions spread from November 19-21, there will be much for attendees to bring home to their communities and adapt to better CRC outcomes. We are seeing great feedback through our meeting evaluation and we look forward to receiving more, so please complete the form if you attended!  

For those who could not attend in-person this year, select recordings and slides will be available on our website by mid-December. Watch CRC News for an announcement around that time! 

Member Update: Project Cure CRC from the Colorectal Cancer Alliance Announces New Funding 

Project Cure Supports Treatment Innovations for CRC 

The Colorectal Cancer Alliance (the Alliance), an ACS NCCRT member, has recently announced funding three new research proposals, as well as three newly published papers from researchers supported by their funding in peer-reviewed journals through their Project Cure CRC program. Project Cure CRC is the Alliance’s initiative to end CRC and is working to accelerate treatment innovation. To date, they have funded nearly $13 million in grants across 32 groundbreaking studies. To learn more about the newly funded projects and published journal articles or Project Cure CRC, view their press release. 

ICYMI: Recent and Upcoming CRC-Related News 

Stay Up to Date on Upcoming and Recent Education Materials and Events 

• The ACS National Navigation Roundtable is promoting their newly released resource titled, “Promising Practices Supporting the Sustainability of Patient Navigation: An Implementation Guide”. Learn more about it here. 
• The ACS NCCRT recently added a toolkit to our resource library based on work done to increase CRC screening with the African Methodist Episcopal church. View the toolkit here.  
• The Southeastern Colorectal Cancer Consortium (SECRC) recently shared a save-the-date for their annual meeting. This year’s meeting will take place in Charleston, SC from April 29-May 1. Learn more here.  

Many thanks for the great work you do!

The ACS NCCRT Team

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