The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) today announced the appointment of Katy Winckworth-Prejsnar, MPH, NCCN’s Senior Manager of Global Policy and Strategic Alliances, as Co-Chair of the Global Health Council (GHC)’s Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) roundtable.

In this role, Winckworth-Prejsnar will help drive coordination between organisations worldwide that are working to improve policy and outcomes for cancer and other global health concerns.

She will serve alongside Co-Chair Eliana Monteforte, Director of Special Projects, GHC. 

“NCDs—including cancer, heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, and diabetes—are responsible for 74% of all deaths around the world,” said Winckworth-Prejsnar, citing data from the World Health Organization.

“The vast majority of these deaths are happening in low-and middle-income countries. At NCCN, we recognise our responsibility to do whatever we can to increase equitable cancer outcomes. Our work to standardise and elevate cancer care in partnership with experts in lower-resource regions is fundamental to everything that we do. I’m honoured to get to collaborate with so many dedicated advocates and policymakers through the Global Health Council’s NCD Roundtable.”

NCCN is a not-for-profit alliance of leading academic cancer centres across the United States, responsible for publishing and maintaining the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®)—evidence-based expert consensus recommendations that are the recognised standard for clinical direction and policy in cancer care.

NCCN has been an active member of GHC since 2021, joining other associations, coalitions, corporations, foundations, NGOs, academic institutions, and think tanks across 150 countries to focus on a broad range of global health issues.

Using the power of collective voice and action, GHC works across disease areas to drive sustainable funding and equitable policies that improve global health and well-being for all. 

“Moving forward, the NCD Roundtable has the opportunity to create a unified voice to promote the importance of NCDs on the Global Health and Development Agenda, including high-level meetings on Universal Health Care (UHC) and advancing the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3.4) target to reduce the global number of NCD deaths by one-third,” said Monteforte.

“GHC looks forward to co-leading the NCD Roundtable with Katy and the important advocacy voice of NCCN.”  

NCCN’s Global Program is involved in numerous projects to coordinate cancer care and share expertise across borders.

This includes free clinical practice guidelines for care providers, as well as patient resources, translated into more than 60 languages.

The NCCN distress thermometer is a free mental health screening tool available in more than 70 languages.

NCCN has also worked with partners to create International Adaptations of the NCCN Guidelines, NCCN Framework for Resource Stratification of NCCN Guidelines (NCCN Framework™), and NCCN Harmonised Guidelines™—which contain both optimal care that low- and middle-resource countries aspire to provide and pragmatic approaches for effective treatment options in resource-constrained settings.

NCCN will be hosting a global policy webinar on 'The utility and value of national cancer control plans across the economic spectrum' on Thursday, June 29, 2023. The program will include speakers from Asia, Europe, and North and South America.

Source: National Comprehensive Cancer Network