Advocacy News from the Community Oncology Alliance Patient Advocacy Network (CPAN) – New York Cancer and Blood Specialists (NYCBS) Chapter

June 22, 2022

By Rose Gerber, M.S., Director of Patient Advocacy and Education, Community Oncology Alliance, Washington, DC

Background: Advocacy Partnership

The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) is a national organization representing community oncology (physician owned) cancer centers across the United States; we are proud to have New York Cancer and Blood Specialists (NYCBS) as a member. 

COA’s mission is to ensure that cancer patients receive quality, affordable, and accessible cancer care in their own communities. COA’s Patient Advocacy Network (CPAN) focuses on providing education and raising awareness of independent, community cancer care and the issues that affect the quality and accessibility of cancer care at the local level. CPAN advocates include patients, survivors, caregivers, nurses, pharmacists, oncologists, and all interested members of the community.

The CPAN NYCBS chapter was launched in 2013 with the support of Chief Executive Officer Jeff Vacirca, MD, past COA board president, and Nicole Flores, Chief Administrative Officer and past CPAN Chapter Advocacy Leader. It has been an honor to work with Dr. Vacirca, Nicole, and the incredible NYCBS patients/survivors in the execution of multiple successful advocacy initiatives. Our CPAN NYCBS chapter is now led by Brittany Kaliscik, Director of Patient Experience.  I look forward to working with Brittany on many new advocacy initiatives going forward. 


Collaborative Advocacy Projects (a sampling):

  • NYCBS Patient and Staff Stories Video Project:  25 participants including NYCBS staff members, patients, survivors, and caregivers shared their experiences with NYCBS in this educational and inspiring video project.

  • CPAN/ NYCBS Advocated on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC: Advocates from NYCBS joined us on Capitol Hill meeting with members of congress advocating for multiple national oncology issues that impact local patient care.

  • Participation in the Community Oncology National Conference /COA Patient Advocacy Network Advocacy Program Track: NYCBS cancer patients/survivors and advocates have participated in COA’s annual conference from 2014-2022

  • CPAN NYCBS hosted multiple community events including CPAN advocacy education during NYCBS patient appreciation day

Current Advocacy Partnership News and Updates:

Our CPAN chapters (in cancer center across the U.S) including the NYCBS CPAN chapter are inclusive of all cancer types, and we will continue this program model going forward. In addition to our CPAN all-inclusive chapter model, we are excited to share that under the initiative of David Eagle, MD,Chair, Legislative Affairs and Patient Advocacy for New York Cancer and BloodSpecialists we launched the CPAN NYCBS Prostate Advocacy group on June 2, 2022. The virtual summit included updates on NYCBS from Brittany Kaliscik, Director of Patient Experience, and insight into advocacy concerns for prostate cancer patients from David Eagle, MD. Dr. Eagle provided attendees with updates on the rapidly evolving therapeutics and diagnostics impacting prostate cancer patients. I provided national updates on COA and CPAN. We were grateful for the participation and contributions from the prostate cancer patients/survivors that joined our launch event. The CPAN NYCBS Prostate cancer advocacy group is open to all prostate advocates in New York. 

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