ASCP Patient Champions Celebrate World Cancer Day’s Patient-centered Care Approach

World Cancer Day will be held on February 4. Organized by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), World Cancer Day 2025 has chosen the theme United by Unique, emphasizing the importance of a people-centered approach to cancer care. This approach represents a fundamental shift in how health and cancer services are designed and delivered, placing individuals, families, and communities at the heart of the health systems. 

The ASCP Patient Champions program also embraces a patient-centered approach to care. The Patient Champions program educates patients about their diagnostic test results so that they can better advocate for their own care.   

“ASCP Patient Champions share what they’ve learned to empower patients to do the same. Empowered patients are essential to create optimal health care worldwide,” says Deedee O’Brien, co-chair of the ASCP Patient Champions Steering Committee.  

As an example, this is the first year that the ASCP Patient Champions Steering Committee has realigned its board to have both an ASCP pathologist and a Patient Champion serve together as co-chairs of its steering committee. Ms. O’Brien, who has long been involved in the Patient Champion program, is the first layperson to serve as a co-chair. 

Jeff Myers, MD, MASCP, immediate past chair of the steering committee, explains, “We are always looking for ways to work directly with our Patient Champions, not only to elevate their lived experiences in ways that inform the work we do in our laboratories, but also to more effectively tap into their own ideas and insights for innovations likely to impact patient-centered care.” 

Joseph J. Maleszewski, MD, FASCP, who currently co-chairs the steering committee with Ms. O’Brien, adds, “Joint physician-patient leadership is the most outward reflection of the spirit of this committee. Increasingly, patients are being empowered with their own data and the desire to interact with and understand those who are helping that data is likewise growing. Pathologists must embrace this new paradigm and find ways of meeting the new needs of our patients. Partnerships between pathologists and patients are critical to advocacy, advancement, and ultimately better medicine.” 

Ms. O’Brien’s experiences as the final caregiver for her mother and her husband until they passed away, as primary caregiver for her current partner, Bob, who is paralyzed with transverse myelitis, and dealing with her own cancer diagnosis, have taught her the importance of education, gathering second opinions, seeking different opinions, and advocating for loved ones.