Cancer Center Leaders Hit the Road to Celebrate Comprehensive Designation

Achieving comprehensive designation from the National Cancer Institute was a statewide effort involving many stakeholders, including legislators, Masonic Cancer Alliance partners, healthcare leaders, donors and community members. In honor of their efforts, The University of Kansas Cancer Center held celebrations in communities throughout the state. 

Many of the communities are home to members of the Masonic Cancer Alliance (MCA). The outreach network of the cancer center, the MCA is a membership-based organization that partners with cancer research, care and support professionals to advance the quality and accessibility of cancer prevention, detection, treatment and survivorship in the Heartland. The organization works with the cancer center to offer access to its clinical trials at MCA sites across Kansas and western Missouri.

The MCA provides more than 2,000 continuing education credits annually to nurses, doctors, social workers and registrars. In addition, the organization partners with community hospitals and physician groups to host cancer screening events, including skin cancer checks and prostate cancer screenings. Since 2008, more than 25,000 individuals have participated in these MCA-sponsored screenings.
Fred Logan, chair of the MCA Partners Advisory Board (PAB), attended many of the community celebrations throughout the state. The PAB serves in an advisory capacity and includes leaders from key MCA member hospitals and research institutions. Chair of the PAB since 2019, Mr. Logan’s leadership skills, business acumen and civic engagement strengthened the Board’s efforts to support the cancer center’s quest for comprehensive designation.

“In towns and cities across Kansas, people have joined us to celebrate the greatest public health achievement in our state in the last 50 years, winning comprehensive cancer center designation from the National Cancer Institute,” he says. “It was made possible because organizations and communities in our catchment area worked together.”