[June 15, 2026 | Reposted from Roswellpark.org]
Buffalo cancer center hosts tour for Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Congressional Families® Program, elected officials.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center welcomed representatives from the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Congressional Families® Program, along with U.S. Representatives Tim Kennedy and Jim McGovern and a representative of the Seneca Nation of Indians, for a special visit recognizing Roswell Park’s leadership in cancer prevention, screening, early detection and community outreach.
Roswell Park was honored in April with the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s prestigious Carolyn “Bo” Aldigé Visionary Award, recognizing Roswell Park’s leadership and measurable impact in advancing cancer prevention and early detection. The award was presented during a Congressional Families Program event on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., where President and CEO Candace S. Johnson, PhD, traveled with several team members to accept the award. …
“My cancer journey started with my wife, Mary, who was diagnosed with breast cancer,” says cancer survivor Todd Gates (pictured above), a current Tribal Councillor and former President of the Seneca Nation of Indians. “When someone has cancer it affects the whole family. We caught it early and sought treatment here at Roswell. When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer my own personal journey began, and the services here at Roswell guided Mary and I to eventually beating cancer. Mary, who was cleared earlier, waited for me and we rang the bell together along with our family and friends. The screening services provided here often lead to early detection and that is so key to reaching better outcomes for cancer.”
Broad range of dedicated programs designed to save lives
Through decades of sustained investment in community-based education, innovative screening programs and equitable access initiatives, Roswell Park is helping more individuals reduce their cancer risk or detect cancer at its earliest, most treatable stages.
Dedicated efforts from specially trained experts across Roswell Park include:
- Early Detection Driven to You (EDDY) Mobile Screening Programs: In 2022, Roswell Park launched its EDDY screening program with a mobile unit equipped with a low-dose CT scanner to scan people at high risk for lung cancer — the first effort of its kind in New York State. Since then the program has completed more than 3,200 screenings for individuals from 169 ZIP codes, enabled in part by partnerships with the Cattaraugus, Tonawanda and Tuscarora tribal territories and fire departments across the region. The program added an EDDY Breast and Prostate Cancer Screening Mobile Screening Center in December 2025. In just a few months since that launch, the new EDDY Breast and Prostate program has screened more than 600 individuals, providing care in 28 different languages.
- Building Partnerships to Enhance Access to Cancer Prevention and Screening Resources: From the newly named Roswell Park Broadview Community Outreach and Engagement Center at 907 Michigan Ave. in Buffalo’s Fruit Belt neighborhood to specialized teams working at partner sites across Western New York, Roswell Park brings cancer education, resources and navigation to care to communities most at risk for cancer. More than 18,000 people have visited 907 Michigan Ave. since October 2023, across more than 1,000 events involving some 400 neighborhood organizations and community groups. Over the past year, 10 patient navigators based at all Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in Western New York navigated individuals to 2,218 screening encounters focused on early detection of breast, colorectal and lung cancer — with nearly 10,000 screened since the program was initiated in 2017. And through initiatives such as Esperanza y Vida and partnerships with organizations including the National Witness Project, the team delivers evidence-based cancer education and increases screening rates in communities disproportionately affected by cancer.
- Indigenous Cancer Health Initiatives: Roswell Park’s Department of Indigenous Cancer Health — the only program of its kind at a National Cancer Institute-designated U.S. cancer center — is dedicated to impactful outreach and engagement with Indigenous communities, tribal and Nation leadership, and a wide range of partner organizations around the world. The team’s work to foster trust and accessibility in cancer education, prevention, services and care collectively reached 4,460 individuals in 2025, across 80 different activities. Highlights include a Women’s Cancer Wellness Summit and grant-funded efforts supported by Lilly and the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation to bring lung health resources to tribal workforces and expanded patient navigation services to Native nations across North America.
- Tobacco Cessation Resources and Research: From its pioneering role in the research establishing the connection between cigarettes and cancer dating back to the 1930s to the more than 600,000 New York residents who have become smoke-free or vape-free through the New York State Quitline, Roswell Park has helped inform, support and advocate for people across the state. The Quitline, a free and confidential lifeline offering individualized coaching, medications, self-help materials, texting programs and additional resources for those seeking to overcome addiction to commercial tobacco products, will soon hit a milestone of responding to 3 million calls.
“Our EDDY Mobile Breast and Prostate Cancer Screening Center launched just six months ago. In that short time period, one person screened through our EDDY Mobile Breast and Prostate Cancer Screening Center and diagnosed with an early-stage cancer through the program has already completed treatment — exactly the kind of outcome we hope to make possible through early detection,” says Dr. Johnson. “These impacts underscore the need for cancer information and services in communities around Roswell Park, and they show the power of meeting people where they are with accessible, community-based cancer screening. We did not do this work alone, and we are grateful to our partners nationally and locally.”
The Prevent Cancer Foundation is the only U.S.-based nonprofit organization solely dedicated to cancer prevention and early detection, working to save lives through research, education and outreach. Prevent Cancer’s past support for efforts at Roswell Park includes a competitive grant for its AIR (Awareness, Information and Resources) in Lung Cancer program and a 2025 Partnership Award supporting community-based patient navigation and culturally responsive services.
Significant investments from New York State have also supported Roswell Park’s mobile cancer screening and outreach programs, advocated for by Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislators in order to advance state health policy and goals.
Read full article HERE!
