GoPublic Forum, from left to right: Steve Hildebrand, (deputy campaign manager, Barack Obama campaign), Tom Kean, (executive director, c-change), Cristina Parsons Perez, (manager, Latin America Cancer Initiatives, American Cancer Society), Jeff Rushton (founder, Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation), Pat Kelly (chief executive officer, C2CC).
The Global Leadership Forum for Cancer Control (GoPublic) took place September 23-26 in Ottawa, Canada. The event, presented by the Canadian Campaign to Control Cancer (C2CC), focused on public engagement in cancer control and best practices in the field. Cristina Parsons Perez, PhD, manager, Latin America Cancer Initiatives, American Cancer Society, together with Jeff Rushton of Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation co-chaired the steering committee for the forum. Johanna Ralston, vice president, Global Strategies and managing director, International Affairs, American Cancer Society, delivered a presentation on the Society’s global workplace initiative work and led a workshop on the subject. Parsons Perez also gave a presentation on the Society’s international work as part of the forum’s opening plenary. The GoPublic forum included high-profile speakers including: Elizabeth Edwards, cancer survivor and health advocate; Stephen Lewis, former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa; and Steve Hildebrand, who was deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign). Suzanne Steffens of Duke University reported on the Community Conversations that preceded the GoPublic forum, which was an effort to engage people around the world in an online dialogue about global cancer control. The American Cancer Society contributed to Community Conversations by hosting its own conversation via its American Cancer Society Global Facebook page and its Global Fight Against Cancer blog (see March 2, 2009, blog entry).