Get to Know the Prevent Cancer Foundation, a New NHC Member
By: Jody Hoyos, Chief Executive Officer, Prevent Cancer Foundation
What is your organization’s mission?
The mission of the Prevent Cancer Foundation is to empower people to stay ahead of cancer through prevention and early detection.
Tell us about the communities you serve.
At the Prevent Cancer Foundation, we believe that prevention and early detection should be accessible to everyone—no matter who they are or where they live. That’s why we support the people and places where change happens every day: local communities.
In addition to educating adults of screening age about the routine cancer screenings they need, we fund and partner with grassroots organizations across the country. These organizations are deeply embedded in their communities, trusted by their neighbors, and uniquely positioned to deliver life-saving information and services. These partners understand the barriers their neighbors face and are committed to breaking them down—whether that means offering culturally tailored education, providing transportation to screening appointments or navigating complex health systems. By supporting their work, we help ensure that more people can access the screenings and preventive care they need to stay healthy.
What are your organization’s main programs or the issue areas you focus on?
Our work is guided by four core pillars: research, education, outreach, and advocacy.
We invest in cutting-edge research, giving innovative ideas the springboard they need to become transformative solutions that can save lives.
Through education, we ensure that individuals and communities have the knowledge and tools they need to take action—understanding what to do, how to do it, and how to access critical screenings and preventive care. The Prevent Cancer Foundation’s effort, Early Detection = Better Outcomes, provides resources to help people learn about routine cancer screenings. Just 51% of U.S. adults 21 and older say they have had a routine medical appointment or routine cancer screening in the past year—a 10-percentage point drop from 2024—as reported in the Foundation’s 2025 Early Detection Survey. The Better Outcomes initiative offers a personal screening quiz, cancer screening chart, a webinar, resources to find free and low-cost screenings, and a public service announcement video to educate people on the importance of routine screenings.
Our outreach efforts focus on empowering local organizations. By funding community-based groups, we help them deliver services in the neighborhoods they serve.
Finally, our advocacy work drives policy change. We focus on legislation, funding, and systemic support to ensure this field has the resources it needs to thrive and grow.
How does your work relate to the National Health Council’s mission and the work of our members?
Like many members of NHC, the Foundation recognizes that cancer prevention can not only be cost-effective, but lifesaving. We share a focus on health equity and patient-centered care to find ways to help everyone access prevention and early detection services. We prioritize medically underserved communities, investing in patient navigation programs and community partnerships that dismantle structural barriers to care. Currently, our community grants program is funding organizations that improve cancer screening access through culturally tailored, community-based navigation models.
Like the NHC and its members, the Foundation approaches messaging with the patient at the center of the equation. Early Detection = Better Outcomes reflects a shared commitment to empowering individuals with actionable health.
How does the founding or origins of your organization influence your work today?
When the Prevent Cancer Foundation was founded nearly 40 years ago, prevention and early detection were not part of the national conversation around cancer. At that time, the focus was largely on treatment and what to do after a diagnosis. The Foundation filled a gap in the conversation and built a different path forward: more voices championing the benefits of prevention and early detection.
Over the past four decades, we’ve built deep trust with communities across the United States. That trust allows us to share critical information about cancer prevention and screenings in ways that can resonate with both the person who is up to date on all their routine screenings and the person who is behind on getting to the doctor simply because they didn’t know they needed to be screened.
At the same time, we’re looking ahead. As new technologies like artificial intelligence and blood-based cancer screenings emerge, we want to serve as a bridge between innovation and the public. By keeping them at the center, we help ensure that promising advances don’t just stay in labs or headlines, but they reach the people who need them most.
What inspires you to lead and create change through your work?
We know there is a world in the not-too-distant future where cancer is preventable, detectable, and beatable for all. We want to lead that world and we want to bring it as fast as we possibly can. This inspires me every day, alongside what I like to call the “secret sauce” to our success: the people.
Our impact is built on the credibility and trust we’ve earned since the start—from our team, our staff, our board, our Medical Advisory Board, and the many individuals and communities who believe in and support our mission. That kind of trust isn’t something you can replicate. You earn it — and we earn it every single day.
Prevent Cancer Foundation is a new member of the National Health Council. For more information on NHC membership, please email membership@nhcouncil.org.
