Sara Ghandehari, MD

Professor of Medicine, Medical Director, Lung Cancer Screening Program and Outpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation at Cedars-Sinai 

Elisa Tong, M.D. M.A. 

Professor of Internal Medicine, UC Davis; Director, Tobacco Cessation Policy Research Center; Medical Director, Stop Tobacco Program; Assistant Director, Population Sciences, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center

Jeffrey B. Velotta, MD, FACS

Thoracic Surgeon, Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center; Clinical Professor, Dept. of Clinical Science, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine; Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, UCSF School of Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Northern California

Help Spread the Word on Social Media:

2025 Lung Cancer Screening Social Media Toolkit

We invite you/your organization to join us in sharing the #GetScreenedCA lung cancer screening social media campaign. Access our social media toolkit for a variety of assets including testimonials from California physicians and survivors, as well as suggested talking points for individuals and organizations to create their own testimonials.

Learn more at www.getscreenedca.org.

Please share the campaign throughout November and beyond!

Cedars Sinai Cancer presents

Science of Cancer Health and Community Summit

Sofitel Los Angeles

8555 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048

December 1–2, 2025

Join us for a summit that will bring together cancer center community outreach and engagement professionals, researchers, clinicians, and community stakeholders to review the current initiatives and science on cancer health that benefits local communities. Together, we will identify high-priority outreach and research topics and develop novel approaches to translate community concerns and research into action and influence policy and practice.

REGISTER NOW!

Advancing Cancer Screening in California: Data, Guidelines, and Health Plan Innovations

Thursday, December 4th | 12:00 - 1:30 pm (PST)

Cancer screening saves lives and health plans play a vital role in maximizing uptake of cancer screening in California. The American Cancer Society, California Dialogue on Cancer, California Colorectal Cancer Coalition, CDPH and DHCS have come together to offer a webinar to support health plan teams with advancing breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening. During this session, speakers will highlight data trends, review screening guidelines and modalities, address real-world barriers, and highlight practical strategies to improve cancer screening. Health plan team members and other partners working to advance cancer screening rates are invited to join us on December 4th!

What to Expect:

• Data presentations on breast, cervical and colorectal cancer incidence, mortality, and screening trends 
• Review of current screening guidelines for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers
• Evidence-based interventions for members and providers - especially those applicable to Medi-Cal populations
• Equity-focused strategies and implementation experiences of two featured health plans

Who Should Attend:

Primary audience is health plan team members (Medi-Cal, Commercial, Medicare) working to advance cancer screening. Additional partners (e.g., health systems, FQHCs, academic institutions, CBOs) are welcome to join the discussion!

Speakers:

Scarlett Lin Gomez, PhD, M.P.H.  

Professor, Department of

Epidemiology and Biostatistics - UCSF

Director, Greater Bay Area

Cancer Registry - UCSF

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) 

Daniel “Stony” Anderson, MD, MACP 

Executive Board - Past President  

California Colorectal Cancer Coalition (C4) 

Michael Potter, MD 

Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine 

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)

Sarah Temkin, MD, FACS 

Senior Director, Early Detection 

American Cancer Society (ACS)

R. Douglas Matthews, MD, FACS 

Chico Regional Medical Director 

Partnership HealthPlan of California 

April Whetsell, MPH 

Quality Improvement Program Manager 

Gold Coast Health Plan  

Spotlight Your Program!

Do you have a resource, program success, or event to share with other CDOC members? We'd love to feature it as a future project spotlight on the CDOC member project spotlight page!



To nominate a project click here.

The CDOC Orientation Webinar Recording – Learn how to make the most of your membership with this on-demand video, covering CDOC’s mission, benefits, and engagement opportunities. [Watch Now]

As a valued CDOC member, we'd like to remind you of the many levels of membership engagement opportunities for new and existing CDOC members:

• CDOC Workgroups
• Networking opportunities
• Professional development (educational webinars, in-person meetings, etc.)
• Accessing exclusive content (CDOC listserv, comprehensive cancer updates, etc.)
• Spotlighting your organization's projects 
• Industry-specific knowledge sharing

To learn how you can stay involved with CDOC, view our Membership page on the CDOC website.

Let Us Know How You Use

The State Cancer Plan!

2021-2025 State Cancer Plan Corner

November 2025 Cancer Plan Corner Highlight

Chapter 8: Early Detection & Screening



Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., more than colon, breast and prostate cancers combined (ACS, 2025).

Recent advances in lung cancer detection and treatment include the advent of annual screening with Low-Dose Computed Tomography (LDCT) in high risk individuals, shown to have a mortality benefit and now recommended by the U.S . Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), 3 and the development of targeted therapies.

Please visit our website to read more on the cancer plan's Early Detection & Screening objectives. You may also access the specific chapter here.

Contact info: cdocshare@gmail.com

Nov 17: ACS QIResource Consulting (QIRC) Program Application Deadline. Provides no-cost quality improvement consultation to cancer centers serving disproportionately affected populations. Next QIRC project cycle runs for approximately six months, starting January 2026. Apply here.

Nov. 18: ACS National Navigation Roundtable Webinar Technology with Purpose: How Navigators Can Lead Ethically, Strategically, and Equitably

Nov 19: ACS NCCRT Event - 2025 ACS NCCRT Annual Meeting

Nov 20: Prevent Cancer Foundation - Community Exchange -Two-part webinar series on hepatitis and liver cancer Presented by the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors

Webinar 1: Introduction to NASTAD - Thursday, November 20, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. ET - Register here

Dec 9: Webinar 2: Understanding the hepatitis A through D spectrum and its role in liver cancer 4:00 - 5:00 pm ET - Register here

Dec 1–2: Cedars Sinai Cancer - Science of Cancer Health and Community Summit at Sofitel Los Angeles. Learn more and register here.

Dec 3: Living Beyond Breast Cancer Webinar Patient-Centered Dosing in Metastatic Breast Cancer

Dec 4: Breast Cancer Resource Center Webinar Let’s Talk About Breast Cancer: Roadmap to Spiritual Resiliency and Wellness

Dec. 8: Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units Webinar Childhood Cancer & the Environment Program: Evaluating the Impacts of the Environment on Pediatric Cancer Risk and Survivorship

Dec 9: NCCN Event Addressing the Unique Cancer Care Needs of Veterans and First Responders

Dec 18-21: Public Health Foundation Event 2025 Public Health Learning Forum

• Indian Health Service: IHS trained 42 cancer patient navigators across 17 Tribal and Urban Indian programs and is seeking partners to address Medi-Cal reimbursement gaps for navigation services--contact anna.knight@ihs.gov to learn more.

• Trust for America's Health (TFAH) is searching for motivated undergraduate students, graduate students, or recent graduates to join their Spring 2026 internship program, running from June 2026 to May 2026. The full job description can be found here.

• California Health Maps: Offers MSSA and district-level granularity, ideal for visual advocacy. Learn more here.

• CalData Explorer: Provides 2022 data with strong trend analysis capabilities. Learn more here.

• New! MENA Category in Race/Ethnicity Standards: New Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) category has been federally approved, but implementation will take time across systems. This is a call for awareness and potential collaboration--especially for cancer centers and partners involved in data collection, reporting, and equity initiatives.

CDOC is made up of a diverse group of stakeholders that engage in important and impactful work we'd like to showcase. We have a new process for submitting your trainings, events, articles, grant opportunities, and more.  

We kindly ask you to email us any content by the 5th of each month to Joyce Ceja (joyce.ceja@cdph.ca.gov). If there is time-sensitive information (e.g. upcoming training) that you would like to share, we will do our best to include, but cannot guarantee that it will make the newsletter or announcements.  

Submission requirements: 

• Include a title
• Include the exact verbiage you'd like for us to include. Please do not include an attachment and ask us to share, a title and verbiage must be included.
• Include a contact person for any inquiries   
• Include any attachments in a pdf file if possible

We appreciate your patience and support at this time, and we look forward to your submissions.