Founding Story
Advocates for Collaborative Education (ACE) was born from a tweet dialogue during #ASCO20 where, after decades of breaking down silos between patient communities and clinical care and research, a group of advocates realized we had inadvertenly created silos across cancer types.
While some cancers had well-established research funding and connections, others were struggling in the awareness stage. With limited resources and urgent, unmet needs across the cancer continuum, we felt learning with and from each other was the answer.
In the following years, our group met online several times a week to share wild successes, abysmal failures, and to lean on the hive mind of our membership for suggestions and support in our collective advocacy efforts. We experienced with rapid membership growth and, following the success of our first, advocate-led research project into quality-of-life, we incorporated in 2024 as a 501c3 organization to continue and expand our efforts.
Our Mission
To unite & empower advocates through pan-cancer collaborations, basic and advanced advocacy education, and the sharing of leading practices
Our Goal
To elevate patient, community, research, and policy advocacy in order to improve outcomes of people living with a cancer diagnosis
We gather together virtually several times a month, to assess what is already out there in each of our communities, what is working for some groups and what might be leveraged across others before identifying and addressing consistent gaps.
We co-create materials, support each others’ projects, and are eagerly mentoring a new generation of patient, research, and policy advocates.
Upcoming Events
1/5/26
Leadership Team Meeting
1/8/26
ACE Monthly Meeting – Project Updates
1/8/26
ACE Board Meeting
1/12/26
New Member Orientation
1/12/26
Leadership Team Meeting
1/13/26
Survey Closing: Advocacy Expertise & Compensation
1/14/25
Strategy Session
1/26/25
Leadership Team Meeting
2/5/26
ACE Board Meeting
2/12/26
ACE Monthy Meeting
2/19/26
ACE Meeting – Medical Ethics & Advocacy