ACE Meeting. Thursday, March 7, 2026. Presented by Carolyn Taylor.
Session focused on meaningful engagement of advocates and people with lived experience (PWLE). The presentation would focus on how PWLE can be embedded as credible contributors in cancer research and policy, and how that engagement can be measured to ensure it is meaningful, not symbolic. I would share practical tools and approaches we use in our work for designing, documenting, and strengthening engagement so that lived experience informs decisions, not just discussions. I’d would situate this within the WHO Framework on Meaningful Engagement, focusing on how to use it in practice rather than as solely a theoretical construct.
Carolyn Taylor is the Founder and Executive Director of Global Focus on Cancer, where she works globally at the intersection of people-centered cancer care, policy, and health system reform. Her work is grounded in the conviction that lived experience and psychosocial realities are not anecdotal, but essential forms of evidence for designing equitable and effective cancer systems. Carolyn’s portfolio spans research, policy engagement, and implementation, with a particular focus on embedding meaningful engagement of people with lived experience, psychosocial support, and gender-responsive approaches into cancer research and decision-making. She collaborates closely with the World Health Organization, City Cancer Challenge, academic institutions, and civil society partners to translate evidence into practice, especially in low- and middle-income settings. She contributes to multiple Lancet Commissions (Women, Power and Cancer and People-Centered Care for UHC), helping to advance global thinking on people-centered cancer systems, power dynamics, and accountability, while ensuring that policy and research remain anchored in the realities of those most affected by cancer.
