Program Manager, Global Patient Support

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This position will provide programmatic and grants management support as a member of the American Cancer Society’s Global Patient Support (GPS) team. This is one of three teams within the Global Cancer Support department which also includes the teams of Global Prevention and Global Provider Support.

*This is a home-based position*

The GPS team implements a variety of capacity development initiatives (described at the bottom of this summary) to address practical needs of partners in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) partners for effectively addressing the growing cancer burden. This team partners with and supports LMIC health institutions and organizations to develop contextually appropriate patient-centered care solutions, particularly in the areas of patient navigation (BEACON Initiative and SPARK country approach) and patient education (EQUIPPED Initiative). The team provides training, guidance, mentorship and in some cases, grant funds, to health care facilities and cancer organizations to ensure that cancer patient care and support services are coordinated, comprehensive, and effective. The team also leads specific organizational strengthening activities (e.g., the SOURCE Program) with civil society organizations as they are often at the heart of removing barriers to care for patients through patient support services, articulating and advocating for what’s needed in cancer care, and holding governments accountable for developing effective cancer care policies and practices. The goal of these various efforts is to remove barriers to care, reduce patient suffering, increase treatment adherence, and improve health outcomes in LMICs and thus reduce the mortality gap in cancer between high-income countries and LMICs.

The person selected for this role will work primarily in the area of patient navigation capacity development and expansion through a new initiative called the SPARK country approach (#2 below). Over the next 5 years, we intend to systematically introduce and support partners in 3 countries (Indonesia, Kenya, and Nigeria) to embed patient navigation into their cancer care delivery systems and we will systematically evaluate our efforts and the resulting outcomes. SPARK is built on the resources and approached developed for the BEACON Initiative (#1 below) so the person in this role will need to deeply familiarize themselves with our suite of resources to be effective. This person will oversee and support the development and implementation of one country’s SPARK strategy in collaboration alongside two other program managers, a learning development manager, a program coordinator, a local implementation support team, and other strategic partners in the assigned country.

The person will also provide targeted support to the working groups to be established under an additional and new global patient navigation initiative called the Global Alliance for Cancer Patient Navigation (#3 below).

The candidate in this role may also provide support to other programs in the GPS portfolio as needs require and time permits.

GPS Programs and Initiatives

1. Building Expertise, Advocacy, and Capacity for Oncology Navigation (BEACON) Initiative: supports health institutions and cancer organizations in LMICs and other relevant settings around the world focused on addressing health disparities in cancer care, in designing, implementing, and sustaining cancer patient navigation programs and supports the integration of patient navigation into cancer control planning and cancer care delivery.

Built on ACS’ 30+ years of experience in patient navigation and institutional commitment to reducing health disparities, the ACS BEACON Initiative includes free access to a Global Oncology Navigation Toolkit with a comprehensive suite of online learning and downloadable capacity development resources, and a Global Oncology Navigation Community of Practice, that brings together a network of patient navigation practitioners aro