Oregon Cancer Control Plan
What is the Oregon Cancer Control Plan?
All U.S. states, tribes and territories get federal funds to create cancer control plans. The goal of these plans is to improve cancer outcomes.
The 2025 Oregon Cancer Control Plan looks at how cancer affects Oregonians and how it does so unequally. Cancer groups, community advocates, policymakers and others can use the plan and its data to help close gaps in five focus areas:
- Liver and intrahepatic bile duct cancers
- Breast cancer
- Colon and rectal cancer
- Lung cancer
- Human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination to help prevent up to six different cancers
The team behind the plan identified each focus area based on whether it met all of the following criteria:
- There is lack of progress in reducing rates of cancer diagnoses and deaths.
- There are disproportionate cancer diagnoses and deaths by geography, ethnicity and racial groups.
- Evidence-based approaches to cancer prevention, screening or early detection exist.
Read the plan
Read the full 2025 Oregon Cancer Control Plan.
Oregon published its most recent cancer control plan in 2005. The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute and the Oregon Health Authority worked together to publish an updated plan in 2025. Funds supporting this work came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute.
The Knight and OHA used the most recently available data from:
- Oregon State Cancer Registry
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
- Oregon Health Authority, Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Section
- U.S. Census
- Oregon Office of Rural Health
Putting the plan into action
The Knight Cancer Institute has adopted the plan to inform its strategic direction. Oregon Health Authority’s statewide Cancer Coalition and the Knight will strategize to meet the plan’s recommendations. OHA will form task forces in 2026 to develop strategies and measurable goals for each focus area.
To find out how to take part in a task force, email OregonCancerPlan@oha.oregon.gov.
Regionally, the Knight’s community cancer control specialists are convening community partners to develop local strategies and measurable goals for each focus area.
Community cancer control specialists
The Knight Cancer Institute has five community cancer control specialists who work and collaborate regionally on cancer-related needs. This includes raising awareness of the Oregon Cancer Control Plan and its goals.
Two specialists are bilingual in English and Spanish. They help the Knight better connect with Hispanic and Latino residents, who make up 19% of the state's population. All specialists are accomplished facilitators and culturally responsive educators.
The specialists make up a team within Knight Community Outreach and Engagement. Specialists’ goals are to:
- Work with community and clinical partners, including traditional health workers, to implement the plan's recommendations
- Increase cancer prevention, screening and awareness throughout the state
- Improve the cancer patient experience for all Oregonians
To contact community cancer control specialists, email knightcommunity@ohsu.edu.
Statewide initiatives
Free training for traditional health workers: Traditional health workers are trained people who have lived experience in the communities and patient populations they serve. They consider social and economic factors (social determinants of health) when helping people in their communities. Specialists develop and offer cancer-related trainings in English and Spanish that reflect the cancer control plan’s focus areas. For a class schedule or other information, email KnightCancerTHW@ohsu.edu.
Eliminating cervical cancer in Oregon (Operation Oregon-ize): This work is inspired by Alabama’s Operation Wipe Out to eliminate cervical cancer. Our specialists are working with members of Rotary, a global nonprofit that works to create lasting change, on:
- HPV vaccination
- Cervical cancer screening
- Cervical cancer screening follow-up and treatment
Contact us
To learn more about the Oregon Cancer Control Plan, email OregonCancerPlan@oha.oregon.gov.
To contact the Knight Cancer Institute’s community cancer control specialists, email knightcommunity@ohsu.edu.
Stay informed
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