GCRCCP honored by ACS National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable

3/04/2025, American Cancer Society

Just in time for Colorectal Cancer Awareness month, the American Cancer Society National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (ACS NCCRT), founded in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, honored Georgia CORE and the Georgia Colorectal Cancer Control Program with the 2025 ACS NCCRT National Achievement Award.

“The call to increase colorectal cancer screening rates has never been more urgent than today and we applaud our honorees who have stepped up to help save lives,” said Steven Itzkowitz, MD, FACP, FACG, AGAF, gastroenterologist with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and ACS NCCRT chair. “We are proud of the work our honorees have done and will continue to do in the fight to reduce the incidence of and mortality from colorectal cancer and make progress toward our shared goal to increase screening rates to 80% or higher.”

According to the American Cancer Society, the number of colorectal cancers in the US for 2025 are estimated to be about 107,320 new cases of colon cancer (54,510 in men and 52,810 in women) and about 46,950  new cases of rectal cancer (27,950 in men and 19,000 in women). 

The ACS NCCRT National Achievement Award honors individuals and organizations who dedicate their time, talent, and expertise to advancing initiatives that support the shared goal to increase colorectal screening rates in communities across the nation. The awards include one grand prize winner and four other honorees, each of whom receives a monetary award to support continued efforts to increase colorectal cancer screenings. 

Georgia CORE became a recipient of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) grant in 2020, and formed a collaborative partnership with Augusta University and Horizons, South Georgia’s Cancer Coalition. Between 2021 and 2023, CRC screening rates in southeast Georgia rose from 34% to 45%, increasing 11 percentage points in just two years. Furthermore, in southwest Georgia, participating clinics screened more than 1,500 more patients for CRC in 2023 (6,309 screened versus 4,748 in 2022). Also, the partnership launched Augusta University’s TeleECHO CRC Screening project that has held 22 sessions since 2022, educating providers about how to increase CRC screening rates.