
About Us
- Work with local people to build a global community of cities, institutions, and partners
- Empower that community with the tools, processes, and structures to improve cancer care locally.
- Share what we learn at the city level with the rest of the world so that local innovation can reap global benefits.
Our Partners
C/Can is committed to building a global community of multi-sector stakeholders. These diverse actors provide expertise and in-kind and financial support during all phases of the initiative’s design, development, and implementation at global, regional, and city levels.



















Our Team


Dr Susan Henshall
Chief Executive Officer
Isabel Mestres Mesa
Director, Global Public Affairs
Rebecca Morton Doherty
Head, Policy and Global Impact
Laura Solia Shellaby
City Health Financing Lead
Jade Chakowa
Manager, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Eva Ciurana
Manager, Partnerships
Laura Foschi
Administrative Coordinator
Dr Rolando Camacho
Global Special Advisor, Technical Assistance
Dr Jose Jeronimo
Global Special Advisor
Dr Aung Naing Soe
Regional Director, Asia
Dr Thet Ko Aung
City Manager, Yangon
Dr Silvina Frech
Regional Director, Latin America
Olga Isabel Arboleda Naranjo
Gerente de Proyecto, Cali
Dr Laura Flores
Gerente de Proyecto, Asuncion
Stephanie Shahini
City Manager, Porto Alegre
Fred Kwame Awittor
City Coordinator, Kumasi
Dr Christian R. Ntizimira
City Manager, Kigali
Dr Gvantsa Khizanishvili
City Manager, Tbilisi
Our Board
Name
Institution
Country
Sanchia Aranda (Board Chair)
Cancer Council Australia
Australia
Raul Doria (Vice Chair)
Grupo San Roque
Paraguay
Zipporah Ali
Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association (KEHPCA)
Kenya
Thomas Cueni
International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA)
Switzerland
Mary Gospodarowicz
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Canada
Yin Yin Htun (Rose)
Shwe Yaung Hnin Si Cancer Foundation Pun Hlaing Siloam Hospital
Myanmar
Kolleen Kennedy
Varian
United States
Mark Middleton
Icon Group
Australia
Adolfo Rubinstein
National Ministry of Health
Argentina
Luis Miguel Castilla Rubio
Inter-American Development Bank
United States
Jörg-Michael Rupp
Roche Pharma International
Switzerland
Our Approach
There are 18.1 million new cancer cases and over 9.6 million cancer deaths worldwide each year, and these numbers are increasing drastically. With 54% of the world’s population living in cities, we believe cities are uniquely positioned to drive sustainable innovation in the delivery of health services to large populations.
Despite recent improvements in cancer care worldwide, access to surgery, radiotherapy, and essential oncology medicines remains an enormous challenge in low- and middle-income countries. These issues are compounded by a lack of human resources specialized in cancer care across all regions and income settings.
To address this global challenge, C/Can has developed a “City Engagement Process” that outlines support for participating cities over a two-year period, during which they identify, plan, and implement solutions to major gaps in quality cancer treatment and care—from diagnosis to palliative and supportive care.

The "City Engagement Process" is shaped around the following steps:
- Identify and engage all relevant stakeholders in the delivery of cancer care in the city
- Undertake a comprehensive, city-wide, data-driven needs assessment to identify current gaps and priorities
- Develop an activity plan based on the needs assessment
- Identify appropriate channels for technical assistance; partnerships and collaboration, both locally and internationally; one-off investments; and/or longer-term financing solutions to support implementation of the activity plan
- Develop a framework to monitor and evaluate progress and impact and support learning
While cities take the lead in developing cancer treatment solutions, they work closely with C/Can’s multi-sector community of global and local partners, who provide technical assistance through each phase of the initiative. C/Can recognizes that each city is unique in its social, economic, and environmental development, which means there is no one-size-fits-all city cancer treatment solution.