2025 IPCF & Zero Prostate Cancer head to Washington DC to lobby Congress for Prostate Cancer funding!
International Prostate Cancer Foundation representatives Natalia Kapsalis and Jackie Schueler traveled to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC alongside ZERO Prostate Cancer to lobby Congress for funding and support of various prostate cancer programs.
The International Prostate Cancer Foundation facilitated attendance at the 2025 ZERO Prostate Cancer Advocacy Summit February 23-25, 2025, in Washington, DC. This year's delegates included prostate cancer survivor Dan Pelletier, Patient Education Advocate Jackie Schueler, and IPCF Representative Natalia Kapsalis.
The 2025 ZERO Prostate Cancer Advocacy team prepared advocates from over 47 states, to meet with members of Congress and request support of the following initiatives:
The PSA Screening for HIM Act (H.R.1300/S.297): The USPSTF’s current recommendation for PSA screening to detect prostate cancer does not adequately protect men who are at the highest risk for developing and dying from the disease. Because this recommendation is tied to insurance coverage, significant barriers exist for high-risk men to be screened for prostate cancer. This bill ensures high-risk men in communities across the country know about their prostate cancer risk and when those same men go to their doctors for PSA screening, there is no out-of-pocket expense, eliminating financial barriers.
Prostate Cancer Research at DoD: This high-risk, high-reward translational research approach differs from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which focuses on basic research, and has resulted in seven new treatments for advanced prostate cancer and one advanced diagnostic in the last decade. We urged Congress to support an increase of $10M providing a total of $120M for the PCRP in the fiscal year 2026 defense appropriations bill.
Support CDC Prostate Cancer Outreach & Awareness Campaign for High-Risk Men: Over the next three years, ZERO Prostate Cancer is investing in a targeted outreach program for high-risk men in at least 12 communities nationwide. We want to ensure there are CDC-produced national campaign materials to support education efforts in these communities and across the nation. We’re leaning into our advocacy to amplify this outreach work by requesting $3 million in additional funding for the CDC to do one of the things they do best: public awareness campaigns, specifically targeting high-risk men in Zero Prostate Cancer’s pilot markets around the nation.
CDC Prostate Cancer Outreach & Awareness Campaign for High-Risk Men: Over the next three years, ZERO Prostate Cancer is investing in a targeted outreach program for high-risk men in at least 12 communities nationwide. We want to ensure there are CDC-produced national campaign materials to support education efforts in these communities and across the nation. We’re leaning into our advocacy to amplify this outreach work by requesting $3 million in additional funding for the CDC to do one of the things they do best: public awareness campaigns, specifically targeting high-risk men in Zero Prostate Cancer’s pilot markets around the nation.
The VA’s Precision Oncology Prostate Cancer Program (POPCaP): Since its launch in 2018, the VA has operated 21 Centers of Excellence in the POPCaP program. These Centers of Excellence give Veterans access to genetic testing, counseling, prostate cancer clinical trials, and FDA-approved drugs targeted to specific cancer mutations. Last year, Congress provided funding for the VA to expand the program to 6 new sites, for a total of 27 sites. Instead of moving forward as directed, the VA is now using the POPCaP funding to create a new Precision Oncology Program for all cancers in only 6 locations and eliminate the 21 existing POPCaP Centers by September 2025. This would dilute the quality of care that Veterans with prostate cancer receive and potentially make it more difficult for Veterans to receive state-of-the-art prostate cancer treatments and support. ZERO Prostate Cancer is currently working with Representative Greg Murphy (R-NC) to author legislation that protects the POPCaP program as it is, in law, ensuring our veterans continue to receive the highest cancer care through the VA. We urged Congress members to support this legislation once introduced.
Getting support from additional members of Congress is critical, which means they need to hear from YOU - constituent input is key to Congressional decision making. As survivors AND constituents, you would make the MOST impact. Please contact fightingprostatecancer@gmail.com for more information on how YOU can reach out to your Senators and House Representatives to urge them to support the initiatives above.