Lisa Lacasse is president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society (ACS). She leads ACS CAN’s nationwide public policy advocacy agenda and oversees a team in Washington, DC and across the country that empowers volunteers to influence evidence-based policy change that impacts the cancer burden. Ms. Lacasse is responsible for leveraging the organization’s unique power as the largest cancer patient advocacy organization with presence in all 50 states to achieve widespread impact for every person touched by cancer in every community, driving organizational strategy and overseeing all campaigns and operations. She serves on the ACS Executive Team and oversees advocacy integration across the enterprise that is collectively advancing the ACS mission to save lives, celebrate lives, and lead the fight for a world without cancer.
Ms. Lacasse's passion for representing the voices of all patients with cancer and their families is exemplified in her leadership. When she assumed the role of president in 2019, Ms. Lacasse set diversity, equity and inclusion as a top priority for the organization. She has since established ACS CAN’s Black Volunteer Caucus and LGBTQ+ & Allies Engagement Group, created a dedicated Health Equity team, oversaw the addition of Spanish language presence on fightcancer.org, and prioritized investing in campaigns and partnerships that advance health equity and promote diversity and inclusion.
Since joining ACS CAN in 2007, Ms. Lacasse has been integrally involved in helping to grow ACS CAN as a nationwide public health advocacy organization that influences and shapes public policy at all levels of government. In her former capacity as deputy president, Ms. Lacasse managed a broad portfolio in support of ACS CAN’s advocacy priorities, focusing on strategic integration and organizational alignment across the enterprise. Her responsibilities included organizational development and training, volunteer engagement and grassroots strategy, media advocacy, public policy, finance, governance, human resources, and all ACS CAN operations. She oversaw ACS CAN’s One Degree campaign – a three-year grassroots effort calling on Congress to increase federal funding for medical and cancer-specific research – and was instrumental in leading successful efforts to ensure patient protections were included in the Affordable Care Act and to safeguard those lifesaving provisions.
Ms. Lacasse currently serves on Board for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. Before joining ACS CAN, she served as chief financial officer at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Research Center, a 242-bed, clinical research hospital where she was responsible for the planning, formulation, and execution of a $345 million annual budget. Prior to NIH, she spent several years in senior management at the University of Maryland Medical System and began her career in the office of the Governor of the State of Maine.
Ms. Lacasse lives Bethesda, Maryland, with her husband. She received a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Vermont. In her free time, she loves nothing more than spending time with her husband and four grown children in her beloved home state of Maine.
Ms. Lacasse shares her thoughts on patient advocacy, public policy and ACS CAN's role in the fight against cancer on Twitter at @LLacasseACSCAN and on LinkedIn.