Springfield, Ill., – The
North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) has recognized
two of its members by bestowing the organization’s highest honors - the Dr.
Calum S. Muir Award and the Constance L. Percy Award for Distinguished Service.
Lori Swain, MS of Alexandria,
Virginia, and Elizabeth Ward, PhD of Atlanta, Georgia
received the awards during NAACCR’s annual conference in Portland, Oregon.
Constance L. Percy
Award –Lori Swain has been the Executive Director of the National Cancer
Registrars Association (NCRA) since 2001. During two terms as the Sponsoring
Member Organization Representative to the NAACCR Board, Ms. Swain helped forge
a productive relationship between the NAACCR organization and its sponsoring
members, as well as successfully representing the interests of the cancer
registrar community through NCRA. Her active committee participation during the
implementation of NAACCR’s recent strategic management plan demonstrated her
commitment to the organization, and highlighted her sensible and creative
problem-solving abilities. Her contributions to the strategic plan will
continue to benefit NAACCR for many years to come.
Dr. Calum S. Muir Award
- Elizabeth Ward is the National Vice President, Intramural Research for the
American Cancer Society. Currently, Dr. Ward leads the Collaborative Staging
Version 2 Data Element Review Work Group. She has served as chair of the Cancer
Research Surveillance Committee since 2005 and co-chair of the National
Coordinating Council for Cancer Surveillance since 2004. From 2006 to 2008, she
was the Sponsoring Member Organization Representative to NAACCR. Dr. Ward’s
willingness to work at many levels and her demonstrated commitment to NAACCR
over the years when her skills were most needed signify her dedication to
continuous improvement.
The Constance L. Percy Award for Distinguished Service
recognizes individuals who have contributed exceptional volunteer service to
NAACCR during the past 12 months, or sustained, current, and long-term
contributions to the organization. The award was created to honor Constance
Lebair Percy, a cancer statistics research pioneer and founding member of the
International Association of Cancer Registries. Ms. Percy made substantial
contributions to public health during her 53-year career as a health
statistician and played an integral role in helping establish the link between
smoking and lung cancer.
The Dr. Calum S. Muir Memorial Award honors those who have
made long-term, substantive contributions in cancer registration and who have
demonstrated a long-term commitment to NAACCR. The award was created to honor
Dr. Muir who had a significant impact on the cancer registry field. Instrumental
in founding the International Association of Cancer Registries, he was a leader
in worldwide cancer registration and a trailblazer in the effort to develop
uniform methods of cancer data collection.
Established in 1987, NAACCR is a collaborative umbrella
organization for cancer registries, governmental agencies, professional
organizations, and private groups in North America
interested in enhancing the quality and use of cancer registry data. Its goal
is to set standards and build consensus for the collection of uniform cancer
data across the continent. All state and provincial central cancer registries
in the United States and Canada
are members.