Our roots go back to the early 1980s, when Dr. Paul P. Carbone, then the director of the UW Carbone Cancer Center, and Gerald Doelle, executive vice president of the American Cancer Society in Wisconsin, came together to found the Wisconsin Cancer Council. Their original mission remains a core part of our work today: convening doctors, researchers, public advocates, and other partners to find new and better ways of coordinating cancer control efforts across Wisconsin.
Twenty years later, in September 2002, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services received a planning grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to strengthen the state’s approach to cancer prevention and control. With this grant, a unique partnership was born, between the Wisconsin Division of Public Health and the UW Carbone Cancer Center, to move comprehensive cancer control forward throughout Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Control Program formed in 2004 to oversee this work. The WI CCC Program was charged with developing a master blueprint for cancer control and prevention—a “living document” now known as the Wisconsin Cancer Plan. The Wisconsin Cancer Council became the membership arm of the WI CCC Program, implementing the Wisconsin Cancer Plan’s priorities and moving comprehensive cancer control efforts forward in communities all over the state.
In 2020, the WI CCC Program and the Wisconsin Cancer Council began operating under a single name: the Wisconsin Cancer Collaborative. Today, we continue to serve as the state’s cancer prevention and control program, committed to engaging a diverse partnership to develop and implement a comprehensive and statewide approach to cancer control. Learn more about our approach.