Programs

The Early Onset Cancer Program offers several opportunities to enhance the experience of patients with early onset cancers and their families or supporters. We offer exclusive patient and family-centered support, clinical education opportunities, research, and community outreach and engagement. Be sure to join our mailing list to learn when new programs or events are unveiled.

CONNECT

We recently launched a new, cost-free opportunity, called CONNECT, which provides enhanced support, information, and resources to patients with early onset cancers and their families and supporters.

The Early Onset CONNECT Initiative is currently serving patients diagnosed with breast or GI cancers between ages 18 – 45 across the Smilow Care Network. Please reach out to our team to find out if we are currently available at your care site. If we aren’t quite there yet, stay tuned because we plan to expand our services soon.

Emotional Support

The Early Onset Cancer Program has partnered with our Social Work team to offer tailored support groups. We currently offer one support group dedicated to patients with early onset cancers (ages 18 – 45) and a second support group for the caregivers of patients with early onset cancers.

Engagement

Our communication and engagement initiatives include program updates, newsletters, webinars, workshops, special events, and more. Patients enrolled in the CONNECT initiative can sign up for these offerings, but many events and content are open to the public. Be sure to check out the event calendar on our main page for upcoming events.

Learn more about the Patient & Family Program

Our expert investigators are learning more about early onset cancers every day to improve the quality of life for patients and families. Our Early Onset CONNECT Initiative helps connect patients with resources about the clinical trials that may be right for them. Yale Cancer Center experts are discovering important clinical and biological differences in early onset cancers across several cancer types. The Early Onset Cancer Program and other researchers are also exploring patient experiences, barriers to care, and impacts on patient outcomes. We are also giving a voice to the early onset cancer community through our studies like PROSPER.

Learn more about Early Onset Cancer Research

We are supporting our clinical teams by developing easy-to-use clinical care pathways and simplifying and standardizing how they provide care for younger cancer patients.

We also share clinical and supportive care educational seminars related to early onset cancer care, including opportunities for primary care providers, other clinical specialties, and care support teams around Connecticut.

Learn more about Clinical Education & Support

Our community outreach and partnerships co-create a sustainable Early Onset Cancer Program that benefits everyone.

Our goal is to increase awareness and education about early onset cancer throughout the community by collaborating with Yale Cancer Center, Smilow Cancer Hospital, and other community organizations and local groups to develop events, outreach, and shared resources.

We nurture relationships with our community to increase clinical trial participation and to encourage community-engaged research throughout our program.

Learn more about Community Outreach