Spotlight: Childhood Cancer Data Initiative
The Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI) is a collaborative effort spearheaded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to improve childhood cancer data collection, connection, and sharing. CCDI communications go out to scientific and lay audiences, often with a focus on advocates.
Deliverables included web copy, graphics, videos, presentations, talking points, congressional justifications, toolkits, social media posts, and more.
My goals for the messaging were to make copy clear, easy to understand, educational, and inspiring, while being mindful of and sensitive to the difficult position of families experiencing childhood cancer.
Newsletter
The CCDI newsletter reaches more than 20,000 email subscribers monthly. Each issue features a message about CCDI's progress, high-level information about upcoming CCDI-related events, and additional content depending on the months (stories, graphics, questions answered, etc.).
Using wireframe drafts reflecting the design capabilities of GovDelivery, I developed the 508-compliant newsletter layout and iterated with the client on design, tone, and text parameters. I also created the initial newsletter production schedule, write the content, coordinate with subject matter experts, and provide final approval for each monthly issue.
Every quarter, I summarize key findings from CCDI communications analytics reports and based on metrics from the newsletter's first year, proposed and adjusted the layout and length of content to promote scan-ability and reflect audience interests and habits more.
Click the image to view the full newsletter issue.
Community Stories
CCDI stories showcase people from the childhood cancer community—including patients, parents, caregivers, researchers, and others—and highlight research funded by CCDI, data sharing efforts, and research gaps that initiatives like CCDI could help fill.
For these, I established the tone, voice, and length, created templates for story subject outreach and interview guides, and maintain an editorial tracker. I also track story subject demographics in addition to writing, reviewing, and approving stories for use in the CCDI newsletter, on cancer.gov, and on social media.
Graphics
Graphics can help explain a concept in a simpler and visually appealing way. This graphic offers a simpler explanation of the testing patients undergo as part of a CCDI program, what happens to testing results, and the intended outcomes of the program. While drafting the copy, I also consulted the team involved in coordinating this testing, which ensured that the information conveyed was accurate but at a higher level and in plainer language.