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James Williams, Jr.
Chairman
Pennsylvania Prostate Cancer Coalition
James Williams, Jr., retired colonel of the U.S. military, has served as chairman of the board for Pennsylvania Prostate Cancer Coalition (PPCC) for 24 years.
Williams is a prostate cancer survivor and advocate, having earned the 2023 Patient Advocate Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology for his advocacy work. Williams refers to PPCC as being in the preventive medicine business for prostate cancer health. “We don’t have a health care system in the U.S.,” he said. “We have a reactive, sick-care system. Success is not based on how well the patient population is, but how many new beds are established and how many more private health care practices can be brought under one umbrella.”
With that in mind, Williams’ efforts at PPCC help to educate men and increase early detection. When detected early, before the cancer spreads beyond the prostate or regional lymph nodes, the five-year survival rate is close to 100 percent. Late-stage prostate cancer diagnosis survival rates shrink to around 30 percent.
“PPCC continues to build ‘critical mass’ in Pennsylvania,” said Williams. The organization, with the help of his leadership, does this by speaking “with one voice” through partners like the American Cancer Society, ZERO Prostate Cancer, CARE at Penn State Cancer Center, local fraternities and sororities and more.
