INDIANAPOLIS, IN (February 14, 2024) The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and its Exercise is Medicine Program (EIM) announced today that former NFL linebacker Chris Draft has joined the Moving Through Cancer Task Force Board. Moving Through Cancer is the first disease-specific initiative within EIM and focused on making exercise a standard of oncological care by 2029.
Draft started the Chris Draft Family Foundation to strengthen communities by empowering families to live healthy lifestyles through a national movement of self-awareness and education. He started the foundation in response to the loss of his wife, Lakeasha Monique Rutledge Draft, to lung cancer in 2011.
“Chris is a passionate, inspiring leader who can bring greater awareness to the value of exercise in managing and recovering from cancer,” said Moving Through Cancer Founder Kathryn Schmitz, Ph.D., FACSM. “He leads and collaborates with deep integrity and boundless energy, and we are honored to have Chris on the Moving Through Cancer Task Force Board.”
As part of the board, Draft will help the task force address its key focus areas of Stakeholder Awareness, Workforce Development, Program Development, Policy Priorities, Research and Evaluation. Draft will assist the task force by working collaboratively on creating content that educates patients and their caregivers about the value of exercise for people living with and beyond cancer. He will also help the task force publicize the National Exercise Oncology Directory that patients and caregivers can use to identify high quality programming.
“It’s an honor to join the board and raise a greater awareness of the importance of moving through cancer,” said Draft.
The Moving Through Cancer initiative was founded upon robust, evidence-based research that documents the benefits of exercise for cancer symptoms and compelling clinical guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Cancer Society and The American Society of Clinical Oncology. These guidelines advise people living with and beyond cancer to be more active to address common symptoms and reduce the burden of cancer.
For more information about Moving Through Cancer, visit the website.
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About Moving Through Cancer
The mission of Moving Through Cancer is to ensure that all people living with and beyond cancer are assessed, advised, referred to and engaged in appropriate exercise and rehabilitation programming as a standard of care and enabled to choose to become and stay active at a level appropriate for them.
About American College of Sports Medicine
ACSM is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. More than 50,000 international, national, and regional members and certified professionals are dedicated to advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine. More details at www.acsm.org.