Judy O’Hagan has been named Chairman of the CEO Cancer Gold Standard Task Force and will help lead a nationwide, workplace-based effort to encourage more companies to reduce the cancer risk for employees and their families through screenings, early detection, and healthy changes in lifestyle.

The CEO Cancer Gold Standard™ calls for companies to evaluate their health benefits and corporate culture and take extensive, concrete actions in five key areas of health and wellness. To earn Gold Standard accreditation, a company must establish programs to reduce cancer risk by discouraging tobacco use; encouraging physical activity; promoting healthy diet and nutrition; detecting cancer at its earliest stages; and providing access to quality care, including participation in clinical trials. The CEO Cancer Gold Standard Task Force is comprised of representatives from the nearly 50 companies that have already achieved this high standard of cancer prevention and workplace wellness excellence.

William C. Weldon, chairman and chief executive officer of Johnson & Johnson, chairs the CEO Roundtable on Cancer, a nonprofit organization of cancer-fighting CEOs who created the CEO Cancer Gold Standard™, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, many of its designated cancer centers, and leading health non-profit organizations and professionals. Today, more than one million employees and family members are benefiting from the vision and leadership of employers who have chosen to become Gold Standard accredited.

“The Gold Standard was established because it is our belief that as employers we can and should embrace our unique ability to conquer cancer, starting in our own workplaces,” said Weldon. “With the support of CEO, Chris Viehbacher, Judy led efforts to make sanofi-aventis a Gold Standard workplace and has demonstrated the commitment and capability to help other employers, large and small, reach this same goal.”

O’Hagan joined sanofi-aventis in 2007 as the VP of U.S. Human Resources. Prior to that she served as Vice President, Human Resources for the Commercial Division of Novartis. O’Hagan received her BA in French from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. As head of the Gold Standard Task Force, O’Hagan succeeds William B. Baun of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Under the leadership of President Dr. John Mendelsohn, M.D. Anderson was the first of now seven NCI-designated Cancer Centers to become Gold Standard accredited. The National Cancer Institute itself, under the direction of Dr. John Niederhuber, is also a Gold Standard workplace. Beginning in 2002, Gary M. Reedy of Johnson & Johnson, chaired the first Gold Standard Task Force.

In addition to sanofi-aventis, Johnson & Johnson, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute, other organizations championing this workplace-based effort to eliminate cancer as a public health threat include: Aetna, Aldagen, the American Cancer Society (National Home Office and the Mid-South Division), the American Legacy Foundation, the American Society of Clincial Oncology, Aptuit, AstraZeneca, C-Change, Cigna, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Duke Medicine, Edelman, Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Fox Chase Cancer Center, GlaxoSmithKline, Hogan & Hartson, Independence Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Jenner & Block, The Lance Armstrong Foundation, LiDestri Foods, MDU Resources, Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company, Meridian Health, Minot State University, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Novartis, The Oncology Nursing Society, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, PhRMA, PPD, Pride, Inc., Quintiles Transnational, SAS Institute, State Farm, The University of North Dakota, US Oncology, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Virtua Health, WCA Hospital and The Wistar Institute.