Originally published on Aflac Newsroom
For more than 20 years, Dr. Heather Bittner Fagan has been practicing and teaching family medicine in Claymont, Delaware, a medically underserved area where disparities in cancer outcomes mirror those in communities across the country. But her influence extends far beyond a single exam room. Through nationally recognized research and leadership at the intersection of primary care and cancer prevention, Dr. Fagan has helped shape how regular cancer screening reaches patients who have may have otherwise been left behind.
A family physician grounded in cancer prevention
A practicing family physician, Dr. Fagan has built her career on a simple but powerful idea: Primary care doctors are important, trusted messengers within vulnerable populations.
“The data and our experience tell us that patients really listen to their primary care doctors — they trust us,” Dr. Fagan said. “Cancer prevention is a team sport. We need to work together, within and outside of patient visits and across specialties, to do everything we can to help all of our patients access evidence-based screening. Working together, we can create more birthdays.”
That philosophy has guided a national body of research examining how evidence‑based screening guidelines can be translated into real‑world primary care practice. Dr. Fagan has published extensively in leading peer‑reviewed journals with studies that look at simple, practical ways primary care doctors can help more patients get screened for cancer, such as guiding patients through the process, having clearer conversations about screening and making it easier to fit screenings into routine care.
It is because of her work to help improve cancer screening rates across the country that Dr. Fagan has been honored as an Aflac Check for Cancer Champion.
Influencing care guidelines within the community and across the country
Colleagues describe Dr. Fagan as a bridge‑builder — someone fluent in both the language of frontline care and national policy. She is firmly rooted in her community-based practice in Claymont, but her reach extends far beyond that.
One of Dr. Fagan’s most influential areas of research has been around lung cancer screening, a lifesaving tool that remains underused nationwide with national screening rates remaining low — only about 1 in 5 eligible individuals (18.7%) in the U.S. are up to date with this important screening, according to the American Cancer Society. Dr. Fagan’s work has tackled that gap head on, studying practical strategies like helping patients make decisions over the phone and finding ways for primary care teams to lead outreach efforts.
Her expertise led to her selection as a consultant to the American Cancer Society, where she provides input on the organization’s lung cancer screening guidelines. In that role, she helped ensure that evolving recommendations were not only scientifically rigorous but also feasible in everyday primary care settings, particularly those serving vulnerable populations. Dr. Fagan has also served as an invited member of the National Lung Cancer Roundtable, further amplifying the voice of primary care in national cancer prevention conversations.
It is her dual role — as clinician and researcher — that has made her work both credible and impactful. And in recognition of this leadership, Dr. Fagan has received numerous honors, including the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Control Career Development Award, a distinction reserved for emerging national leaders in cancer prevention and control.
As cancer prevention continues to evolve, Dr. Fagan remains focused on the same throughline that has defined her career: equity. By looking at the daily realities of primary care, she has helped ensure that advances in cancer screening and early detection are not limited to those with the fewest barriers, but extended to communities that are in great need. And that makes her a true Aflac Check for Cancer Champion.
The Check for Cancer Champions program is part of Aflac’s Check for Cancer initiative, a bold, national movement to increase cancer screenings by 10% over 10 years. Learn more about the Check for Cancer movement by visiting Aflac.com/CheckForCancer.
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