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Cary Adams, portrait

Photo: IAEA Imagebank / CC BY 2.0

Sector leader

Cary Adams

Chief Executive Officer, Union for International Cancer Control (UICC)

Press citations

1

Topic

1

Hospital discharge / bed-blocking

Last quoted

Aug 2026

Cary Adams: key facts

Kind of voice
Sector leader
Role
Chief Executive Officer
Organisation
Union for International Cancer Control (UICC)
Quoted on
Hospital discharge / bed-blocking
Tracked press citations
1
Most recently quoted
27 Aug 2026

Who Cary Adams is

Dr Cary Adams is the Chief Executive Officer of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), a position he has held since 2009. Born in London, he made a career change from the management of international businesses in the banking sector to lead UICC, the largest international cancer NGO of its kind, with more than 1,150 member organisations in over 170 countries and territories. UICC unites and supports the cancer community to reduce the global cancer burden, promote greater equity, and integrate cancer control into the world health and development agenda. Adams has argued publicly that cancer-control inequities remain the central challenge in global health, and has championed universal access to cancer diagnosis, treatment and care. He served two terms as Chair of the NCD Alliance Board, a coalition of around 2,000 organisations working on non-communicable diseases. He holds a BSc in Economics, Computing and Statistics and an MBA (with distinction), both from the University of Bath, and is a Harvard Business School alumnus.

“Cancer plans recognising the rights of all people living with cancer to receive the treatment they need when they need it are essential in every country. Time and time again, we see governments struggle to respond to cancer in their country without a robust, well-funded plan, resulting in the unnecessary loss of people's lives and trauma to their families.”

References for this biography

  1. 1.Chief Executive Officer (CEO) | UICC — Current role, tenure since 2009, educational background, awards (CEO of Year 2015, NCHL 2023), NCD Alliance chairmanship, honorary doctorates
  2. 2.Dr Cary Adams: oration | University of Bath — Educational background at Bath, honorary doctorate in Health (2015), early career in banking, NCD Alliance chair role, World Health Assembly essential medicines advocacy
  3. 3.Cary Adams awarded CEO of the Year | UICC — CEO of the Year award at International and European Association Awards, May 2015, Lausanne
  4. 4.Cary Adams recognised with 2023 International Healthcare Leadership Award from NCHL | UICC — 2023 International Healthcare Leadership Award from National Center for Healthcare Leadership
  5. 5.Cary Adams Recognized Among The 100 Most Influential People in Oncology in 2025 – OncoDaily — Recognition among 100 Most Influential People in Oncology 2025; summary of UICC leadership tenure and awards
  6. 6.Contact us | UICC — UICC head office address (31-33 Avenue Giuseppe Motta, 1202 Geneva), general enquiries email and phone number

Notable achievements

  • Named 'Chief Executive of the Year' at the International and European Association Awards in Lausanne in May 2015, organised by the Associations Network. Source ↗
  • Received the 2023 International Healthcare Leadership Award from the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL), recognising his contributions to global healthcare and leadership development. Source ↗
  • Served two terms as Chair of the NCD Alliance Board, a coalition of around 2,000 organisations working on non-communicable diseases including cancer, diabetes, heart, respiratory, mental and neurological diseases. Source ↗
  • Recognised among the 100 Most Influential People in Oncology in 2025 by OncoDaily. Source ↗
  • Awarded Honorary Doctorate in Health from Bath University, UK (2015) and Honorary Doctorate in International Relations from the University for Business and International Studies, Geneva (2014). Source ↗

Where Cary Adams has been quoted

  1. Call to give UK cancer patients legal right to be treated within two monthstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

Contact & links

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.

Chief executives, directors and spokespeople of trade bodies, representative associations and charities speaking for the sector. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. This profile was last updated on 5 Oct 2026. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.