Marcia K. Horn, JD

Chair, MET Crusaders

Marcia K. Horn, JD, is the president and CEO of ICAN, International Cancer Advocacy Network, https://askican.org, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization focused on direct patient navigation and customized information services for State IV cancer patients. ICAN’s ethos is unapologetic, creative, and tenacious patient navigation and advocacy, with the mission to extend life with the highest attainable quality of life.

At ICAN, Marcia is a research advocate who has directly navigated many thousands of complex cancer patient cases since the founding of the organization in 1996. She is also a molecular profiling advocate, a clinical trials matching advocate, an expanded access program (“compassionate use”) advocate, a public policy advocate, and a health equity advocate.

Since March 2017, Marcia has also served as the Executive Director of the Exon 20 Group/EGFR Exon 20 Warriors and HER2 Warriors (https://exon20group.org) and has built the organization into an international multi-stakeholder coalition and advocacy powerhouse with the mission of transforming cancers caused by EGFR exon 20 insertion and HER2 exon 20 insertion mutations into manageable diseases. The Exon 20 Group, founded by the late Kevin M. Hanlon and Robert T. Hanlon, PhD, provides free direct patient navigation and oncology nursing services and a variety of additional services to EGFR exon 20 and HER2 exon 20 patients and care partners. In late 2023, ICAN assumed the management and direction of both the Biomarker Collaborative (a pan-tumor, global coalition of biomarker support groups) and the MET Crusaders (MET exon 14 skipping; MET amplification; MET over-expression pan-tumor).

Marcia has served as one of two research advocates for both the Stand Up 2 Cancer Molecular Early Detection of Colon Cancer Dream Team and the Stand Up 2 Cancer InTIME Dream Team for Lung Cancer Interception. She served for three years as DIA’s inaugural chair of its Patient Engagement Community and remains a PCORI (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute) Ambassador. Marcia has served seven years as a member of the ASCO TAPUR Study Molecular Tumor Board, twelve years as a member of the Banner Health Institutional Review Board, and seven years as the research advocate for the SWOG Early Therapeutics/Rare Cancers Committee. Since 2017, Marcia has enjoyed her role as one of the two research advocates for The University of Texas Southwestern/MD Anderson Cancer Center Lung SPORE (which is part of the National Cancer Institute’s Specialized Programs in Research Excellence).

In January 2024, Marcia was selected as the research advocate for the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Rare Tumors Committee and is a co-lead for a major project of the Small Cell Lung Cancer Committee. Marcia is proud to represent the Exon 20 Group, MET Crusaders, and NRG1 Energizers as a member of the patient advisory board for 23andMe’s transformative Lung Cancer Genetics Study which was launched in July 2024.

Since 2013, Marcia has reviewed clinical trial protocols, informed consent forms, and patient collateral materials for pharmaceutical and biotech companies as well as nonprofit foundations. Receiving shoutouts at cancer conferences for her expertise in and success at clinical trials accrual and retention, Marcia is continually asked to refer patients and care partners for speaking engagements and patient-centered advisory boards.

ICAN has consistently been rated as Top Rated Health Care Nonprofit/Top Rated Cancer Nonprofit since the inception of that award at GreatNonprofits.org. Marcia is currently serving her second term on Charity Navigator’s Consultative Council for Nonprofit Leaders. She was a member of GuideStar’s advisory board for the planning of GuideStar’s rollout of its Platinum rating. She is known for her collaborative spirit and her generosity in mentoring CEOs in other nonprofit organizations since half of her nonprofit career was involved in chairing boards and half has been involved in executive leadership.

Marcia graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University in Political Science and received her JD from Stanford Law School. Before joining ICAN, she practiced commercial litigation and appellate law in Phoenix and held major leadership roles in the arts and civic organizations in Arizona.

Marcia resides in Phoenix and enjoys ballet and opera. Her son, Yoni Horn, a graduate of Pepperdine Law School, practices corporate law in Santa Monica.